Preservation questions from a newbie (warning image heavy)

[ScaryMovies]

Hello, i’m really in need of some preservation advice!

I have seventeen 8x10 stills that are being destroyed by yellowish dots. The yellow spots don’t have a surface, feels as if nothing is on it. Thirteen of the photos effected were in polyethylene bags https://www.bagsunlimited.com/product/3647/8-x-10-still-sleeve from bags unlimited for 3 years. The other four are from the movie “They Live”. I had left the They Live photos in its press kit folder and the regular plastic bag they came in for 2 years. The damage to the They Live photos is minor and on 4 out of the 8 photos. All the damaged photos were purchased in 2013. I have central air conditioning and keep all sunlight out of the rooms where i keep them. It stays pitch dark in the rooms during the day when no light’s are on.

At this moment none of my lobby cards or movie posters have any damage.
Most of my lobby cards and 8 x10 stills are not in bags.
I keep them stored in boxes from bags unlimited https://www.bagsunlimited.com/product/6961/graded-maglgsheet-musiclobby-cardbr11x14mats-plastic-corrugated-box


“The Thing” scanned on September 4, 2015 along with an updated scan from May 2017. I purchased this photo from a seller called historicimages-store on eBay around february of 2013.

September 4, 2015


May 2017


September 4, 2015


May 2017


September 4, 2015


May 2017


This photo was purchased in january of 2013 from movieposter.com






Predator press kit photo from ebay 2013. Five Predator photos and the 2 ones i had in bags have this damage. The 3 other ones not in bags look fine.
This Predator photo may have had a few small dots on it when it arrive, but i don't remember seeing any back then.







I didn’t notice this photo had any yellow dots until i examined it with a flashlight.




This Weird Science photo already had a few big yellow spots and 2 little dots when it arrived in 2013. There’s been a big increase since then. Scan from may 2017.





I moved the effected photos into another room away from the others just incase this is something contagious.

Could humidity have caused this damage? I never owned a dehumidifier, but i’ll pick one up soon.
Thing i can't figure out is how these photos went downhill like this when i have had other press stills in the same environment and even worse conditions over the last almost 30 years and yet they still look good.
A few days ago i found 2 press stills i thought i had lost back around the year 2000 in a old box in cheap plastic covers and somehow they still look good.

Also been searching the internet looking for information such as photos with the same kind damage as mine and came up empty.

I truly appreciate any assistance from this knowledgeable community in helping me find the source of this problem.

[erik1925]

Hey SM, Im not 100% positive but this looks like it could be a type of foxing that is happening to your material. You can read some about it here:  http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,2135.0.html

And if you Google that term, can also find out more about it (if this is what's going on here, that is).

[erik1925]

Some info here, too, SM

http://www.visualheritage.com.au/resources/care-of-old-photographs.html

[guest4531]

Looks like foxing indeed.

Since it is fungal, it is contagious and spread.  Pack your picture in single sleeve.

As for repair, not much you can do... if you care about the image, you can always scan them  while they are still good.

Another "mental" paper I found online   You can look also on Youtube, there are lot of videos
http://www.academia.edu/787893/_Foxing_in_Vintage_Photographs_Detection_and_Removal

[ScaryMovies]

Thank you Jeff & Boss for the links & helpful responses.

When i first started reading up on what it could be, foxing was the first thing that came up in my search.
I understand not being 100% positive about this. There’s multipliable kinds of damage occurring. The Predator & Conan the Barbarian photo damage is little round dots while The Thing & Scream’s photo damage is more like blotches of rust following a pattern. Oddly the borders and backs to all these destroyed photos still look clean. All my time of having memorabilia this is the first time i’ve had to deal with something like this. Definitely a learning experience. Should of purchased a dehumidifier years ago. Once the relative humidity is under 50%, is it safe to keep these photos in the same room as long as they’re not in the same container together? Not sure if i’m going to keep the worst damaged photos or just trash them.


These Conan the Barbarian photos already had some of these spots when i acquired this press kit from movieposter.com in late 2012.
5 out of 10 photos of the press kit have this damage.
The spots have increased in size and number. Me being foolish i first thought these spots were caused by someone spilling ink on these photos.

November 7, 2015


May 2017


November 7, 2015


May 2017






Purchased this photo in January 2014. Not sure if the damage was already beginning or not back then.






This TMNT photo is part of a press kit given to me in 2014.
Weird thing is this photos damage has not increased. The other photos it laid with for a few years don’t have any damage. I still removed it just incase.






Here’s a few other pictures i’m unsure of whether or not this is foxing or could be something else contagious.

These fingerprints were already on this photo when i bought it in i think 2014.
February 2, 2016


May 2017


This was already on this Elvira photo when it arrived in 2013.



This Weird Science photo damage spots in the bottom right haven’t changed from what i can tell from 2013 up until today.





I apologize for another long winded question filled post. Just trying to make sure i don’t screw up anymore than i already have with this material.

[erik1925]

Hey SM,

The fact that you have pics you took back in 2012 and can compare to today is great. The fact that many have those same rust spots in the same areas that looks to have gotten larger in size, seems to suggest foxing or other possible mold that is growing in that rust colored shade.

And if some had those spots when you got them, and they were kept all together, it sure seems to make some sense that the foxing/rust spread to some of the others.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

probably not foxing but a chemical degradation of the adhesive substrate that holds the photographic layer to the paper

[erik1925]

probably not foxing but a chemical degradation of the adhesive substrate that holds the photographic layer to the paper

Rich, what can cause this type of degradation? Im assuming various factors like temperature, humidity and other storage conditions?

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Rich, what can cause this type of degradation? Im assuming various factors like temperature, humidity and other storage conditions?

shitty manufacturing due to an improper mix of the chemicals used in the adhesive
foreign debris mixed into the solution
too much water in the solution
or maybe crystallization of some chemical component

it could be some form of foxing, but I've rarely seen this type of aging and foxing spots have a particular personality and this is away from that

[erik1925]

Thanks again for the added info, Rich. 

[ScaryMovies]

Thank you Jeff & MPB for the helpful information.  I truly appreciate you guys helping me out here.

Hey SM,

The fact that you have pics you took back in 2012 and can compare to today is great. The fact that many have those same rust spots in the same areas that looks to have gotten larger in size, seems to suggest foxing or other possible mold that is growing in that rust colored shade.

And if some had those spots when you got them, and they were kept all together, it sure seems to make some sense that the foxing/rust spread to some of the others.

Yeah its a good thing for me i kept those old hi-res scans on my HD. I’ve re-scanned all the damaged photos. I’ll rescan them again in May 2018 to see if having them in a dehumidified environment stops the damage from spreading or continuing. I will post new comparison scans in May of next year under this topic.

Only thing that had been throwing me off of foxing was of how the only areas it’s attacking are where the ink is.
Or this may be how this type of foxing works on this sort of paper.
I’ve seen what foxing looks like on movie posters but never on these kind of photos. This is new territory for me.

I’m about to attempt a test to possibly confirm whether or not this is foxing. I have 2 trash photos that will be used as Foxing test dummies.
They'll be placed in polyethylene sleeve’s with 2 of the the damaged photos.
One set will be stored in a dehumidified room while the other set will be stored in a room with high humidity.
I will scan the undamaged trash photos before placing them in the sleeve’s with the damaged ones.
After one year i will take them out, re-scan them & will post updated comparison scans.

I might be wrong on this but i’m thinking if this is foxing then it should spread to the other photos packed in with them in one year’s time.

probably not foxing but a chemical degradation of the adhesive substrate that holds the photographic layer to the paper

Didn’t know that was possible! Is there anything i could do to halt this from happening? Or is this inevitable?

shitty manufacturing due to an improper mix of the chemicals used in the adhesive
foreign debris mixed into the solution
too much water in the solution
or maybe crystallization of some chemical component

it could be some form of foxing, but I've rarely seen this type of aging and foxing spots have a particular personality and this is away from that

You might be on to something here. All the damage looks to be contained to the areas of the paper with ink.

[erik1925]

Thing is...

Photos are not created with ink... unlike posters, the development of an image in photographs is due to a chemical reaction. (Unless they are laser inkjet photos).

Is that what these are?

[ScaryMovies]

Photos are not created with ink... unlike posters, the development of an image in photographs is due to a chemical reaction.

My mistake, i didn’t know that.

(Unless they are laser inkjet photos).

Is that what these are?

No.