Videotape and film preservation is a field of its own.  I would strongly
suggest you contact the Association of Moving Image Archivists (they're
easily found on the web; their listserv is at [log in to unmask]) and ask
them for members in your area or for members who work with non-
profits/museums.  You probably need to find a copyright consultant (the one
I know is David Pierce, cinemaweb.com/silentfilm) and/or a preservation
firm (Colorlab in Virginia is a good one that is particularly flexible
about working with limited budgets).  Copyright law for film and
preservation/conservation is very complex, and I cannot stress enough that
you need to get professional advice before you do anything that could get
you in legal trouble.

However, unofficially I believe that the advice you were given earlier
about making a preservation copy is probably accurate--but I am a student,
not an authority.  Some of the issues discussed about cataloging
educational collections also apply to film collections.

There are a few moving image archives associated with museums. Examples
that come to mind immediately are the Human Studies Film Archives (part of
the National Anthropological Archives) with the National Museum of Natural
History (the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the American History
Archives also have film collections), MoMA's Division of Film, Video, and
Television, and the George Eastman House/Selznick School of Film
Preservation.  The staff at all are very responsive and I'm sure would be
happy to refer you to appropriate sources.

<soapbox> Film and video preservation is something really important for
people in the museum field to understand and know about, because film is
becoming a bigger part of our historical record, and more and more are
coming into the possession of museums.  Even if we don't know about it
ourselves, it's important for museum staff to recognize the symptoms of a
film in need of conservation/restoration and understand preservation and
appropriate conditions for film and video, and know who to contact to deal
with these issues. </soapbox>

You can contact me off-list for specific names and addresses if you're
really interested.

Good luck,
Kathy Mancuso
Orphans of the Storm Student Organizing Committee
(biennial symposium on film preservation & archiving;
www.sc.edu/filmsymposium)

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