About the President

Taylor Whitney, President and Founder

Taylor Whitney worked in film production and film preservation for over 23 years in Hollywood, California. In the early 1990s at Video Craftsmen, she awoke before the crack of dawn to assist colorist, Jeff “Chico” Dowden as a rank assistant digitizing and color-correcting 35mm film that had been shot the previous night. Here she learned how to recognize and identify various film elements from original camera negative to dupe negatives to workprints, fine grain, release prints and more. A true archivist, she still has her yellow legal pad where she made study notes accompanied by drawings and descriptions of the numerous film elements that exist.

Her next position was as the Sr. Film Librarian at Producers Library Service, also in Hollywood; Taylor researched stock footage requests for the major motion picture studios, independent filmmakers, commercial television directors, documentarians and students. She learned how to handle archival film, splice shots together and supervise film transfers–appropriate given her experience at Video Craftsmen. After four years at Producers, she was recruited as a Sr. Film Inspection Technician, by Pro-Tek (a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak), a cold storage and film inspection facility. Here, donning a white lab coat, white cotton gloves and protective eyewear, Taylor inspected film on a frame-by-frame basis and documented defects into a proprietary database (this software was in the early stages of development at the time.) In this seminal role, Taylor assisted the film restoration team of Robert Harris and Jim Katz (Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady) on such classic films as Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Trouble with Harry and inspected such collections as The Sammy Davis Jr., Estate, The Mary Pickford Film Library and The Michael Douglas Film Library as well as films from the major motion picture studios Columbia, Universal, Fox, Paramount, etc. Taylor amassed skills along her varied career path that enabled her to establish Preserving The Past, LLC in Los Angeles, California in 1997.

The impetus for launching her own company was poignantly and specifically to address a void in the then fast-emerging field of film preservation (in large part due to a phenomenon occuring in acetate film collections—inherent deterioration referred to as Vinegar Syndrome.) Most companies were focusing on major motion pictures and little attention was being paid to household collections that were languishing in closets, garages and attics. After a few successful several years in Hollywood, Taylor returned to university to add a formal educational component to her years of expertise in film preservation. Accepted into the inaugural class of a unique program that incorporates museum studies with library science and focusing on the preservation of photographic objects, she earned her Master of Arts in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada in collaboration with George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York (now George Eastman Museum.) Reentering the academic setting was a pivotal time for Taylor with the realization that cultural collections such as those found in institutions, universities, libraries, nonprofits and businesses also needed the kind of care Preserving The Past, LLC was already offering families. Services were expanded to offer more technological expertise and encompass broader constituencies.

Taylor is regarded a pioneer in offering best practice film preservation and museum-quality archiving services for cultural collections. She was awarded the 2013 Alan Stark Award honoring achievement in film preservation by the executive board of the Association of Moving Image Archivists and was a 2017 finalist for the Digital Rochester Woman in Technology Award.

Education

An avid learner and life-long scholar, Taylor has dedicated herself to continuous learning. The first of her family to attend University (actually the first of her Grandmother’s 63 grandchildren) Taylor is grateful for the opportunity provided her in high school, influenced by high school friends, guided by Dr. Clara Thomas, the campus career counselor, and inherited stamina and perseverance that helped her through the application process with the help of her mother. Another fortuitous twist of fate, Taylor spent her junior year studying in Sweden. Upon graduating from California State University San Bernardino in 1982, Taylor moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. After 23 years and during the pivotal time in her life changing direction from working for others to becoming a business owner, she embarked on an educational journey that continues today.

Master of Arts, Photographic Preservation and Collections Management. Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada / George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, USA, Graduation: October 2006

Ryerson University

  • Fall 2004 – Research Methods, History of Photography I, History of Photographic Materials, Collections Management, Photography 101
  • Winter 2005 – Digital Applications for Collections Management, Materials & Processes: the 19th Century, Materials & Processes: The 20th Century, Chemistry of Photographic Deterioration

Summer Internships (Mandatory Internships*)

  • Lake County Historical Society, Crown Point, Indiana; Curatorial Assistance, Inc., Pasadena, California; The Bank Museum, Columbia, Pennsylvania *See detailed description under Internships

George Eastman Museum

  • Fall 2005 – History of Photography II, Cataloguing and Registratin Methods, Topics in Photographic Preservation
  • Winter 2006 – Exhibitions and Publications, Topics in Preservation and Collections Management Methods, Institutional Service

Rochester, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Crown Point, IN

Bachelor of Arts, Child Psychology (Minor-Theatre Arts), California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA, USA, Graduation: March 1982

Swedish Language Diploma and Advanced Psychology courses, Swedish I, II & III, Universitet av Upsala, Uppsala, Sweden

Continuing Education

Career Enhancement Courses

UCLA Adult Education

  • Introduction to Graphic Design – Course included beginning level courses in PhotoShop®, Quark & Illustrator focusing on software introduction, design layout and visual effects.
  • Introduction to MAC

Glendale Community College

  • Media Arts 202-Video Stream & DVD Production – Intense study of video analogue to digital compression using Compressor® and DVD production (graphics, chapter stops, titling, etc) using DVD Studio Pro 2.0.
  • Media Arts 102/Video Editing – In-depth study editing philosophies and hands-on “capturing” and editing of film and videotape non-linear, digitals and editing software, using Final Cut Pro®. Digital preparation for dvd burning.
  • Media Arts 101/Video Production – Basic overview of aesthetics and techniques required in the production of video programs. Including videography, video and audio equipment, editing, lighting and video graphics.
  • Information Systems/Desktop Publishing – Introduction to Desktop Publishing using Visual Start QuarkXpress 5.0.
  • Memoirs & More – Lifetime writing class to enhance skills as photo-journaling consultant and lifestory writing instruction.
  • PhotoShop® I & II – Continuing instruction in PhotoShop® focusing on digital reconstruction of damaged or faded photographs.
  • Library Science – covering traditional and contemporary means of research, library cataloguing techniques and PowerPoint Presentation.
  • How to Start and Manage Your Own Small Business – received top grade in class for business plan: Preserving the Past, LLC.
  • Public Speaking – Training for the purpose of giving public speaking seminars to teach preservation methods of photograph collections including storage and handling techniques, historical significance and written documentation of photograph/document content.
  • PowerPoint/HTML – To enhance Preservation Seminar presentations.

Certificates

  • TEN, The Entrepreneurs Network, High Tech Rochester, Rochester, NY
  • TEN 201, The Entrepreneurs Network Advanced, High Tech Rochester, Rochester, NY
  • Smart Sales Method, World Leaders Sales, Rochester, NY
  • Final Cut Pro 6.0, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
  • Motion Graphics, Adobe After Effects, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY
  • A Race Against Time: Preserving our Audiovisual Media, CCAHA Symposium, San Francisco, CA
  • Planning New and Remodeled Archiving Facilities, SAA Conference, Chicago, IL
  • Certified Teaching Credential, Skills Test (C-BEST), Glendale, CA
  • Memoirs & More, Lifelong Learning Seminars, Glendale, CA
  • Final Cut Pro 4.0, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA
  • Intro to Cinematography, Eastman Kodak Company, Hollywood, CA
  • Preserving Photographs in a Digital World, George Eastman House/Rochester Institute of Technology/Image Permanence Institute, Rochester, NY

Internships and Volunteer Efforts

  • Lake County Historical Museum, Crown Point, Indiana USA – As part of the required curriculum for Master’s Degree in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, Taylor spent one month working under the direction of Bruce L. Woods, Director of the Museum, Lake County Historian and President of the Lake County Historical Society. Volunteer duties included working directly with the collection of historical artifacts, photographs and documents, creating digitally produced copy prints from glass plate negatives, original photographic prints, and digital files, working with the Promotions Department to create an interchangeable exhibitions board, designing new display labels for the museum and organizing the extensive book library into categories. Taylor also advised on computer purchase and database requirements for digitally cataloguing the holdings of the museum.
  • Curatorial Assistance, Inc., Pasadena, California USA – Under the direction of Owner, Graham Howe, Taylor initially served as content manager for designing a website to feature a collection of 50,000+ turn-of-the-century silver gelatin prints by renown photographer E.O. Hoppé. After assessing the collection and assisting in the organization of over 3,000 digital files, she worked closely with Mr. Howe in determining his vision for the website., then worked with web-designer, Jodie Roffers, as liaison between Mr. Howe and Ms. Roffers conveying the look and feel of the website to produce a sleek look with a functional navigational scheme. (É. O. Hoppe)
  • The Bank Museum, Columbia Pennsylvania USA – For this assignment, Taylor worked with Owners, Michael and Nora Stark laying the foundation for making their collection of over 250,000 artifacts available online. The historical museum is the only First National Bank Museum in its original location. Taylor digitally photographed almost 300 artifacts in the museum, catalogued the actual items, and organized the digital files, performed a detailed yet preliminary schematic for a database using FileMaker Pro 7, video recorded a tour of students and using Final Cut Pro, edited and produced a video, a version of which is now on their website. (The Bank Museum)
  • Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena, California USA –Under the supervision of Digital Archiving Specialist, Dan McLaughlin, Taylor spent 2-4 hours a week for approximately four months scanning some of Pasadena Public Library’s extensive collection of archival photographs. A Hewlett-Packard scanner was used and the images were stored in a Hewlett-Packard database as image/text files. Images were minimally manipulated using Adobe PhotoShop®. Each digital replication of the photograph was saved as a thumbnail, a medium sized image and a large image version. The project was the beginning of what would become an online retrievable database for use by the public.
  • Internship Down Under, Sydney, Australia – Prior to working at Pro-Tek, Taylor arranged for a one-month paid internship in Sydney, Australia. Taylor worked an approximate 40 hour work week at the stock footage library, Film World. Stock footage research and tape edit-assembly. While in Australia Taylor took the opportunity to explore many film vaults, preservation facilities and post-production labs, most impressive was the National Film and Sound Archives in Canberra and the National Archives of Australia in Sydney. Taylor was given VIP tours by Mark Nizette and Guy Petherbridge respectively. Acting as liaison to ProTek (Kodak’s preservation subsidiary), Taylor represented the state-of-the-art cold storage and film inspection facility and presented those interested with a copy of Pro-Tek’s monthly newsletter as well as other pertinent material. Upon her return she wrote a booklet in the form of a journal, documenting her experience and the state of preservation and post-production in Australia.