Outreach Done Well!

You know you're doing something right when a professor approaches you, said he heard about a film in your collections from one of his colleagues, and would like to get some people to donate to the cause to have it preserved and digitized! Even though this wasn't a severely deteriorating film I am currently trying to preserve from the Department of Athletics Collection, the film does need some work--slight warping, it broke while playing, very slight vinegar syndrome. The content, however, is completely unique! A former female anthropology professor, Dr. Regina Herzfeld, did field studies and interviews with Native American groups, and there is a lot of interaction between her and the Native American women--a rare occurrence. It's a relatively high-demand film (for the Archives), played about once a year, and having a digital copy would definitely help us out, but because it is relatively playable, it's not high on our priority list.

I received the initial description-based estimate from ColorLab today, and passed it to my interested parties. I hoped to get this project going soon, but once the professor saw the price tag, well, he's still interested, just slightly less so. He's compiling a longer list of people to seek donations from...