Vinegar Syndrome now affecting post-war microfilm MicroFormat announce that significant progress has been made towards a solution to the difficulties confronting archivists and librarians with deteriorating microfilm and cine-film collections in their care.
During the late 1990s most of the world’s national libraries and archives identified a process of decay within their microfilm and motion-picture collections: They were confronted by VINEGAR SYNDROME (VS), a destructive mechanism that attacks cellulose acetate-based photographic film. As all such material produced in the post-war years up to 1985 was of this type, the film of the period will fall prey to it.
Acetate-based film is now generally acknowledged to have a ‘safe’ life span of between forty and fifty years. However, over that time, the acidity level may gradually rise and, at the autocatalytic point, breakdown will accelerate rapidly and irreversibly to total destruction.
Aside from monitoring the acid content via proprietary means, the first indication of the presence of VS is, as the name suggests, the distinctive smell of vinegar emanating from the film.
Once VS has been positively identified, if not before, immediate action should be taken to slow the rate of decay or, better still, to make copies in another form and one that is recognised as having the stability necessary for archival retention.
An international committee, chaired by the British Library and comprised of representatives from the national libraries of Wales and Scotland, the university libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale and Princeton, the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, the National Archives in England and others was convened to investigate the threat that VS poses for the worldwide archive and library community.
Their recommendation is that the duplication of acetate film onto modern polyester-based film should be urgently considered as the only course capable of providing a viable long-term future. Especially is this so where VS has been positively identified and deterioration is under way.
The key elements in the development of VS are the gradual destruction of the photo-sensitive emulsion and an increasing brittleness of the acetate base. These characteristics make the use of modern high-speed duplicating equipment a risky undertaking. For this specifically 21st century problem MicroFormat could see that it was necessary to provide a 21st century solution; after two years in-house research and investment, we have introduced a sensitive duplicating technique that provides a completely stress-free method of coping with the physical problems associated with deteriorating film. Extensive system trials, run with the full co-operation of the British Library, have been completely successful and we now offer our unique service to archivists and librarians around the world.
Vinegar Syndrome is a catastrophe in the making…the early stages are already upon us and the threat to surrogate collections around the world should not be underestimated.
Contact us now to learn the current thinking about VS and to hear of the MicroFormat solution.
