Rust + Restoration – He Waikura He Whakauka: Rescuing the film collection of Thomas H Whetton

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

When a stack of rusty, dust-covered film cans was deposited with audiovisual archive, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision by the family of freelance filmmaker Thomas H Whetton, it was a surprise to find much of the more than 80-year-old film inside those cans was in great condition. This presentation takes you through the meticulous work Ngā Taonga did (and are still doing) to rescue that footage and the other taonga in the Whetton collection.



Tuesday 19 November 2019
12.10pm to 1pm
Free talk
Te Ahumairangi ground floor National Library of NZ, Molesworth Street.


When a stack of rusty, dust-covered film cans was deposited with audiovisual archive, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision by the family of freelance filmmaker Thomas H Whetton, it was a surprise to find much of the more than 80-year-old film inside those cans was in great condition. Amongst the 70+ cans the Archive’s preservation team discovered never-before-seen footage of the immediate aftermath of the 1931 Napier earthquake. This presentation takes you through the meticulous work Ngā Taonga did (and are still doing) to rescue that footage and the other taonga in the Whetton collection. The collection of Thomas Henry Whetton dating from the 1920s and 1930s is showcased in Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s Rust + Restoration | He Waikura He Whakauka exhibition currently on in the Te Puna Foundation Gallery at the National Library.

Speaker biography
Louise McCrone Initially Louise trained as film archivist at the NZ Film Archive, now Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, and at the 2009 FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) Film Restoration Summer School in Bologna, Italy. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies from Massey University. Louise has nearly 20 years' experience in a variety of roles caring for all formats of New Zealand’s audiovisual taonga.


 Leslie Lewis. After Leslie completed her training as a film archivist she worked at a variety of archives including George Eastman House (New York) and the Thai Royal Film & Photography Archive (Bangkok). She also spent several years with the National Film Preservation Foundation (USA), researching and coordinating the repatriation and preservation of over 300 nitrate films through a series of international cooperative projects involving nearly a dozen national archives.
Image: Presenters Louise McCrone and Leslie Lewis in the Rust + Restoration exhibition