Welcome to our blog! Over the coming weeks we will be posting information on our activities to prepare a collection of 16mm film for digitisation. These activities are being undertaken by a group of Masters students at the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation (CCMC), University of Melbourne, with assistance from a number of other people and organisations.
A collaboration between CCMC, Racing Victoria and the Australian Racing Museum, the project is a pilot for the preparation of approximately 4,000 reels of moving image footage for digitisation. A Knowledge Transfer Grant was secured through the University of Melbourne to enable Masters students to undertake this conservation work and learn through hands-on experience. Tasks include surveying and documenting the materials, rewinding and conservation in preparation for interstate transport and image capture, and recommendations for ongoing preservation.
The project was initiated in response to disaster recovery of the TVN Thoroughbred Racing Archive in the wake of severe storms in Melbourne in early 2010. This working collection, which in its entirety is comprised of books and a variety of moving image formats, is managed by the Racing Victoria Archive and has a high level of access requests. The 16mm film component of the collection holds significant footage of prestigious horse races from the 1940’s onwards, including extensive crowd shots and rare footage of racing icons. Due to the lack of suitable equipment, the 16mm film archive has not been accessible for a number of years, and many items were uncatalogued. By digitising this material, this project aims to make available this information to the public, as well as providing an added measure to ensure content survival.
