Museum Offers To Digitize Black Family Memories For Free!

People haven’t really changed, but the technology surrounding how people communicate has changed. People still want to look back at baby pictures. They still want to see that old prom video, but now it’s just on different platforms. Back in the day, when you’re having a good time or want to capture a beautiful moment, you’d use a device like a camcorder, camera or digital camera to capture the moment. But, the quality of film and picture from those was not so good back then. Now, the majority of people use their phones.

So what happens to all of that old video tape, camera roll and other stuff that’s in your attic, storage locker or in the back of the closet somewhere? Well, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) hopes to help you with that…for free!

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The Great Migration is a unique digitization service program that partners the National Museum of African American History and Culture with individuals and organizations across the United States to preserve their important analog audiovisual media.

According to their website, “this initiative invites participants to schedule an appointment with the museum’s audiovisual conservation team in order to digitize the public’s home movies in the Robert F. Smith Explore Your Family History Center on the second floor of the museum. Media conservators will facilitate free digitization of motion picture film (16mm, Super 8, and Regular 8mm), obsolete videotape formats (Hi-8/8mm, MiniDV, 3/4″ U-matic, VHS, Betacam, 1″ open reel video, and 1/2″ open reel video) and various audio formats. Preservation and access are at the heart of this initiative, which has been made possible thanks to the generosity of Robert F. Smith, and that of Earl W. and Amanda Stafford. These donations support media conservation, digitization, and dissemination efforts for African American media art and the public’s family histories.”

So there you have it. Keep your family history and memories alive by taking those old VHS, beta max, tapes, etc to get them digitized for free!

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If you’d like more information, or to make an appointment to get your photos and videos digitized, please contact:
[email protected]

For more articles about family, take a look here.