Week One

For the first week of my film related work at the Archives Service Center I was introduced to the task at hand and read some materials relating to the subject. For my project I will be working with about 8-10 boxes of University Archive Film. This film is of varying sizes, formats, and conditions and my task is to indentify the material present and its condition. The purpose of this assignment is to decide the future maintenance or retention of the film.

To begin my research for this project I went the National Film and Sound Archives website. It was from here that I gained better knowledge on general film identification; http://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/film_handbook/film_identification.html,
And condition reporting; http://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/film_handbook/condition_reporting.html

In order to provide for sufficient access to these materials, it is important to know what they are in terms of format, subject matter, condition, and location. An initial, partially performed inventory shows that the majority of these films are of Pitt football games from the 1950s-1960s with some basketball or other sports related event. The films seem to be the original negatives and I do not know of the last time any of this material was viewed. Some issues that are evident from first glance at the film are mold, shrinkage, stress, scratching, and tares. The ultimate goal of this compile and complete inventory and condition report of the films, relocate and in some instances rehouse the film, and provide better knowledge for the user and the archive’s decision to preserve, digitize, or deaccession some of the material.