Indeed. Color film is organically base, where the older b/w film were silver (as I remember). Used to develop and print my own b/w many years ago. Was schooled that b/w was much more durable. Our color negatives and prints have faded over the years, but my old b/w prints and negatives are still solid..(40 years).
Okay, thanks for that info.
I know what you mean about the old prints. I have faded photos of my kids, who were born in the 1970s, but I have some family photos that are slightly more than 100 years old that still look pretty good.
Color photos are made up of up to three or four layers. The primary colors and a base.
Because of this, the colors are in the layers, not imbedded into the paper. If they are kept in the least amount of UV light, they will fade.
The Black and White stuff is embedded into the fiber of the paper. It is still reactive to UV light, but it is more about the paper than the print itself. Crappy paper = crapy prints.
The other thing about black and white is that they were generally processed by hand. The chemicals were handled with a lot more care.
A fiber based black and white photo was washed thoroughly, getting all of the chemicals out of the paper. Otherwise it would turn brown pretty quickly.
Color prints of “snapshots” would have gone through automated printers. The process was quick and cheap. And you got a quick and cheap result.
Finally, the new archival prints made from digital photos are done with better inks and they are embedded into the paper—as the black and white silver was. That is way current prints, done on high end ink jets, will last about 500 years without significant fading.