Good evening, all:
I'm posting the following exchange, with the permission of the original correspondent, from the Archives and Archivists listserv. I have basic ideas about next steps in this matter, but rather than shoot from the hip with my 201-level understanding, I thought my esteemed colleagues here might be willing and more able to share their knowledge.
If you have more technical advice, or guidance, please contact me off-list. Many thanks.
Marcia K. Segal Processing Archivist American Folklife Center Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
The original post:
An older Sister of our community who had many original reel-to-reel tapes died recently. She kept
them with her in her room, which, due to her advanced age, was always kept quite warm. Summers were humid, too, so that these tapes were in hot and humid conditions for 50 years or so. It would have been impossible to get the tapes from her sooner.
I was wondering if it is better to place them in our coolroom first (40 degrees, about 45 percent humidity) for some time and then spool through them and see how they play or just to play them now. Does this matter at all?
My response:
The one important bit of advice I'd give you is this: do not try to play any of the tapes at this stage. It could damage them beyond the point of retrieiving the content.
Ultimately, this is a content retrieval matter, and you might have only one chance to get the content before the tapes and their component parts degrade beyond help.
And her follow-up response:
The tapes are most likely completely unique recording of our Founder (died 1968) or of older sisters. The room conditions were probably 70 or 75 degrees with super humid summers and cold dry winters. We are talking about the motherhouse on a bluff over the Rhine near Koblenz.