• blog home
  • King County Archives home
  • about

Bytes and Boxes

~ News from the King County Archives

Bytes and Boxes

Daily Archives: February 1, 2017

Join us at the Northwest Film Forum’s second Archival Screening Night!

01 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by kcarchivist in Events

≈ 1 Comment

2017_mipops_nwff

The King County Archives is delighted to be participating in a second archival screening night at the Northwest Film Forum, hosted by Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS). The event takes place on Friday, February 17 (doors open at 7pm, showtime is at 8pm) and promises to offer an interesting and entertaining mix, with contributions from the Sally Sykes Group, Scarecrow Video, the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Public Schools, the Wing Luke Museum, the Seattle Municipal Archives, the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections, and the King County Archives.

The screening will feature videos that have been converted from analog formats to digital for preservation and access using equipment, software, and expertise provided by MIPoPS. The King County Archives is fortunate to be a MIPoPS partner, allowing us to conserve our at-risk archival videos.

Why digitize video?

Videotape — magnetic media like Betacam, VHS, and Umatic — in many cases is the original format of moving image recordings dating from the 1970s into the 1990s.  In other cases, videotaped copies are our only versions of original film. These materials are increasingly at risk, as magnetic tape deteriorates over time. Sadly, we have already discovered one significant tape in the King County Archives collection that has become unplayable.

King County’s Waste Away

At the February 17th screening, we will be contributing a shortened version of Waste Away (1966) a lighthearted and optimistic look at advances in solid waste management. The film captures a time when public awareness was just beginning to form around the problem of garbage in a consumer society.

Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Early waste management
Early waste management
Illegal dumping
Illegal dumping
Above: stills (Adam and Eve, early waste management, and illegal dumping) from Waste Away, 1966.
Below: animated gif created from stills (engineer designing “The Mole”).

TheMole_KingCountyArchives.gif

The Mole

Waste Away highlights King County’s experimental mobile trash-compactor, affectionately known as “The Mole.” Sold at auction in the early 1970s, the Mole is rumored to have been purchased by George Lucas’s film company and to have served as the model and/or inspiration for the Star Wars Tatooine sandcrawlers.

1316004

Sandcrawler

Top: The Mole. Series 400, Department of Transportation, Road Services: Photograph and Moving Image Files, Box 57, #1316, ref ID 400.123.70. King County Archives. Bottom: Tatooine Sandcrawler from Star Wars (Image courtesy of Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki).

Get your tickets!

Advance warning: the October 2016 Archival Screening Night at the Northwest Film Forum sold out.

We hope to see you there!

Event details

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • More
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Skype
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email to subscribe to the King County Archives blog and get notifications of new posts by email.

Visit the Archives

1215 East Fir Street
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 263-2480
9am-4pm Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri

***Closed Wednesdays***

Contact Us

Email: archives@kingcounty.gov
Twitter: @KingCoArchives
Web: kingcounty.gov/archives

Categories

  • Archives Month
  • Black History Month
  • Commemorative observances
  • Community Events
  • Disability Awareness Month
  • Discoveries
  • Drawings and plans
  • Elections
  • Events
  • Exhibits
  • From the Vault
  • International Women's Day
  • maps
  • Newly Accessioned
  • Other
  • Photographs
  • Videos and film

Social

  • View KingCoArchives’s profile on Twitter
  • View kingcountyarchives’s profile on Instagram
  • View KCArchives’s profile on Vimeo

Previous Posts

February 2017
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728  
« Jan   Mar »

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: