Master Plan for Optimizing Storage and Environmental Conditions for Moving Images Collections at the General Archives

FAIN: PF-272015-20

Insituto de Cultura Puertorriquena (San Juan, PR 00902-4184)
Marisel Flores (Project Director: January 2020 to present)

The development of plans for retrofitting storage areas for the Archives of Moving Images collection at the General Archives of Puerto Rico, which includes approximately 4,000 film titles and 2,000 videotapes representing the history and culture of Puerto Rico from 1898 to the present. The project would lay the groundwork for improvements to the repository’s environmental conditions through sustainable practices that take into consideration the island’s unique environment and vulnerabilities to natural disasters.

The General Archives of Puerto Rico is the only institution on the Island and internationally whose mission is to preserve the recorded film and video heritage of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. After several incidents with the existing storage units that jeopardized the well-being of our moving image collections and based on the recommendations outlined in two assessments performed in 2018 and 2019, we made it our main preservation priority to address these issues. Through an initial exploratory study performed by a group of experts on the preservation of moving images, preservation environments and sustainability, and the architecture of historic buildings we intend to develop a Master Plan that will inform on the next steps to improve the storage and current preservation environment to ensure the safeguard of this unique and valuable humanities collections.