Did you know that ENTRE can conduct site visits to inspect an audio/visual collection you are considering preserving? Well, it’s a very new aspect of our archival services but we were very excited to explore what this could mean when we were contacted by the Gladys Porter Zoo in January about some 16mm film reels they found in their archive. After a few email exchanges with Tony Peña, Gladys Porter Zoo’s Multimedia Coordinator, we planned a site visit to inspect the condition of the film so the team had a better idea of whether or not the materials were able to be preserved.
It had been a while since I had been able to do this type of field work. Although I’ve been active and working in film archival and preservation for over a decade, the handling and inspection of materials has become a rare occasion in my day-to-day tasks. One thing that continues to fuel my passion for this work is the tactility and investigative nature of the inspection process. As you may imagine, the request for a site visit to assess film materials at the Zoo was a welcomed and exciting prospect and a task I knew would bring me much joy.
It was a quiet and cool Monday morning in Brownsville as I arrived with gear in tow: film rewinds, a 16mm splicer, splicing tape, 16mm film leader, 16mm split reels, and a pair of white cotton archival gloves. I was directed towards the Staff Only area of the Zoo’s entry and was greeted by Tony. I set up the rewinds and made a little inspection station at one of the tables in the room as he brought in the materials from storage. They had five 1000-foot reels of 16mm films, two which appeared to be shot by Dean Porter, Gladys Porter’s husband, in 1958, two were educational films, and one was elusively titled Journey to Africa: The Chase. Tony said they wanted to have the films digitized only if they contained Gladys Porter, so we took a closer look.
As we opened the boxes containing the reels, the smell of vinegar permeated the air. This is a sign of deterioration called Vinegar Syndrome, and although it doesn’t mean the film is unsalvageable, it does mean the deterioration process has begun and time is of the essence to preserve it. The first film canister we opened was one of the educational films titled At the Crossroads: The Story of America’s Endangered Species. Sadly, this film became the poster child for Vinegar Syndrome beyond salvation:
There was no way this film, without extensive cleaning and treatment done by chemists and professionals (time consuming and extremely costly), could be scanned or preserved. It was brittle and the oxidation process of the tin film can had inevitably affected the celluloid itself, exasperating the deterioration of the film. Since it was an educational film most likely distributed to schools, we knew it would not contain Gladys Porter, so it was an easy decision to take it off the list of possible preservation.
The other educational film titled The Last Chance was in pretty good condition (it was stored in an archival plastic can and reel), but again, did not feature Gladys Porter so we also set it aside.
Then came the two films titled Africa Reel 1 & Africa Reel 2 produced by Dean Porter in 1958. Although both these films were stored in tin cans and reels, they were in surprisingly good condition. There was some fading and shrinkage, but overall the film was not brittle and was able to be reviewed on the rewinds. And lo and behold…
Tony called over the rest of his team and found a magnifying glass to assist in enlarging the frame (note to self: invest in a loupe for ENTRE). Everyone was excited to see what was on the film, as well as to learn about film handling and preservation practices.
“I feel like I’m on an episode of Mr. Rodgers!” one of the staff members exclaimed as I repaired a splice.
There was only one reel left: Journey to Africa: The Chase. We thought that maybe this was also another educational film, but were corrected by Dr. Patrick M. Burchfield, Director of GPZ, who joined us towards the end of my visit.
“That’s the film about them capturing a giraffe,” he quickly stated when we asked if he knew anything about the reel. A wave of sadness washed over me thinking about that poor giraffe taken from its natural habitat, and at the same time relieved that we didn’t add the film to the educational film pile. We filled him in on the other two reels that were made by Dean Porter and featured Gladys, and suggested that all three of these reels be sent to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image for digitization.
After I reviewed the film reels, Tony brought out some boxes of tape media for me to inspect and possibly take back with me to ENTRE for digitization. ENTRE provides digitization services for tape media such as VHS, VHS-C, MiniDV, Hi8, Betamax, and audio cassette tapes. However, these tapes were mostly various Betacam and Umatic formats, which we are unable to transfer due to the very rare and specialized equipment that is needed (TAMI can also help with this). However, there were four VHS tapes in the tape media collection that we were able to bring back to ENTRE for digitization.
Then, Tony asked if we would be interested in a collection of VHS media that he had digitized himself back in 2020 using Elgato. I said, “Sure! We can do some video art with it.” And so, I left the zoo with a wagon full of tapes about butterflies, nocturnal creatures, exhibition promos, among other gems. I left the Zoo that day refueled, inspired and curious: If the Zoo contained rare Rio Grande Valley historical audio/visual artifacts, what other local institutions are sitting on treasure troves of archives?
Part of ENTRE’s mission has always been to bridge the audio/visual preservation access gap for individuals, organizations, and institutions alike. Although we cannot digitize all media, we can provide insight, resources, and specialized knowledge about the materials so people can make informed decisions about preservation. And these are skills we wish to share with community members who are interested in working with audio/visual preservation. We have various offerings, free of cost to the public, that provide introductory knowledge about best practices, identification, handling, and digitization of audio/visual materials. If you are interested in learning more about those offerings, please send us an email: info@entrefilmcenter.org
We would love to expand ENTRE’s offerings to include site visits, both on a personal and institutional level. Site visits can offer a perspective to media that has been neglected and forgotten, media that may hold important Valley history, both the personal and collective. Our regional archive focuses on home movies and oral histories and how these personal narratives feed into the collective memory of the land we are on. Your archives matter! So, if there is an audio/visual collection that is sitting in the closet, storage unit, attic or garage of your home or place of work, reach out and let’s start a conversation!
Written by C. Díaz
Co-Founder, Worker-Owner, Archive Project Manager
ENTRE Film Center & Regional Archive
