Salem Historical Society meeting to feature program on restoring historic films
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The monthly meeting of the Salem Historical Society welcomes Tom Beck, society trustee and former professor at the University of Akron, who will share his experience in "Restoring Historic Films" at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Dale Shaffer Research Library, 239 S. Lundy Ave.
Beck was a member of the faculty and administrator at The University of Akron for 35 years. Prior to that, he worked in radio broadcasting in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and was an educator and college professor in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. He holds an undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock University and a graduate degree from Ohio University. He and his sons own and operate Beck Restoration Management Group, a construction company headquartered in Akron specializing in infrastructure building and repair. He has three sons and nine grandchildren, and lives on an operating farm in Green Township. He is the past president and current vice president for operation of the Salem Community Pantry, and is a board member with the Salem Historical Society.
While volunteering with a clean-up crew 30 years ago at the Furnace Street Mission in Akron, Beck found several boxes of Depression Era nitrate film documenting the early days of the Furnace Street Mission including rare scenes of living conditions in impoverished Akron neighborhoods. He restored the silent movie which received a lot of notoriety by the local press -- and unexpectedly, an individual contacted him requesting that he restore a second silent movie that this person had rescued from a pile of old films that were scheduled to be taken to the local landfill. Beck will discuss the process of restoring chemically dangerous film, and show the two silent movies, which were originally filmed nearly 100 years ago, as part of the presentation.
Monthly meetings are free and open to the public every second Tuesday of each month from March through December.
The meeting room is in the lower level of the Dale Shaffer Research Library with the door facing 239 S. Lundy Ave. Parking is available in the municipal lot across the street.
Call 330-337-8514 with any questions or suggestions for local speakers.