Wednesday, October 14, 2009

PROTECT YOUR HOME MOVIES

Home movies are important historic documents that will disappear without proper care. Store the films in a cool, dry place--a bedroom closet, perhaps, but not the attic or basement. Keep them in boxes or canisters. Label them. Do not repair them with tape. Only play them on the proper projectors. Copy them to DVDs or cassettes to watch them, but keep the original films.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have many 16mm movies from the 1930's thru about 1948, which I inherited from my father. My niece copied some of them onto VHS tapes, so I have the originals. However, but now I wonder how or where or who can I contact if I want to get rid of them. I am almost 80 years old and I know my 2 daughters and their families will probably not keep them.
Please answer on the internet or in the Kovel newsletters, which I subscribe to. Thanks,
h.carolyn@fuse.net

Anonymous said...

My husband suggests contacting the library of any University. Many of them maintain a collection of old movies for reference.

Unknown said...

I too have many 16mm movies that my grandfather took from the early 30s up to about the mid 50s..all in color. There are five cases, each of which has 12 cannisters,with full reels in each cannister.They cover anything from driving the old route from/to Connecticut to Florida, a trip to Los Angeles,mowing and baling hay,and of course the requisite films of his grandchildren. I am very interested in the preservation of these films but am concerned with the cost of transferring them to DVDs.I fear that this could be a stupendously expensive undertaking. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Anonymous said...

Costco offers a service in their photo department where they can convert 16mm movies onto DVD. The cost is minimal when you consider how much they can fit onto the DVD and that you are preserving your family history for generations to come.