Re: [ARSCLIST] storage media

[Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 6/9/04 3:33:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Donnas@xxxxxxx
writes:

> Speaking of storage media, can anyone tell me whether reel-to-reel should
be
> put in special storage cases?  Most of our tapes are currently in the boxes
> the tape comes in.

My opinion is that nitrate or acetate materials should not be stored in
containers that let them stew in their own juices.  Cardboard boxes that allow gas
diffusion seem to be the best.

I have Kodak Safety Film rolls from the mid 1920s that still run through a
projector just fine, that are still in their original cardboard return boxes.
However a friend of mine just went to great expense salvaging his home movies
from a highly deteriorated state from having been sealed in metal cans for half
as long.

I also have samples of nitrate based sheet film (oscillograph recordings)
which were inserted into laboratory notebooks in the early 1930s which show
absolutely no deterioration.

I would use sturdy, acid free cardboard in a temperature-humidity controlled
environment to preserve these materials for another 50-75 years.

Mike Csontos