Posts: 276
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2004

posted 06-26-2022 11:03 AM               

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I am looking for advice on what to do with 16 reels of 16mm film that came from RCA/Technicolor lab on Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa Beach.

These are from the family of the lead technician and have been passed down to his son. The subject matter is Apollo, Skylab and early space shuttle missions. He would like to either sell or donate them to a good home.

I believe museums generally steer clear of these because of difficulty preserving and displaying. Any opinions will appreciated.

Posts: 829
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012

Posts: 1634
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 06-26-2022 01:09 PM               

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Wow! Definitely don't put those in the dumpster!

I can't answer for the museums, but the display of clips of the film is actually pretty easy after digital conversion (which does cost money). I just paid $144 to convert a seven minute long reel of 8mm film to digital, so figure at least that much for each reel of 16mm.

The first thing the conversion folks did was open the film can and smell the film. Film that goes bad has a very pungent chemical smell. They also reeled a foot or two of film off the reel to make sure that it wasn't stuck together. If you do those two things for each reel, that might help you better let a museum, etc. know what you've got (and what they might be in for if they take it).

Posts: 1068
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014

Posts: 276
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2004

posted 06-27-2022 08:59 PM               

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I am afraid these may have a chemical smell to the majority of the films. When I opened the canister they smelled like fresh copies of paper off the printer that a school teacher would hand out during the 60's and 70's. Would this be consistent with them smell mentioned?

Chuck, I will contact the museum and give them the details and they can let me know how they would like to procced.

Posts: 1
From: Monroe, CT, USA
Registered: Jan 2022

posted 06-28-2022 10:22 AM               

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We inherited 1000s of feet of old 16mm film shot by my wife's grandfather in the 40s and 50s. Since it was kept in a fairly cool place for most of those years, most of the reels have survived well and just need cleaning, but some do have vinegar syndrome. The smell is pretty unmistakable (ours does smell like strong vinegar) but people may have different perceptions of what that odor actually smells like.

That doesn't mean the film is necessarily unviewable yet, though. Good photo/film transfer labs can still digitize film with vinegar syndrome provided it has not gotten to the point of no return. Even brittle and/or severely curled film might be able to be saved. For example, all the family film we have here can still be viewed and with some treatment the degradation can be slowed enough (and cleaned well enough) to digitize/restore it before it gets too bad.

My sister works for a large archives in the Boston area and they won't take film for the reason you stated - they simply do not have the resources to clean, preserve or digitize it - but others might.