Regarding movie/video preservation it is the 16mm and 8mm home movies that turn to acid. They do not like dramatic temperature changes or being stored in very warm places. Once these films start their "vinegar" transformation they can no longer be saved. We had converted all of our reel-to-reel type movies years ago because some were almost 100 years old from my husbands family!
But at the time we converted them we converted them to VHS as that was all that was available. Now those VHS are getting old and must be converted to digital. The DVD's are not recommended as long term archival medium any more, so we may have to put them on flash drives, or hard drives and as back up store them some safe place "in the cloud." This process is actually a scary and expensive nightmare.
My wedding photo album is fading because I did not have money for a professional photographer and it is snapshots taken by friends, so that is something I need to also send away for professional restoration soon! It is sad that we are not going to live forever, even virtually, it seems.
This is the first I knew about the problem of home movies becoming unusable. Fortunately I don't have any, but I am so sad to learn that photos also fade and finally disappear. I have started to keep my digital pictures in the cloud, but is that even for certain? I've got an external disk drive with lots of pictures on it and guess they are fairly safe. Right?
ReplyDeleteA blog fills up as well. Trying to save anything for future generations is work, effort and expense. We had old slides that were fading and we digitized them. I don't know how I am saving my blog yet. I'd like the family stories to continue for our descendants but...
ReplyDeleteWe recently collected, edited and converted our family videos to digital, and now have them on a flash drive as well as the computer. A great thing to do, as you suggest, but boy was it a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot of work preserving memories but worthwhile in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what happened to the home movies my dad took of us.
ReplyDeleteYes, remember I wrote about this too. We need to find some expert to tell us what the next new thing in digital storage is. I truly regret losing access to all my cloud saved photos.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know DVDs were also a problem. More work to do.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. No matter the medium, time takes its toll and we have to work to preserve whatever it is.
ReplyDeletePortable hard drives are not very expensive. You could have two backups and keep them in separate locations.
ReplyDeleteAs for the photos, you could digitize them on your own as a first step. Scanners are no longer terribly expensive either.
Yes, I have scanned a number of photos and the wedding album was going to be my winter project, but laziness and actual work got in the way.
DeleteI need all my home vhs of 20 years plus saved- they may all be trash soon... Very sad! Dad's films too-
DeleteThis gives me a headache just to think about all the VHS tapes I need to try to preserve.
ReplyDeleteI've given up on trying to preserve everything. It's too big a job. Let it go.
ReplyDeleteI've been picking representative photos of occasions and scanning them and storing them in files for the future. I'm not very organized though and don't think they'll be very accessible to others. Sometimes I put out some effort to scratch the surface of it all and then I lose focus and say,'whatever?'
ReplyDeleteDon't let it go. I would consult with the local museum or historical society for advice. I would also organize the photos/videos and have levels of priority for preservation. If there are historical videos or photos in your collection to which you aren't especially attached, consider donating or lending to a museum or archive. It would be up to you if you want to retain or turn over the rights thereto.
ReplyDeleteAnd my online search for "preserving films and photographs" has brought up this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/booming/tips-on-preserving-family-films-and-photos.html
I hope you find it useful.
Although I've already scanned our photos, I haven't done anything with our reel to reels. Sigh... I think I'm just going to let it go. We have too many.
ReplyDeleteKay, contact the Bishop Museum or the UH-Manoa library for advice on preserving reel-to-reel film. If they contain historical footage (even recent footage), those places would appreciate having the originals or copies.
ReplyDelete