Marie Lascu, Arizona State Library, Summer 2011, IMLS
I processed the audiovisual portion of the Ernest W. McFarland collection under the supervision of Linda Reib, Electronic Records Archivist at the Arizona State Archives History and Archives Division. I began with an item level inventory in excel of all of the media materials, which included 16mm film, 35mm film, electrical transcription discs, vinyl LPs, ¼” open reel audio tape, 2” video tape, VHS, and ¾” Umatics. After appropriate metadata was captured and information was compared to a previous inventory, I was able to re-house most of the materials.
All of the 16mm film was briefly inspected and put on archival cores and into archival containers. Some minor repairs were performed on films, such as re-splicing old masking tape splices and removing decayed frames. Of the approximately 130 films, 8 exhibited signs of vinegar syndrome. I was able to interact with other paper-based archivists, but I primarily worked alone as the inclusion and processing of media collections is relatively new to the archive. At this time, the film and video selection of the McFarland archive is accessible. Recommendations have been made for preservation and digitization of all of the materials. I concluded my internship with a brief screening of 16mm film from the collection, which was well received and I feel will aid in motivating further care of the audiovisual materials.
