Valuable Government-Owned Motion Picture Films Are Rapidly Deteriorating

Federal film libraries and depositories are storing film under conditions that do not meet environmental standards recommended by the film industry, and as a result, valuable historical films may be deteriorating. Factors contributing to this condition are facilities not specifically designed for film storage, inadequate storage space, and inadequate funds for proper storage facilities.

Because of large film accessions, some storage areas in the National Archives are filled beyond shelf capacity. Many of these films appear to have no archival value and raise questions as to whether they should be retained in the Archives. These kinds of accessions are partially caused by the lack of detailed criteria for determining the archival significance of films and other records. Many federal departments and agencies have inadequate film inspection, maintenance, and preservation programs; as a result, agency officials do not know the condition of their own motion picture holdings. They attribute this problem to a lack of funds and personnel. Management attention is needed to see that priorities are set and procedural guidelines for the handling of film are promulgated.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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