Copying deteriorated acetate film

Irela Nunez de Lucioni <mlucioni<-a t->aloe< . >ulima< . >edu< . >pe> writes

>I have a question about acetate film, so deteriorated that the
>emulsion has separated from the base in some portions, and the base
>itself is so fragile that is broken every 20 frames or so. What can I
>make to copy the film?

In still photography, much attention has been paid to the
conservation of delaminated acetate negatives and a very successful
and predictable routine has been developed for the preservation and
duplication of these images. This procedure was developed by and is
in regular use at the Chicago Albumen Works. It was presented to the
Photo Materials Group of the AIC at the February, 1997, Winter
Meeting in San Francisco.

The procedures calls for the image layer to be chemically separated
from the deteriorated film base, cleaned, relaxed, duplicated and
preserved. The procedure could be adapted to handle strips of
microfilm or cinema film, although it is obvious that it would be
quite tedious, especially if the intent were to re-create the
microfilm or cinema footage.

However, removing and relaxing the emulsion layer is the only method
whereby the full image can be retrieved, unobscured by folds and
furrows in the emulsion. If the film is truly unique and highly
valuable, a number of alternatives, based on this procedure, could
be proposed.

One important feature of the stripping procedure is that cracks and
breaks in the image can be nearly perfectly joined during
duplication (so long as no emulsion has actually broken away).

For more information, please contact the Chicago Albumen Works
offlist.

Doug Munson
Chicago Albumen Works
Front Street
Housatonic, MA 01236
413-274-6901
Fax: 413-274-6934

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:50
                 Distributed: Monday, December 8, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-50-005
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