What's Past is Prologue

I'm an MLS student on the archives track at the University of Maryland. I found myself posting a lot of articles, photos, links, etc. regarding archives, libraries, books, and other things on my Facebook, and felt it would be better to put these posts in a place specifically for the purpose of creating a fond of sorts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonds), chronically things I find interesting about archives, libraries and books.

Oh and in the interest of citing sources, the title of the blog is from The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

February 13, 2012 2:31 am
Flaming Pictures: Debate on Saving Historic Films Explodes

bestmatedonnanoble:

suehwang:

“Is it acceptable to destroy cultural objects as if they were land mines? This is a question faced by archivists in Germany, where many of the country’s historical films were shot on explosive nitrocellulose. A bitter fight has broken out in Germany over whether the film should be preserved or destroyed.”

Wow this article…just. UGH. I’m sorry, I get really frustrated about this. Yes, nitrate film is dangerous, WHEN IT ISN’T KEPT UNDER THE PROPER CONDITIONS. But I’m so sick of people thinking it’s ok to just destroy the films once they’re transferred to safety stock. Unless they are completely deteriorated, you don’t destroy them…you just don’t. I think my biggest frustration is just how much misinformation there is when it comes to things like this, and labeling all nitrate film as “highly explosively” is just, no pun intended, fueling the fires of misinformation. 

  1. thefriendlyarchivist reblogged this from bestmatedonnanoble
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  3. bestmatedonnanoble reblogged this from suehwang and added:
    Wow this article…just. UGH. I’m sorry, I get really frustrated about this. Yes, nitrate film
  4. suehwang posted this