Dynamic yet Fragile:

Summary

Archives, historical societies, and museums today have inherited the task of caring for a swelling mass of audiovisual materials. A 2005 Heritage Health Index survey calculated a staggering 2,423,568 moving image collections and 2,189,992 audio collections safeguarded within the United States alone. Alarmingly, more than 40 percent of audio and video collections are maintained in unknown conditions. The same report concluded that many cultural institutions lack essential resources to care for these artifacts. These collections are in peril if left unattended, as over time the fragile plastic-coated tapes can deteriorate and fail to play.