In 1981, the National Archives received a special donation from World War II veteran Ken Gerrish. Gerrish served as engineering officer on Papua New Guinea, overseeing maintenance on fighter planes used in the Pacific Theater of Operations. While in New Guinea, Gerrish shot 16mm Kodachrome home movies that documented what life was like for the men stationed there. Sometime later, Gerrish edited the films together with a narration track, creating the historically significant film featured here. youtu.be/F53Mo374edg Unfortunately, it frequently happens that the most interesting or historically valuable records get the most use and incur physical damage as a result. Kodachrome is a reversal film, which means that the film that was shot in the camera is the film that was projected repeatedly over the years that Gerrish shared it with others before donating it to the National Archives. As a result, there were heavy scratches and perforation damage. The scratches are most noticeable in the second reel. The film also suffered from physical deterioration, perhaps because of the time the reels spent in hot and humid conditions in the jungle. The film exhibited a high level of shrinkage and was warped. When a film changes physically, it makes the process of transferring to a new format more difficult because the equipment cannot always safely handle the deteriorated film. Luckily, we were able to preserve these films despite their poor condition. We created a protection preservation copy and a new print on polyester film stock. We made a digital copy for access. Perhaps even more interesting is how Gerrish came to film these reels. According to Gerrish, the raw film stock came from the Army Air Corps supply for which he traded a bottle of gin, or whisky, for four rolls of film. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t regulation! The films may have been developed on the island (we see a “photo lab” sign), while on leave in Australia, or they may have remained sealed until his return to the States. blogs.archives.gov/unwritten-record/2014/11/03/home-movies-from-the-war-front-the-first-fighters-in-new-guinea/
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:29:37 +0000
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