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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE FILM-VAULT FIRE AT SUITLAND, MD.
TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1979
House of Representatives,
Government Information AND Individual Rights Subcommittee OF THE Committee ox Gox'ernment Operations,
Washington^ D.O.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., in room 2203, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Richardson Preyer (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representaitives Richardson Preyer, Robert F. Drinan, David W. Evans, Thomas N. Kindness, and M. Caldwell Butler.
Also present: Timothy H. Ingram, staff director; Timothy R. Hutchens, professional staff member; Maura J. Flaherty, clerk; and Thomas Morr, minority professional staff, Committee on Government Operations.
Mr. Preyer. The subcommittee will come to order.
We begin the first of 2 days of hearings today to discuss the fire in the Xational Archives' film-vault building in Suitland, Md., on December 7th of last year.
On that day, fire destroyed about 12.5 million feet of film, most of it old newsreel outtakes — the footage that ended up on the cutting room floor rather than on the screens of movie theaters.
The destroyed film was nearly half of a collection of newsreel footage that Universal Studios had donated to the ArcJiives in 1970. Following the 1970 gift, the Archives also accepted a similar collection of INIarch of Time newsreels which fill an identical vault building in Suitland.
In this other building, a fire broke out during August of 1977, but was contained to just one of 27 vaults. In December's fire, the film in 21 vaults was destroyed.
The cause of last winter's fire may never be known. As we will hear this morning, the fire department believes the film ignited spontaneously because the vaults were too warm.
However, an investigating subcommittee from the General Services Administration speculates that the cause may have been associated with workmen using a power drill in a vault. '
But whether or not we ever find out the exaxit cause of the fire, we hope to explore the reasons that the vault building did not contain the December fire, and generally, the ability of the Archives to store all of the film it acquires.
Mr. Kindness, do you have some comments before we proceed?
Mr. Kindness. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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