Technicolor has announced that it has donated the older section of its film archive collection to the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, a museum in upstate New York. Eastman House was already housing the world’s largest collection of Technicolor camera negatives. The current donation from Technicolor includes cameras, printers, photos, drawings, and documents that show the creative process that went into the production of Technicolor movies produced between 1915 and 1974.
Until being donated to Eastman House, Technicolor’s archive was kept in its Los Angeles vaults. Technicolor was considering simply throwing the collection out until the George Eastman House agreed to take the archives, Eastman House curator Caroline Frick Page informed the Associated Press. Page called the collection “one of the most unique pieces of film history existing in archives for study today.”
“Technicolor is to be commended for understanding the crucial importance of preserving its archive,” filmmaker Martin Scorsese said in a statement. Scorsese called Eastman House “the perfect place for this historically invaluable collection.”
Dr. Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director of George Eastman House, agreed, noting in a statement released by the museum that “many of the iconic films of the 20th century were photographed and presented in Technicolor, and this archive is the cornerstone piece in the study of color in motion pictures.” The collection will be made available to the public as soon as Eastman House staff members finish organizing the collection, including cataloguing and labeling each artifact.
Technicolor’s process for putting color into motion pictures quickly became an industry standard after it was first developed in the 1920s.
George Eastman was the founder of Kodak. Eastman House is a museum located in his 50-room Rochester, New York mansion. Eastman House has been collecting historic photographs and film footage since 1947. It is storing more than 6,600 movies that were recorded before 1951, including the original negatives for “Gone with the Wind,” “Meet Me in St. Louis,” and “Little Women.” These films were recorded on fragile nitrate film. The museum stores them in cold, low-humidity vaults to keep them from rotting. It hopes to delay the rotting process for these historic films for hundreds of years.
Individuals and businesses storing their own archival film collections can learn from the Eastman House’s methods for preserving film artifacts. Like paper documents, film recordings, and even audio recordings, are very vulnerable to decay if they are exposed to light, humidity, or changes in temperature. Variations in humidity and temperature can cause the images on film to fade. It is important to store reels of film in a dark, cold, climate-controlled environment such as a self storage unit. Extra Space Storage, for example, has climate-controlled units in many major cities, including Dallas-Fort Worth, New York, and Chicago.
While organizing archival films, labeling them, or packing them to put into a self storage unit, it is important to wear cotton gloves and handle items gently. If you do not have cotton gloves, wash your hands and handle film carefully by the edges. If film has already been exposed to dirt and dust, you may still be able to restore it to its original condition by having it professionally cleaned.
Be particularly careful with film if you notice that it is giving off an odor. Film that has a noticeable smell is usually acetate- or nitrate-based and can be very fragile. Acetate-based film gives off an odor of vinegar, while nitrate-based film may smell as if it is burning. Both types of film can become very brittle as they age.
Another thing to consider when storing very old film is that nitrate-based film (the oldest films) is extremely flammable – it has even been known to self-combust. In addition, as nitrate-based film deteriorates, it gives off nitric acid, nitric oxide, and nitrogen dioxide, which can harm other negatives that are being stored with it, and may even damage nearby metals. If you know that you have nitrate-based film, you should not store it in a self-storage unit, because most self storage facilities have rules against storing flammable materials or hazardous materials, and nitrate-based films fall into both categories. Instead, store it in a facility that meets NFPA 40 – the Standard for the Storage and Handling of Cellulose Nitrate Motion Picture Film.
Sources used:
Chicago Artists Resource. “Celluloid film hazards in conservation.”
Dobbin, Ben. “Upstate NY film museum gets Technicolor collection.” The Associated Press. March 26, 2010.
Dougherty, Nate. “Eastman House receives Technicolor archive material.” The Rochester Business Journal. March 25, 2010.
George Eastman House. “Technicolor donates archive to George Eastman House.” March 25, 2010.
Messier, Paul. Conservators of Fine Arts and Material Culture, Rocky Mountain Conservation Center. “Preserving your collection of film-based photographic negatives.”
Polymer Science Learning Center. “Polymers in film history.”