Film Preservation Guide
A Collaborative Project Funded by
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

As scholars increasingly use motion pictures as research materials, more and more paper-based archives, libraries, and museums are discovering historically significant films in their collections. For fragile films, preservation is the key step to availability.

Thanks to the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, two new publications are available to help cultural repositories care for rare films in their collections: The Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and Museums and the IPI Media Storage Quick Reference are designed specifically to introduce film preservation concepts and techniques to museum, archive, and library professionals without prior moving image experience.

The NFPF's The Film Preservation Guide covers archival practices for handling, identifying, copying, storing, and making available motion pictures under conditions that extend their useful life. The publication traces the path of film through the preservation process, from acquisition to exhibition, and describes preservation and access approaches that are practical for research collections of 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm film. The 138-page publication includes an index, technical glossary, and photo-illustrations prepared by the staff of George Eastman House.  Most chapters end with case studies providing examples from the field. The guide received the Society of American Archivists’ 2005 Preservation Publication Award. The publication can be downloaded at no cost from the NFPF Web site or ordered as a printed book. To view the contents or order a copy, click here.

The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) at the Rochester Institute of Technology created the companion publication, the IPI Media Storage Quick Reference, to assist institutions that house films as part of multimedia collections. This guide distills critical preservation issues for a range of research materials —photographic and motion picture film, photographic prints, ink jet prints, photographic glass plates, magnetic audio, video, computer tape, CDs, and DVDs, and provides charts comparing how varying temperature conditions affect the long-term stability of each. The 10-page booklet and look-up wheel serve as a one-stop reference aid for planning storage of mixed-media collections. IPI Media Storage Quick Reference can be purchased from IPI; the booklet can be downloaded at no cost from the IPI Web site.

The publications would not have been possible without the assistance of scores of individuals who generously contributed their time to help with the project. Heading the list are the representatives from the Council on Library and Information Resources, Duke University, George Eastman House, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Nebraska State Historical Society, and Northeast Historic Film who served on the editorial committee. Also providing invaluable assistance were the participants in the two needs assessment workshops, students of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman House who tested the draft publications, and the many technical experts and archivists who reviewed the manuscripts and provided helpful suggestions.