miSci

The Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium will preserve, digitally reformat, and make available online more than 900 16-mm films from General Electric Corporation, which are part of the museum’s collection. The museum will rehouse films in new vented, fire-retardant canisters and create both low- and high-definition digital files of each of the films. The low-resolution copies will go into an image database and onto social networking sites such as YouTube. The films date from 1915 to 1985 and tell the story of the electrification of the United States. The films document early consumer and industrial advertising, educational science, the manufacturing process and employee training. More than thirty-three of the films date prior to 1927—an era where less than 10% of films still exist.