Storing processed Negatives - Inside or Outside the Darkroom?

[Brian Ellis]

A darkroom is one of the last places I'd store negatives unless it's set up for that purpose. Chemical fumes, powder, dust, all that stuff you get in the typical fume room can't be good for negatives.

[johnielvis]

if it's protected from the environment, then there's no problem with storing in the darkroom....

that being said, I find my best protection from the darkroom environment is OUT of the darkroom

[Drew Wiley]

In most climates a tightly sealed fire safe is a about the worst thing imaginable. A true
data safe with MONITORED HUMIDITY CONTROL internally can work, but belive me, this ain't the kind of thing you're gonna find at WalMart or Office Cheapo, and is going
to cost more than a new Linhof. Archival boxes on wire racks with air circulation around them are best. Closets can contain all kinds of fumes and be terrible in certain climates for humidity, so make sure any paint etc is thorougly outgassed and that a bunch of old clothes and mothballs aren't in there. Avoid cheapo particle or strand board shelving like the plague - it's full of formaldehyde; and certain vinyl coverings
on shelving or shoes, umbrellas, whatever, outgas plasticizers. True baked enamel
coatings on metal cabinets are relatively inert, but metal drawers are more susceptible
to condensation. Sometimes they can be insulated with fomecore liners. You can also
order inexpensive humidity monitoring strips resembling litmus paper to see which part
of the house or office is most stable. Obviously humid climate are riskier than dry ones.

[Ron McElroy]

I only store the negatives I working with in the darkroom and I will keep freshly processed negs there until I make contacts proofs. Several years ago I lost a large quantity of negatives to an unknown roof leak. They were stored in metal case inside a closet that wasn't opened often.

[bigdog]

One thing we can be sure of: a helluva lot of mediocre images will be archivally preserved to annoy the future, ...

My negatives are safe ...

[bob carnie]

Quite a few of my clients rent safe boxes at their Bank, I am purchasing a fire proof safe for my wife's negs, her fathers Al Paterson who has an amazing collection of steam train negatives, and as well all my negatives. This will be kept at home.

I have just spent the last 6 months scanning all my so called keepers, another 6 months to go, this is all small format stuff I want to make alt prints from digital negs. All the non keepers are being thrown into the round storage container.
Currently all my 4x5 and 8x10 film is going to be enlarger based and I will store all in a fire proof safe.

I do not, keep any negatives in the darkroom as we have it at fairly high controlled humidity year round , to keep dust down and paper moist.

I am concerned about long term storage of negatives, as I have seen some pretty nasty collections that smell like vinegar, and I am not a photo conservator and need to up my knowledge of this storage issue.

[Larry Gebhardt]

Mine are in the darkroom, but it's on my todo list to get them to a safer spot. Of course where I was going to move them to (in the work room outside the darkroom) I suffered a leak of a different sort which killed a densitometer. My old cat suffered a seizure on the first floor. Her bladder let loose. I noticed it because I heard the popping and saw the arcs of light in the other room as the densitometer shorted out. Took me few minutes to figure out there were no pipes leaking above me, and then to find the poor cat. I was just glad I hadn't finished cleaning the area on the desk where the negative boxes were going, or they would have been soaked. I don't know what the lesson is, but it could be that no where is truly safe. But areas with pipes and chemicals are probably less safe than others.

[KenM]

Bruce Barnbaum stores his negs in his darkroom - he makes his lively hood from these negs, and he's never had an issue, so if it works for him, it'll work for me. He does store his prints outside the darkroom, however. Living in the Cascades as he does, it's awfully wet - he doesn't do anything special to maintain a consistent environment

I store my negs in my darkroom - any humidity after a printing session quickly dissipates in our dry climate...

[sanking]

Just make sure to store negatives five or six feet above ground level if there are any male cats around. If a cat urinates on the negatives there will be a big clean-up job ahead.

Sandy

[Drew Wiley]

I'd hardly consider BB an expert on archiving. And I'd just like to see a few of you folks fill out a job appication for a museum or auction house back room with a comment like that on you're resume. They'd punch the button in a split second, and down the chute you'd go! But I know all about cats. Generally no problem, but once in awhile my wife
will take in a sick old porch cat, and two male cats in the house are always trouble.
All my storage racks are way above their "zone", and all my prints are deep in flat files
anyway, so very well protected. But in the last incident one did back up to an electrical outlet and create some especially noxious steam as the fixture shorted out!