What is a good method for long term storage of film negatives?
The National Film Board of Canada has begun tests on freezing monopack color negs, but beyond that I couldn’t tell you the long-term effects of freezing your negative. Some members of the AMIA-L (Assoc. of Moving Image Archivists) listserv expressed concern that if the proceedure was not carried-out with great control, then the base, emulsion or both could be fractured by the excessive moisture content of the emulsion, due to expansion of the freezing water. There were other issues as well, but I don’t remember them off-hand. At the present time, I believe the consensus is that the optimal storage temperature is near, but not below, freezing with a relative humidity of 30 – 40%.
