Our times are perilous. Almost unthinkably so.

December 28, 2018 10:57 AM

Civil Defense Emergency Preparedness at Marshall Space Flight Center. Mount Rainier: Fire and Ice. United States Inter-Agency Committee for Nitrate Film Vault Tests: A Film Report on 4 of 22 Tests. Just a few of the many videos available from the US National Archives Youtube channel.
posted by edeezy (4 comments total)

Oh wow. This is an awesome channel. Thanks!

I got curious about the nitrate film vault test video, since it's silent.

Turns out the US National Archives has that background covered because, you know, archivists!

Film Preservation 101: Is Nitrate Film Really Dangerous?

There’s a quote from Orson Welles that’s rather famous among film archivists. Welles was asked about the fire that burned the negative of Citizen Kane and responded: “Film has a personality, and that personality is self-destructive. The job of the archivist is to anticipate what the film may do—and prevent it.”[1] The sentiment is true regarding both the flammable nitrate stock and the non-flammable acetate stock, because as it turned out, “safety” film is just as self-destructive and develops vinegar syndrome if not stored in the correct conditions.

[...]

The National Bureau of Standards halted testing in 1941 when the United States entered World War II and all resources were redirected toward the war effort. In 1948, experiments to establish “recommendations for safe storage” resumed with the Inter-agency Advisory Committee for Nitrate Film Vault Tests. A large vault was constructed and a range of variables tested, including how much film was stored in the vault, types of sprinklers and water flow rates, various film containers and racks, and the presence of thermal insulating material.

There are also photos of the #4 test from 1948 that's in the FPP:

Photograph of Nitrate Film Vault Test, Beltsville, Maryland before Test #4

So yes, I just went down a nitrate film disaster rabbit hole. There's more!

Disaster Strikes the National Archives: The 1978 Nitrate Vault Fire:

Around noon on December 7, 1978, staff of the National Archives and Records Service (NARS) were eating lunch inside the offices of Building A of the film vaults in the Suitland, Maryland, Federal Center when they heard a “thump” sounding like a fender bender out in the parking lot. A supervisor got up to investigate the source of the sound, saw smoke filling the central hallway of the building, and yelled “fire!” Everyone quickly evacuated. The Suitland Fire Department responded in minutes to a 911 call, but not before two more explosions.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:12 AM on December 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

US Department for the Preservation of American Dignity - Contingency Message Reel
posted by genpfault at 11:43 AM on December 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Those once-ubiquitous yellow and black fallout center signs? The Feds stopped supplying the shelters in the 1970's, and NYC took the remaining signs down just last year. You're on your own, now, kid.
posted by kozad at 11:56 AM on December 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Just watched "Welcome To Britain" (1943), a film to shows GIs how to behave in wartime Britain. Its really revealing about US and UK attitudes at the time, especially the bit about "the Negro". Burgess Meredith is really good in it, the advice is pretty accurate - considering - and its actually entertaining and well-made.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 3:42 PM on December 28, 2018 [3 favorites]