Uncovering Lost Media
“When I look at the Bronx now, I see that what I may find consistent is more susceptible to change than I once believed. What we view as normal isn’t immune to change, as many of us found out in 2020 and will be reminded of when we graduate.”
Think back to your childhood. Are there any vague memories that you can’t quite piece together? It’s alive in your memory, but it has become lost to time. Lost media is media that, like memories, can be lost to time. Try and remember the last book you read, the last movie you watched, or even the last picture you have seen. Any form of media can be at risk of becoming lost media, any time from the next 50 years to the next 5 minutes.
Lost media can often be the result of tragedy, like in the case of the 1965 MGM vault fire. All remaining copies of “London After Midnight,” a silent film produced in 1927, were lost in that fire. While a reconstruction was made in 2002 as a TV movie, it had to be made using stills from the original, making it more of a slideshow than an actual film.
On the other hand, some forms of media have been purposely destroyed due to disturbing content. On July 15th, 1974, Christine Chubbuck went off script when reporting. On live television, Chubbuck pulled out a revolver and shot herself behind the ear, taking her own life. For obvious reasons, any footage of the suicide itself was destroyed, both out of respect of her family and for the station’s reputation.
Old films and broadcasts aren’t the only forms of lost media though. Livestreams and video games are also capable of becoming lost media if they aren’t properly archived. This is why emulators gained popularity, since they are one of the few ways to play games released for consoles that have become outdated or are no longer in production.
Media that has a higher risk of becoming lost are usually stored on older technology, since it may no longer be in production or has become harder to repair over time.
Old NYC is a website that takes pictures within the public domain from the New York Public Library, and uses them to create a map of New York City from 1800 to 2000. However, not all locations have been recorded, leaving blank spaces where they would’ve been.
Take a look at what Boynton Avenue looked like back in 1915.
Preserving media like this, from a historical standpoint, allows us to understand how the world used to look before. But it can also be useful for personal use, especially when in a matter of moments it could become unavailable. Keeping a record of the media that you’ve consumed can be great for reevaluating it later on in life, as opposed to doing so based on memory alone.
When I look at the Bronx now, I see that what I may find consistent is more susceptible to change than I once believed. What we view as normal isn’t immune to change, as many of us found out in 2020 and will be reminded of when we graduate.
Here are some places that CSH seniors found memorable or nostalgic, as found on Old NYC:
In the next 200 years, people will look at the pictures we are so used to in the same way that we look at these ones. The reason to preserve media is the reason to create media: it allows us to preserve history and memories that hold value to us. Regardless of its original connotation, holding onto media helps keep us connected with our history, which becomes harder as time moves on.