Preserving 35mm slides means protecting colorful bits of history. These tiny pictures aren’t just memories — they’re important pieces of our past. Keeping them safe isn’t just about saving them; it’s about respecting their value and making sure future generations can enjoy them too. By taking care of these slides, we’re keeping our stories alive and making sure they don’t fade away with time. Once they are gone, so are the memories. Since my father has passed, the memories of all his photography mean more to me – and have me interested in history more.
Before I get into it, if you have the time scan the slides as soon as you can. Digital versions won’t fade or deterioriate, and ‘preservation’ won’t be as big of an issue. I’ll get into the scanning in another blog post and some tips there, but let’s talk about preservation or ‘storage’ so they will last.
The first thing to take into consideration is the climate – slides (photographs and film also mind you), need to be stored in a dry, dark and cool place and one that does not experience the large variances of temperature and humidity. I should also mention dust free. These factors alone will help a lot – I can tell from experience in the way that my father stored his slides that this has worked quite well. The slides, from what I can tell, have stood the test of time so far.
OK, how to store is the next question – Boxes or sleeves… or something else? I have slides stored differently. First of all is the box below – The slides are separated (and organised chronogically I might add) and there are two sides to it. The only disadvantge to this is that ultimately the room taken will be larger than the second method (which I will get to). From what I have observed the slides have kept well over the years.
[image coming]
I have many slides in the small kodak boxes as shown below. Space taken is minimal as I can fit more in smaller space, but with the slides pressing against each other (only the frame), will that increase the deteriation? Again with my observations, they have kept well. I think with the environment that all my slides have been in has been the overriding factor.
[image coming]
Slides can also be stored in plastic sleeves – the advantage here is that you can easily see what is on the slides, but you have to be careful what sort of sleeves. Search on your regular shopping sites for ‘archival sleeves’ and ensure they do not contain PVC. PVC plastic may give off hydrogen chloride which can cause image deterioration of color film. There is some good reading here about the possible effects of PVC on film.
As you can see, great care is to be taken when storing old media – the environmental factors will go a long way to keeping those memories intact for a long time.