In a world that seems so far off from the one we live in today, people used color positive film so that once it was processed, it could be turned into hundreds of little slides encased in either card board or plastic. These slides could be projected or printed and were a convenient and easy way to keep your photographs. When stored properly, these little slides could be kept for decades and were more compact than storing tons of printed photographs. You may be someone like me who was lucky enough to have several boxes of these passed down to you. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, what can I do with these and how do I store them? No worries, preserving these fun blasts from the past is easier than you may think! Through helpful research, trial and error, and building a career restoring film slides, I’ve found the best practices for keeping them beautiful & safe, and I’m confident in sharing my tips with you.

1. Clean them Off

   Not all film slides have been stored properly, and there’s a good chance that they’ve been handled many, many times before. The first step to preserving them is going to be cleaning them off to remove any dust, hair, finger prints, or stuck on dirt. To do this, you want to use either an air blaster or a can of compressed air to blow debris off the front and back of each film slide. Next, you can wipe the slides with a clean microfiber towel to remove any finger prints or more stuck on build up. It’s not necessary, but it may be easier to wear lint free gloves while doing this as to not add more finger prints. Or, you could just do your best to hold on to the outside sleeves while avoiding the inner film. DO NOT use any water based cleaner on your film slides, as this will ruin your film positives. If you have spots that you can’t get off, I suggest taking them in to someone who has the right chemicals to clean them off (someone like me). Sometimes, the film itself is just scratched or damaged, and the spots will need to be removed with digital processing.

   2. Seal them Up

After your slides are clean, its time to put them away for safe keeping. Your slides may already be stored in multiple small, square plastic canisters and while these are nice for containing the individual slides, they aren’t the sturdiest and often times the lids will break or the plastic bodies can crack. In addition, they aren’t air tight, so they can fill up with dust if they aren’t sealed in a larger container. A great alternative to these canister are plastic film slide sheets that hold rows of individual slides and usually come with binder holes already punched in. They’re great for keeping your slides dust and scratch free and easy to store in a large binder for convenient access whenever you need to look through them. However, if you’d like to keep them in the plastic canisters they may already be in, I advise removing all the slides, cleaning out the canisters from and dust and debris and replacing broken or cracked ones. From there, you’re going to want to store them in a larger air tight container to keep dust from building back up.

3. Keep them Dry & Out of the Light

Unfortunately, light can be damaging to film slides. Sunlight can cause damage and cause the film to break down quicker. Moisture can cause further damage and the growth of mold or mildew. To get the most longevity out of your slides, I recommend storing them in a dark, dry place. Either in an opaque container or in a dark closet or under bed storage will do.

4. Limit the Handling of Your Slides

The more you take them out and touch them, the more likely the slides are to get damaged and break down from oils or any other chemicals on your skin. To preserve them in the best condition possible, it would be worth having them scanned and digitized (which you can find a link to here.) I understand the costs can add up quickly so if you aren’t so concerned about quality of the scanned images, there are inexpensive easy to use scanning devices that you can find in a range of places like Walmart or Amazon! I will say, these types of scanners are known for giving inconsistent, lower quality results, so I recommend looking into professional services for the best quality and for any restorations that may need to happen. Digitizing your slides not only protects them, it gives you easier access to them, makes sharing with family members a breeze, and allows for prints to be made if you so like. Also, if you plan on viewing the slides without a projector, you will need to hold them up to a window or LED lighting to backlight them and see the image, which isn’t so fun when you have hundreds of them to go through. But, I absolutely understand the nostalgia of it! So, if you do want to go through your slides by hand, make sure to do it in a dust free environment, don’t touch the film, and be careful not to scratch them!

And that’s it friends. I know not everyone sees the value in preserving film, but these slides not only hold pieces of history but are pieces of history themselves. The more we can take care of and preserve, the more we can leave for future generations to uncover and learn about the world. This is why restoration and preservation is truly so important to me, and taking the steps to do it correctly only takes a little time and effort. I hope you find these tips helpful, and if you have any questions feel free to reach out!

Thanks for stopping by,

Xo Liz