Tip #30: Wear nitrile gloves when handling film.

Written By Dmitri Schmidt

Pop quiz! Name one material you should NOT handle with gloves?

If you said paper, leather, or hazardous materials, you’d be right!

So what's the difference between paper and film? It’s not that film is less fragile. You still want to avoid wearing the stereotypical cotton gloves that archivists wear in movies as those will limit your dexterity too much.

You should always wash your hands before handling archival material, but film is particularly susceptible to damage from oils in a way paper isn’t. This is true regardless of the size of the film you’re working with. Nitrile gloves will prevent the natural oils on your hands from damaging the film, without reducing dexterity as much as cotton gloves.

Want to know more about preserving audiovisual materials? Check out our AV preservation webinar on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtxDC7SPgW4

#ArchivalTips #BacklogArchivists #Conservation #Preservation

Dmitri Schmidt

Dmitri plays a pivotal role in coordinating Backlog’s outreach efforts. They curate our weekly #FridayFinds and #ArchivalTips social media posts, shedding light on items discovered in our genealogy work and providing tips and tricks to approaching problems in the archives.

Dmitri holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and German Studies from Saint Louis University. During their university years, they dedicated over 1000 hours to interning and volunteering at local St. Louis institutions, including the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis University Museum of Art. As the Collections Intern at the Science Center, Dmitri assisted in developing and installing the "Into the Vault" exhibit.

Before joining Backlog, Dmitri served as a Fulbright Grantee, teaching English as a second language in former East Germany. From guiding 11th graders in analyzing pop albums as poetry to discussing the significance of the civil rights movement with 8th graders, they covered a broad spectrum of subjects. While reveling in connecting with students and injecting fun into grammar lessons, Dmitri's deep passion for all things archival eventually drew them back home.

Today, Dmitri works as a Herbarium Assistant at the Missouri Botanical Garden, helping digitize the millions of preserved plant specimens. After being scanned and transcribed, these images aid scholars around the globe in furthering botanical research. Dmitri also serves as the archivist for the Kirkwood Historical Society. They are currently overseeing the “Journeys into Kirkwood’s History” project, which aims to digitize documents related to Kirkwood’s early Black settlements.

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Tip #31: Limit playback of vinyl records.

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Tip #29: Be extra careful with your CD-RWs.