Here at SMA we hold many different kinds of records: textual records, photographic materials, drawings, posters, maps, and audiovisual materials – that is, film, video, and audio recordings. These recordings exist in both analog and born-digital formats, each with their own needs and challenges for preservation and access. For example, magnetic media like VHS, 3/4” U-matic and other forms of videotape are at great risk of deterioration because the media itself has a short life span, and time is running out. This is often referred to as the “magnetic media crisis” as the tapes are degrading quickly and the valuable content contained on them is in danger of being lost forever.
SMA’s Audiovisual Archivist Libby Hopfauf is on the front lines of the fight against the crisis as she works to appraise, catalog, and digitize the large quantity of magnetic media in the archives created between the 1980s and the early 2000s. The content on the tapes is invaluable, including everything from finished productions to outtakes and b-roll footage of events, projects, celebrations, and outreach by city departments.
It’s a careful process to handle the tapes and prepare them for transfer, sometimes requiring special steps like “baking” tapes that have sticky-shed syndrome to remove the contamination in order to play them back. Maintaining outdated equipment like decades-old players is another challenge. But the work is important for saving some amazing and incredibly varied finds, including footage of 1999’s WTO Protests; a circa 1970 documentary called Not For Men Only about women working non-traditional trades jobs at the City; and our perennial favorite: City Light’s 1987 PSA on saving energy, Reduce Your Chills and Cut Your Bills.
Libby is also the Executive Director for Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS), a key partner with SMA and many other local heritage organizations in preserving audiovisual materials. MIPoPS was recently featured in an article by The Stranger, which was also selected as an Editor’s Pick for 2025! The article covers the efforts of Libby and fellow MIPoPS archivist Annalise Nicholson to save magnetic media, and highlights the importance of moving image preservation. Learn more about MIPoPS and the magnetic media crisis with this What is MIPoPs? video.
SMA has over 8,600 cataloged moving image records, and over 6,600 have been digitized. You can find them all at our Digital Collections site, or browse our YouTube channel!