In 1903 four brothers;  Hirch Moses, Abraham, Schmuel and Itzhak Wonsal or Wonskolaser opened their first movie theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania.  This site is now named the Cascade Center, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring their heritage. Four brothers whose parents emigrated from Poland to Ontario, Canada in 1892.

Do these names ring a bell?

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This is a press release made on July 2, 2010 from one of our clients; National Archives and Record Administration. We wanted to share this with you..enjoy the video!

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We are happy to pass on this information from the Northeast Historic Film who we are proud to count as one of our customers!

Filmic Representations of Indigenous Peoples at Northeast Historic Film

Bucksport, Maine —   The 11^th Annual Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium will begin July 22 and run through July 24, at 85 Main Street, Bucksport, Maine. The event is open to all with prior registration. Twelve presentations will explore how amateur and noncommercial filmmakers around the world have created a wide range of representations of Indigenous peoples and cultures. Program PDF.

Among the presenters are your AMIA-list associates Jennifer Jenkins, University of Arizona; Ross Lipman, UCLA Film & Television Archive; J. Fred MacDonald, and Paul Spehr. 

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Question: Does all film material shrink and if so, how does one assess the degree of shrinkage? What causes it to shrink and how can it be minimized. Is shrinkage reversible? Does shrinkage matter when handling, printing or transferring films? Are there other phenomena that look like shrunken film?

I invite you to read the document, click here, a very complete document to answer all your questions.
To numerate what you will read and/or learn about:

• The composition of film
• Why film shrinks
• Some film base materials don’t shrink
• Some agents accelerate film base shrinkage
• De-shrinkage treatments
• How is film shrinkage measured?
• What are permissible tolerances for film perforation pitch?
• Recommended readings on picture unsteadiness and shrinkage 

 Happy reading!

The Desjardins International Commerce Prize is awarded to companies with an outstanding international commerce strategy. It is intended for any company able to show the positive impact of having extended its business development efforts to the international market and having formed partnerships with companies with attractive development potential outside of Canada.

 We are very proud at STiL Casing Solution to be finalists for the prestigious prize, congratulations to Mr. Frédéric Lapointe! 

 Besides the fact that the mother company needed to be in Québec and/or Ontario, Canada, the selection criteria was as follows:

• Impact of the international commerce strategy on the company’s growth and profitability
• Market diversification
• Development opportunities
• The company’s financial health

The winner will be announced during a gala on October 5th, 2010.

http://www.desjardins.com/en/a_propos/profil/engagement/prix_entrepreneurs/edc_commerce/index.jsp

STiL Casing Solution is happy to participate again this year in the ACA (Association of Canadian Archivists) Annual Conference. This year it is taking place in Halifax, N.S. at the Westin Nova Scotian hotel, from June 9th to June 12th, 2010.

http://www.archivists.ca/content/annual-conference

Frederic will be pleased to shake your hands, discuss and exchange ideas with you, come visit him at booth #9. For those who have not yet had the chance to see our two new sizes of audio containers; the 7″ and 11″…now is the time. Samples will be available at the booth for you to take back and test.  Also, a new product will be launched

PREVIEW! To answer the needs of your industry, STiL Casing Solution in partnership with WARNER Bros has designed a unique and state of the art box for proper storage and safe environment. Your photographic material, paper and other media have just gained a superior level of protection!  

Don’t miss the chance to see this unique  product.

Hope to see you there!

STiL Casing Solution; our recent innovations are indicative of the good choices of a good business strategy focused on the culture of innovation, mutual benefit and customer oriented.

In the past, the offer of an archival container for films was what identified the company as creative and motivated by requests from customers of prestigious film studios. Even today, this culture of innovation allows the company STiL Casing Solution to carve a nice place internationally in a very precise field but where the mutual benefits, the quality of our relationships and rapid identification of business opportunities elevates our competitiveness up a notch.

Our recent innovations stand out from the competition by their design and are beyond the position based solely on the physical and functional products. We offer a comprehensive archiving solution for added value, which makes us distinctive and unique in front of the competition.

“Customers want problem-solving solutions, not just great products.”

In 2009, the company identifies a complementary market and responds to a request from the audio industry. Create a new product line for the preservation of audio and magnetic tapes.

Audio & Magnetic Tape Box:  http://www.stilcasing.com/analog_audio_preservation.html 

To answer the needs of the audio industry, we have designed a state-of-the-art magnetic tape box for your reel to reel quarter inch audio tapes. Made of inert polypropylene with antistatic which has an exceptional life cycle, its vented properties stabilizes the excessive humidity relative inside vaults. This unique case is molded in one piece and is fully hinged. A locking lever protects the content inside the container. The stabilizing system and the grip at the bottom of the container makes the container stand in an upright position for better storage and makes it easier to remove from a shelf.

·         Made of inert polypropylene with antistatic

·         Designed to insure ventilation, stabilizes the excess humidity relative inside vaults

·         Protects the reel from water and dust

·         The grip on the bottom of the container helps to remove the case from a shelf

·         Hub for universal fitting of all audio reels

·         Resilient, molded in once piece, fully hinged

·         A stabilizing system, stands in an upright position for better storage

DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT FOR WARNER Bros.

Adaptation of a client’s specific needs (Warner) for the design, manufacturing and production of a box for the conservation of their photographic heritage.

Boitier Media & Photo STiL (click on this link for more information)

Product available in June 2010.

NOW AVAILABLE - The complete labelling solution for our STiL Magnetic Tape Box! ( http://www.stilcasing.com/analog_audio_preservation.html )

Durable vinyl labels for long-term preservation in deep-freezing or ambient environments.

Compatible with regular laser printers and permanent markers; we supply you with the template in Word format.

Available in sheet format (8.5 x 11″) for all 3 sizes custom made for your STiL Audio and Magnetic Tape Box.

Personalized labels are also available on demand, a custom size, a different color, your logo printed directly on the label.

Give me a call if you wish to have a sample; 1-888-414-0449.

I came across a great article on the ARSC website (www.arsc-audio.org), the title is Essential Resources for Audio Preservation, sixteen audio preservation resources available that the ARSC Technical Committee believes are essential to understand for successful audio preservation. I encourage you to read the article: http://www.arsc-audio.org/pdf/ARSCTC_resources.pdf . 

1. IASA-TC 03. The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy. Version 3, December 2005
2. IASA-TC 04. Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects
3. Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation
4. The Library of Congress Digital Audio Preservation Prototyping Project
5. Audio and video carriers: Recording principles, storage and handling, maintenance of equipment, format and equipment obsolescence
6. Tape Degradation Factors and Challenges in Predicting Tape Life
7. TAPE Project Audio Tape Digitisation Workflows
8. Capturing Analog Sound for Digital Preservation: Report of a Roundtable Discussion of Best Practices for Transferring Analog Discs and Tapes
9. PrestoSpace digitization and storage guide.
10. Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections
11. Selection criteria of analogue and digital audio contents for transfer to data formats for preservation purposes
12. Selection for Preservation Tools.
13. Technical Metadata for Audio.
14. Risks Associated with the Use of Recordable CDs and DVDs as Reliable Storage Media in Archival Collections - Strategies and Alternatives
15. IPI Media Storage Quick Reference Guide.
16. Audio Preservation and Restoration including some links to film and video tape preservation.

We are pleased to be a new member of this association and would like to wish all the participants a great conference in New Orleans from May 19th to 22nd, 2010!

The Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the “increase & diffusion of knowledge” was founded from a bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson (1765-1829). Mr. Smithson named his nephew as beneficiary in his last will and testament and stipulated that if the nephew should die without heirs the estate should go to the United States of America.  James Smithson died in 1829, his nephew; Henry James Hungerford died without heirs in 1835. The President of the United States at that time, Mr. Andrew Jackson informed Congress of this bequest, which amounted to 100,000 gold sovereigns, when recoined is US currency; over 500,000$ (today with inflation, approximately 10,100,000.00$).  http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/historic/history.htm#sib

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