National Archives and Records Service film-vault fire at Suitland, Md. : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session, June 19 and 21, 1979 (1979)

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51 AVe now plan to convert the aerial images to 105-nim film rather than 70 nmi. We will be utilizing a recently developed process that we hope will enable us to convert the images with acceptable clarity for approximately one-fourth the cost of a 1-to-l conversion — the only previously available technology that would have provided an acceptable reproduction image. If this procedure is not satisfactory, we may have to reconsider a 1-to-l conversion. Your conmiittee also has expressed interest in the policies and practices of the National Archives in accepting film fix>m public agencies and private sources, and in our capability to preserve the film we acquire. I would like first to comment on the INIarch of Time and Universal collections specifically, a2id newsreels generally. I believe these collections are representative of the types of materials NARS has been and would be willing to accession. These two collections were targets of the Comptroller General's report of a year ago on the Government's care of motion picture holdings which criticized our film accessioning policies. The Archives Act of 1934 authorized the National Archives "* * * to accept, store, and preserve motion picture films and sound recordings pertaining to and illustrative of historical activities of the United States." NARS' interest in the preservation of newsreels stems from this act and our active accessioning policies of the 1930's and 1940's. The Federal Records Act of 1950, although less specific in its authorizing language, was never interpreted in principle or practice to exclude non-Federal films of historical value, and our policy of accessioning ncAvsreels obviously continued after passage of that act. The largest accession of newsreels by NARS was the Universal collection, comprised of some 17 million feet of nitrate film and 11 million feet of acetate film. Agreement for the transfer was made in November 1970, and the transfers of film took place from 1971 through 1974. These newsreels cover the period from 1929 through 1967. Other newsreels acquired by NARS include : Paramount News, 194057, accessioned between 1941 and 1957; Fox ^fovietone, 1957-63, accessioned between 1957 and 1963; News of the Day, 1963-67, accessioned between 1964 and 1967; and March of Time, covering the years 1935-51, accessioned in 1975. With the exception of the March of Time and Universal collections, the accessions were composed solely of theater releases. Paramount newsreels from the nitrate periocl were converted to safety film shortly after transfer to NARS. The NARS efforts to preserve American newsreels are particularly important because of their value in studying American history and culture, and in showing the interaction of tlie Government with its citizens. The rapid disintegration of newsreel negatives still held in the private sector without any provision for preservation underlines the need for a Federal effort. Since Government and the activities of public officials are by definition newsworthy, much of the newsreel footage relates to the activities of the Federal Government. Visual documentation of most of these activities is not duplicated in records created by the Federal Government.