[QuadList] Quad Libraries

[C. Park Seward]

Interesting that it seems there are many small collections around the  
country. The quote that there are "enormous libraries of quad  
videotape" is doubtful, IMHO.  I'm sure it is an effort to find the  
funds to restore materials.

Perhaps there needs to be a central "clearing house" that would cherry  
pick the "best" material for restoration and save that. One large  
organization would be more efficient that many small, poorly funded  
collections.

Also, there needs to be a way to view this material. It does no one  
any good if the restored material is never allowed to be seen.

Did you mean a VR-1200?  Also, I am sure you know that baking will  
make the sticky tapes playable.

Best,
Park

C. Park Seward
Visit us: http://www.videopark.com



On Jan 2, 2009, at 2:18 PM, Klara Foeller wrote:

> I have about 700 quad tapes in 3 television collections.  I have  
> some identification on about 98% of them.  I also have a working  
> VT1200, which I am using to master and capture this material.  So  
> far it's been working well, I've come across some "sticky" tapes  
> which I will not put back on my machine, but plenty of the tapes  
> from the early 1970s are transferring nicely.  I've done 30 titles  
> to date.
>
> If anyone on this list is planning on attending the Midwest Archives  
> Conference in late April, I will be holding an open house featuring  
> my media lab and collections and you are all welcome to attend.  I  
> think the event will be scheduled on the afternoon of April 29th.
>
> Klara Foeller, Curator
> Moving Image & Sound Collections
> Missouri History Museum
> St. Louis, MO
> 314 746-4513
>
> Don Norwood wrote:
>>
>> The December issue of Broadcast Engineering has an article on page  
>> 90 about archiving.  In the article, it refers to "enormous  
>> libraries of quad videotape will be unplayable in a few years" (due  
>> to lack of operating equipment).
>>
>> Does anyone have any reliable info regarding how much quad material  
>> is still out there?  My impression has been that most broadcast  
>> stations have already disposed of their quad tape.  I wouldn't  
>> think there was much 1" left either.
>>
>> If no data has been compiled, perhaps a publication such as BE  
>> could run a survey to help determine how much material is still on  
>> the shelves and what demand really exists for its archival.
>>
>> Don