[ARSCLIST] Reel-to-reel tapes: storage conditions and potential content retrieval

[m segal <joule@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good evening, all:

I'm posting the following exchange, with the permission of the 
original correspondent, from the Archives and Archivists listserv. I 
have basic ideas about next steps in this matter, but rather than 
shoot from the hip with my 201-level understanding, I thought my 
esteemed colleagues here might be willing and more able to share 
their knowledge.

If you have more technical advice, or guidance, please contact me 
off-list. Many thanks.

Marcia K. Segal
Processing Archivist
American Folklife Center
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.


The original post:
An older Sister of our community who had many original reel-to-reel 
tapes died recently.  She kept
them with her in her room, which, due to her advanced age, was always 
kept quite warm.  Summers were humid, too, so that these tapes were 
in hot and humid conditions for 50 years or so. It would have been 
impossible to get the tapes from her sooner.

I was wondering if it is better to place them in our coolroom first 
(40 degrees, about 45 percent humidity) for some time and then spool 
through them and see how they play or just to play them now. Does 
this matter at all?

My response:
The one important bit of advice I'd give you is this: do not try to 
play any of the tapes at this stage. It could damage them beyond the 
point of retrieiving the content.

Ultimately, this is a content retrieval matter, and you might have 
only one chance to get the content before the tapes and their 
component parts degrade beyond help.

And her follow-up response:
The tapes are most likely completely unique recording of our Founder 
(died 1968) or of older sisters. The room conditions were probably 70 
or 75 degrees with super humid summers and cold dry winters.  We are 
talking about the motherhouse on a bluff over the Rhine near Koblenz.