Near Culpeper Va, the Library of Congress has a building where there restore and warehouse old movies. They get the nitrate film and clean it up as best they can, then they make a digital copy. Sometimes, they show the movie in their very own theater. No charge for admittance but it is first come and first served. Last year they cleaned up King Kong and I watched it in their theater. Quite a show! The cleaned up movie on the big screen.
If you are nearby, check out the Packard Theater at Mt. Pony and see their schedule of movies to be shown.
The building goes deep in the ground and once belonged to the Federal Reserve. Later, after Uncle Sam bought it, Cheney was squirreled away there during the 9-ll attack.
Er, I am sorry. I mean when some people did something.
Back in the silent era a film would be copyrighted before 1912 when the studio sent a paper copy of the film to the Library of Congress. These paper prints deteriorated over time, but some have been laboriously restored. In the mid ‘70s I went to a showing of one such restored paper negative at the Library of Congress which attended by Lillian Gish. I was very impressed by her beauty and poise, even at that age.