Post by Brea Atchley, Records Analyst

Photos by David Adamson, Records Analyst

January 2025

Microfilm can last up to 500 years. And IARA’s State Imaging & Microfilm Lab makes sure that happens. But not all microfilm lives up to the high standards of our lab technicians.

Of the thousands of rolls at the Indiana Archives, some of them are composed of acetate film, which is tricky. If left unchecked, like this example from a county repository (see note below*) it can deteriorate, erasing all the data. When the damage gets really bad it can look just like snakeskin, which is how we refer to it in the lab.

To prevent this loss, we are evaluating the entire acetate film collection and remastering the reels – that is, transferring the images to a different kind of film that is of higher quality and won’t deteriorate.

Here are the steps the lab takes to do this work:

1. Once we receive the acetate rolls, we immediately inspect each roll for torn film, bad splices, and level of deterioration.
2. Once we completed our initial evaluation, we diazo duplicate¹ all the rolls to ensure no more information is lost.
3. After duplication, all the original masters are placed in the cooler.
4. At this point we may digitize a collection and remaster the rolls using our SMA 51 Archive Writer.² However, this process was very slow and time consuming.
5. After some time in the cooler, we take another look at the masters to see if perhaps they are strong enough to run through our silver duplicator to create a duplicate master.
   1. This is the quickest process for remastering acetate reels. However, extremely degraded reels are at a higher risk of breaking during the duplication process as the duplicator heats up the film and acetate stresses under high heat. You must evaluate and decide whether the original masters will survive being direct duplicated.
6. After a few tests, if the film is not breaking, then we will direct duplicate them.
7. Over a few months, we take a small batch of rolls out of the cooler, let them sit for a couple of hours, inspect them again to ensure no more deterioration has occurred while in the cooler, and then duplicate them.
8. Once the rolls are processed to ensure they are successful duplicated, we repeat step 7 until the full collection is remastered.

Remember, if you have acetate film, it is crucial to check the film regularly to prevent this level of deterioration. SIML is currently working through the acetate collections in our vault to remaster as many rolls as possible, working to save our Indiana history!

Notes:

*Important note on images showing deterioration: This box was not stored in our vault. It came from a county repository without access to the essential environmental controls employed here at IARA. Luckily, no important information was lost as IARA has the original paper copies of the records from these reels.

1. Diazo film is a low-cost option of film that is a direct duplication of the master. This type of film has a life expectancy of only 50 years and has become nearly impossible to source. This film can be easily identified by its yellowish background. Fun Fact – diazo film is processed using ammonia!

2. Our SMA 51 8k Archive Writer is essential in our current microfilm production due to the increasing demands of the digital world. With this machine, we are able to easily write digital (born and create) files to microfilm quickly while also producing a high quality image.