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Register of Experience/Expertise


Australian War Memorial

National Library of Australia

PowerHouse Museum

ScreenSound Australia

Archives Office of Tasmania

State Library of South Australia

State Library of Victoria

Commercial Treatment Options


During Stage One of the Cellulose Acetate Project, the National Library became aware that some participants had developed expertise in various aspects of dealing with deteriorating cellulose acetate materials. These people very kindly offered to be registered as available to offer advice to others about their work in this field. Those listed here are willing to be contacted about the work they are doing.

Australian War Memorial

Copying and digitisation of sheet film

The Australian War Memorial reports that they are reaching the end of their nitrate and cellulose acetate copying program. The program commenced in the late 1970's and when complete will have completed assessing and copying a selection of their entire nitrate and cellulose acetate collection.

Bill Fogarty is happy to talk with people about the AWM preservation program, which includes high resolution digitisation of their images for public access as well as producing preservation negatives.

Contact: Ian Fulton, email: Ian.Fulton@awm.gov.au, Ph: (02) 6243 4426.


National Library of Australia

Bibliography

As part of the Cellulose Acetate Project, the National Library of Australia has conducted a literature review of papers about cellulose acetate and the management of deteriorating collections. It has also compiled an annotated bibliography of references. Both these resources are available to other institutions dealing with cellulose acetate collections.

Contact: Hilary Berthon, email: hberthon@nla.gov.au, Ph: (02) 6262 1642.

Reel-to-reel Sound preservation

The Digital & Audio Preservation Resources (DAPR) area of Preservation Services at the National Library is willing to offer guidance to other institutions transferring cellulose acetate reel-to-reel sound material.

Contact: Shelly Grant, email: sgrant@nla.gov.au. Ph: (02) 6262 1655.


Powerhouse Museum Archives

Cool storage using fridges

The PowerHouse Museum Archives are preserving all their colour still and motion picture film, and vinegar acetate in (separate) domestic frost-free fridges. They have been running a 5 fridge system for around 3 years. The Archives holdings are small and this seems to work. All material is held in double thickness corrugated card boxes within a polyethylene sleeve. Each fridge is monitored using small electronic max/min hygrotherm, and each box has a small S&M humidity card showing through the polyethylene. Advice can be given on how to choose the best brand of fridge for this purpose.

Environmental conditions inside the fridges are 25% ± 3% RH at around 5°C. With magnetic material, tapes and film sound tracks etc, the fridge is kept above 10°C.

Contact: James Elwing, email: jamese@phm.gov.au, Ph: (02) 9217 0273.


ScreenSound Australia

ScreenSound Australia provides support for institutions dealing with cellulose acetate motion picture film collections through its Distributed National Collection program. It will provide:

  • Informal advice for short answer queries (eg. over-the-phone);
  • On-line technical terms glossary and archival advice help desk (coming to the ScreenSound Australia website soon);
  • Conservation advice for motion picture, audio and video collections. ScreenSound Australia offers the following fee-for-service items;
  • Advice on audio visual media collection management as a paid consultancy (collection survey, development of preservation policies etc);
  • Training in audio visual media management and preservation (either via the SSA/Charles Sturt University internet based course or by individually contracted services);
  • Conservation services for motion picture, audio and video collections (examination and condition reporting, cleaning, repair etc; subject to internal priorities);
  • Duplication of motion picture film (B&W only at the moment), audio and video. Also digital restoration of audio components (film sound, or video sound tracks included; subject to internal priorities);
  • reformatting of film, audio and video materials onto more stable media or more commercially saleable formats; subject to internal priorities.

Contact: Mick Newnham, Engineering & Research Group, email: mick_newnham@screensound.gov.au, Ph: (02) 6248 2118.


Archives Office of Tasmania

Copying film to video

The Archives Office of Tasmania has been involved in telecine copying 16mm motion picture film to video for access purposes as part of their preservation activities. This has been done on a small scale and they are happy to answer queries from others who are interested in this aspect of preserving cellulose acetate materials.

Contact Bill Taylor: email: bill.taylor@education.tas.gov.au, Ph: (03) 6249 9013.


State Library of South Australia

Discussion list

The State Library of South Australia also hosts the MICROLINK preservation microfilming discussion list which it offers as a forum for discussing key issues surrounding cellulose acetate microfilm deterioration.

Polarizing test for polyester

Library staff have experience in using the polarizing test to identify acetate/polyester microfilms in their collection and are willing to talk to others about this test.

Use of A-D test strips

The State Library staff have experience in testing their film collections using IPI A-D Strips and are currently investigating storage storage options for degrading film in the light of their current building redevelopment.

They are happy to be contacted by others to discuss their projects.

Contact: Heather Brown re microfilming issues, email: brown.heather@slsa.sa.gov.au, Ph: (08) 8207 7317, or Beth Robertson re Film and sound, email: robertson.beth@slsa.sa.gov.au, Ph:(08) 8207 7625.


State Library of Victoria

The State Library of Victoria will be building a cold store within the next 5 years for their cellulose acetate and nitrate negative collection. In order to provide specifications to planning engineers, a literature search of current best practice was carried out. Other institutions were also surveyed as to their experience and insight. These references are kept in the Conservation Studio library.

The State Library has experience in identifying nitrate and cellulose acetate sheet film, and prioritising it for duplication based on its stage of deterioration. The badly deteriorated material has been sent off site for cool storage until it can be duplicated.

All potential new acquisitions of flexible based negatives are tested to identify acetate and its condition, which will have some bearing on whether it is to be acquired. Examination includes edge printing, dating information and notch codes and physical characteristics. Tests commonly used are the Diphenylamine, Float Test, Burn Test the IPI A-D Strips.

Contact: Jane Hinwood, email: jhinwood@slv.vic.gov.au, Ph (03) 9669 9049


Commercial Treatment Options

The most common treatment method is emulsion stripping in which the emulsion is separated from the cellulose acetate material, creases flattened and the image duplicated. For a more comprehensive discussion of treatment options see p 33 of http://www.nla.gov.au/anica/cellulose.doc.

The American commercial firm The Chicago Albumen Works can provide emulsion stripping, duplicating and scanning services for deteriorated films. For a description of the process and contact information see http://www.albumenworks.com/Detacetatefilms.html.

ScreenSoundAustralia has also been experimenting with emulsion stripping. The institution will give advice and discuss the treatment but is unable to carry out work on a commercial basis. Contact mick.newnham@screensound.gov.au .


Disclaimer: While the information contained on this website has been prepared with due care and skill, findings and best practices in relation to Cellulose Acetate are likely to change over time. Accordingly, the information contained on this website is for general information only and should not be treated as a substitute for advice of a qualified conservator. While every effort has been made to present information which is accurate, the National Library accepts no responsibility for any damage or liability whatsoever for any damage or loss that is incurred as a result of the information presented on this website.


Page last updated 22 April 2003

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