The Creston Museum is about to embark on a very exciting project. Funding through the Columbia-Kootenay Cultural Alliance will enable the museum to convert historic film footage to modern, top-quality DVDs.
How much of this historic film footage does the museum have? Well, none, actually — but that’s the really exciting part of the project.
“We know that film footage of local historic events is out there,” said museum manager Tammy Hardwick. “We have talked to people who have home movies of farming on the Creston flats, of the old sternwheeler Nasookin arriving at Kootenay Landing, of the Creston Mercantile burning down. There is probably a lot more that we don’t know about.”
The museum is seeking local historic film footage that’s currently in private collections, and asking the owners to loan it to the museum long enough to get it converted to DVD.
There will be no charge to the owners of the film, said Hardwick. Instead, the museum will ask the owners to sign a form, giving the museum permission to add the converted footage to its permanent collection, and to use it in exhibits and programs.
The museum will get two copies made of each film it receives. One copy will go back to the owner, along with the original film, and the other will become part of the museum’s collection.
“We’ll need the owners to give us some idea of what’s on the film, and it will need to be in reasonably good condition,” said Hardwick. “The funding we’ve received won’t extend to major repairs on badly damaged film, and we won’t be able to use hours of film of the kids’ birthday parties — but we will consider anything that shows any aspect of life in the Creston Valley.”
The conversions will be done at TMTV in Nelson, and can include any type or format of film.
“We’ll be doing this on a first-come, first-served basis, until our funding is used up,” said Hardwick, “so we’re really hoping that anyone with film-footage treasures will tell us about it soon!”
For more information or to discuss your film collection, contact the museum at 250-428-9262 or by email at mail@creston.museum.bc.ca.