Movies have documented America for more than one hundred years. Since Thomas Edison introduced the movie camera in 1893, amateur and professional moviemakers have used moving pictures to tell stories and explain the work of business and government. By preserving these movies, we will save a century of history.
Unfortunately, movies are not made to last. Already the losses are high. Only 20% of US feature films from the 1910s to 1920s survive. Of the American features produced before 1950, about half exist. For independently produced works, we have no way of knowing how much has been lost.
For many libraries and museums, the hardest step in preserving movie collections is getting started. The Movie Preservation Guide is designed for these organizations. These institutions have collections of moving pictures but lack information about how to take care of them. The Guide contains basic facts for "beginners"—professionals trained in history but unschooled in this technical area.
The Guide grew from user workshops at Duke University. At the sessions, beginners talked with technical experts about what they needed to know to preserve and make available their movie collections.
Following the advice, the Guide describes methods for handling and storing moving pictures that are practical for research institutions with limited resources. The Guide has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
A. "Keep it simple!" was the advice of the discussions.
B. They'll be damaged within years if not properly stored.
C. These organizations are the first to save American movies.
D. It is organized in chapters and includes case studies and charts.
E. It introduces movie preservation to nonprofit and public institutions.
F. They show how generations of Americans have lived, worked and dreamed.
G. They store the original movies and new ones under coolanddry conditions.
