Inside the Time Machine: Saving Our Audiovisual History

What happens when the tapes and films that hold our history can no longer be played? At the New York Public Library’s Audio and Moving Image Preservation Lab, specialists are working to preserve the sounds and images of the past—transferring obsolete film, audio and video formats into digital form so they can be accessed by people today and preserved for the future. In this behind-the-scenes look at the lab, discover why audiovisual preservation matters, how fragile and outdated media can be brought back to life, and what might be lost if this work were never done. The film explores archival material connected to filmmaker William Greaves and his documentary about Ralph Bunche, the pioneering diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. It also features a historic United Nations Radio recording, offering a glimpse into how voices and images from another era can reach new audiences. As one archivist puts it, the work is like operating a time machine: going back into the past, retrieving its recordings and making them available to people today. Because preserving our past is essential to understanding our future.


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