The passage of time has erased thousands of films around the world, and the same is happening to music. Fortunately, vinyl records have a bit more resistance, so to speak, and with the right procedure, their content can be preserved. The Great 78 project, led by the Internet Archive, focuses on rescuing and digitizing old 78 RPM vinyl records, and its database already has more than 200,000 entries.
One of the best-known examples of film recovery and restoration is Metropolis, an unforgettable classic directed by Fritz Lang. The first attempts began in the '80s, and in the following years, copies found in Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina were combined to create a superior version with 147 minutes of footage, equivalent to 95 percent of the original edition released in 1927.
Unfortunately, thousands of films ended up with a far worse fate than Metropolis, and are considered lost beyond any possibility. However, this deterioration is not exclusive to cinema. There is a lot of music out there that is leaving us. Vinyl records don't last forever, and it is those old 78 RPM units that are most exposed to the hostility of the decades.
The Great 78 Project
Fortunately, the Internet Archive decided to take matters into its own hands and manage the Great 78 project, whose goal is the discovery, analysis, preservation, and digitization of 78 RPM vinyl records. Needless to say, songs that achieved some commercial success made it to CDs, modern vinyl, and streaming platforms, so The Great 78's priority is those strange, unknown, dark, and supposedly lost records.
The complete preservation work is impressive. The records are washed, vacuum-dried, digitized with a special tray that uses four arms (and needles) at a time, photographed, and stored with great care. The project also processes metadata and adds auxiliary notes when necessary. So far, The Great 78 has more than 200,000 records, all available for anyone to listen to.
The Great 78 is one of the most fabulous initiatives we have found at the Internet Archive. Preserving software from old consoles and computers is very important, but the process of receiving, cleaning, digitizing, cataloging, and storing each 78 RPM record within its reach operates on a completely different level.
