Labelling film

Stephen Harwood <mcard.pro.kew<-a t->gtnet< . >gov< . >uk> writes

>We are housing a small collection of 35mm Kodak Safety film which
>has been rolled and will remain loosely rolled. Each strip requires
>labelling.

You do not state whether the film is rolled merely upon itself or
upon film reels or "cores," nor of what length the strips of film
are.

I will assume them to be of historic or archival films rather than
newly-made records for preservation.  In the latter case, it is
preferable to photograph identifying information--legible to the
unaided eye--at the beginning of the film record.  The possibility
exists of adding such information by shooting new film and appending
it to the old by means of splicing, however, problems may arise with
this method, owing to the differing dimensional stability of
mismatched film bases, and the incompatibility of such bases for
splicing by ultrasound, the preferred method for preservation.

I cannot think of any sound method of adding the information to the
film itself if writing on the film is disallowed.  I would not
recommend perforating the film with identifying characters, as has
sometimes been done.

Films of up to about 120 ft. in length, if rolled on reels or cores
of one or two inches in core diameter, may be secured by a "button
and string ties," which should be free of acid and lignin, as they
will be in direct contact with the film.  Obviously, these would
accommodate films of even greater length without such reeling media
(leaving aside problems associated with tight, "coreless" winding of
older film bases.   These 35mm. paper strips provide ample space to
record identifying information, but they do have the disadvantage
that they are not truly integral with the film itself and,
therefore, may go astray or become mismatched among the films.

Afterthought: a sleeve material, made of a mylar or mylar-like
substance, is sold in long rolls, which are cut down to size for any
film length.  It is flexible and permits rolling, and one could, no
doubt, write on the outside of this material.  I am not prepared to
vouch for the safety of the substance for purposes of preservation,
as some esters of this type are harmful to film, causing chemical
deterioration or glazing of emulsions.

Charles Stewart
Sr. Photographic Technician
Library Photo Service
California, Berkeley

                                  ***
                 Conservation DistList Instance 10:106
                  Distributed: Wednesday, June 4, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-10-106-004
                                  ***