Tweet Trying to find the right home for 80 newsreels.

Good evening,

my father rescued 80 tins of nitrate WW2 news reel to prevent it from being burned a demolition company. He wants to either donate it to a museum, or sell it to a collector.

The film is in perfect condition, and is generally Gaumont British News, with some Ministry of Information films also, such as "Carelessness Causes Fires", and "Ack Ack", a documentary about AA gunners.

It was borrowed in the early 90's by the Imperial War Museum and copied, and much of the content ended up in the "World at War" documentary series.

I am here in the hope that some of you may care to offer advice on how we might see it 'moved on' to someone either willing to pay for it, and collect it, or to a facility where it might be stored safely, with little risk of destruction! The film makes my Dad nervous, and takes up a lot of space. It would just be such a shame if it were destroyed, but we can't keep it much longer.

Thank you all for any suggestions you can make.

[silentfilm]

You didn't mention where you and the films are located. Are you in the UK?

I'd highly recommend you contact the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center.

http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/contact/

Thank you for the suggestion.

I'm in the UK, in Northern Ireland.

I suppose I should tell you a little about this film, as it was suggested to me in a private message that it may need restoration. It was kept in a bunker used for the storage of liquid nitrogen most of it's life, and either through my Dad's foresight, or luck perhaps, is in perfect condition.

I will continue to look for UK-based facilities, although I'm sure if the Library of Congress are prepared to ship it then it would be a good home for them.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/ <- should check out the locals then.

Pookybear

It's important to remember that some of the labels could
be wrong and there could be lost silent films in them.

Yes, we had a good look through them over as lightbox recently, to assess them for damage. The labels are often wrong, and some of the films are spooled backwards, but are all tightly spooled and free of any degradation.

We found a fascinating reel entitled "What's Underneath", which seems to be a 'beach bikini babe' contest - the producer's words not mine. This film seemed to have been spliced in there instead of an M.O.I. film.

We're hoping to get the full contents of the reels from the Imperial War Museum, as they have copied them all, we'd rather not expose them to condensation etc.

Thanks for the suggestions!