Salvage and Digitization of Appalshop Archive Films

FAIN: PB-292987-23

Appalshop, Inc. (Whitesburg, KY 41858-0743)
Caroline Rubens (Project Director: January 2023 to present)

The cleaning and digitization of 3 archival films, documenting important aspects of history and social issues in central Appalachia, which were damaged by a catastrophic flood in eastern Kentucky in July 2022.

This project will support the cleaning and digitization of archival films that were damaged by a catastrophic flood in eastern Kentucky in July 2022. Approximately 28,000 feet of film—equal to 10 hours of content—will be cleaned and digitized at a preservation lab with expertise in recovering damaged film. These films document important aspects of history and social issues in central Appalachia, and they will be lost without immediate intervention to salvage the celluloid images. The project will focus on the film masters for Appalshop documentaries, raw outtakes from the early 1970s, and picture film for which the sync audio has been digitized.