PRESERVING RECORDS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 173, 18 April 1942, Page 3

PRESERVING RECORDS

Use Of Photography The possibility of New Zealand being subjected to enemy air raids, and the probable consequence of damage which might 'be sustained by such attacks has not been overlooked by Government and local body authorities, who are taking steps to preserve such records as are considered essential. In some cases duplicates and triplicates of plans and 'records have been made and deposited in safe quarters miles apart. In some instances this work might be a somewhat laborious and costly business, specially when the details in such records run into many thousands of words and, possibly, countless millions of figures. Thanks-to the example set by England, one method of preserving such records is at once quick, permanent and economic. That is by photographing all valauble records in miniature.

On this subject, "Board and Council,” the official journal of local 'bodies in New Zealand, the Municipal Association, the Counties Association and the Harbour Boards Association included, says: "One large firm in New Zealand has had over 2000 films taken, representing the company's complete records. These have been compressed into one envelope box, which is in safe custody many miles away from the original documents. Actually the storage space required for films is ouly a few square inches for GOOO copies of documents. When required some or ail of the film records can be reproduced on a sceen or otherwise enlarged by being projected by a lantern on a film strip projector on an office wall or blotting pad.” Further on in the same article it is stated that the duplicate of one loose-leaf ledger had taken six months to prepare and check whereas the photographing of the same ledger occupied only two hours.