Hey Tim,
It's really a combination of all three.
For the most part, I have greater hope for the first. I find that these negatives really have unbeatable clarity when compared with the prints made from their era. As you can imagine, technology today really allows us to take advantage of these like never before, as the photographers and artists never really had any easy way to edit and augment these images in the same way we can in Photoshop (especially at that same speed, too). And at the same time, the majority of the images themselves are incredibly compelling.
I do end up saving a lot of screencaps though, as I keep 1000s of reference files for general information that's relevant to a specific year. That usually comes into play whenever certain outfield advertisements are shown, or even various stadium renovations and uniform changes. These can really keep me up to date with them, as well as provide any missing information to fill holes for future paintings. I scour eBay nightly just to fill those holes.
And lastly, I do love the images themselves, but don't really have a need for the original negatives once I'm done scanning them, as I'm not a collector. Someday, unless someone contacts me for a specific one, I'll turn them all loose again. They should certainly be in the possession of someone who will really enjoy having them in their collection.
But I tell ya, I just wish I could have scans of them all!!!
Graig
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