We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
458
When manufacture of nitrate film ended, two far-reaching innovations in film technology occurred almost simultaneously. One was the replacement of nitrate with nonflammable cellulose acetate plastic film support. Based on the (now obsolete) accelerated aging tests of the day, film manufacturers announced that safety films had far superior permanence over nitrate films. Attitudes toward preservation were shaped by the conviction that acetate stock was "permanent," while nitrate was not. We now know that acetate and nitrate both share a tendency to degrade; in fact, in some collections, the losses from acetate decomposition are greater than from nitrate. Nature does not distinguish much between cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate when it comes to deterioration.
The second key innovation of the early 1950s was the introduction of chromogenic color motion picture stocks, to replace the cumbersome Technicolor process of the. 1930s and 1940s. Audiences and cinematographers embraced color with thoroughgoing and deep affection, so that few films after 1960 were made in black and white. Unfortunately, the use of color introduced a tremendous new problem of rapid color fading. The instability of organic color dyes, like the decomposition of nitrate and acetate film base, results from a chemical process which can be speeded up or slowed by the temperature and humidity of the storage environment. Warm-and-humid conditions accelerate the rates of fading and decomposition, while cool-and-dry conditions greatly slow the reactions.
The focus on nitrate and on duplication that has dominated film preservation efforts does not confront the current realities of unstable safety stock and color dyes. A rising tide of deterioration is flowing through film collections, touching the smaller and medium-sized institutions most acutely. The short life expectancies which once were thought to be only a problem for nitrate now face nearly all films, because almost every film is either on nitrate or acetate base, or else is in color. Today's color is more stable than earlier emulsions, but it still has a short life in archival terms, unless it is stored properly.
Prevention Should Be New Preservation Policy Emphasis
The starting point for policy change is to recognize a number of unpleasant facts. One is the sheer size of the task. There are enormous quantities of films in established film archives, and perhaps even larger amounts in other kinds of collections and institutions. The huge volumes of film mean that massive efforts would be required to address the problem through preemptive copying. Film archives face shrinking budgets for preservation. Resources are diminished not only by rising duplication costs.
34 Redefining Film Preservation