The Lincolnshire Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives serving the UK, so we can easily put you in touch with another archive if required.

The collection is constantly growing. We are always on the look out for movie film showing any aspect of Lincolnshire life. If you know of any film that you think might interest us, do please get in touch.

It doesn't matter what size or type of film it is - black and white or colour, sound or silent, professional or amateur; it can be the full-size cinema film (35mm), one of the older Home Movie sizes (16mm, 9.5mm, 8mm) or the more recent Super 8 [click here for a guide to film sizes and identification].

Most films are donated to the Archive, or deposited on permanent loan. But even if you wouldn't want to part with your film, we'd still like to see it and perhaps, with your permission, to make a copy. Act now! Film is at risk. Please help us to save it while there is still time.

All film deteriorates with age. It shrinks, sometimes becoming too warped or brittle to project. The delicate perforations may be damaged; joins may break or distort; and the image itself can decay through chemical changes or mould growth. Certain types of film may even rot away completely.

But if film reaches us in time, we can clean and repair it, and copy it using specialised equipment. The precious originals can then be stored in our vault at the correct temperature and humidity to ensure long term preservation.

Old movie film brings the past back to life with a vividness and poignancy that ordinary photographs can seldom match. But film is seriously at risk. If neglected, mis-handled, incorrectly stored, or worse still simply thrown away, it may be lost forever.



With over 500 titles, dating from as early as 1901, the collection illustrates almost every aspect of living and working in 20th Century Lincolnshire - from agriculture and the fishing industry, to seaside holidays and family life in the major towns and villages.

Subjects range from royal visits and ceremonial occasions, down to such everyday matters as bathing the baby, shopping, or queueing outside the cinema. As well as acclaimed footage of civilian life in wartime, and holiday antics across the decades at Skegness, you'll also find such unexpected gems as a water diviner at work in the 1920s and a group of enthusiasts building and flying their own hovercraft in the 1960s.

Visit our Listings page for more details. If you wish to contact the Lincolnshire Film Archive then go to our Contacts page.

We are often asked to supply frame enlargements from films in the Archive, to illustrate articles in print or for people to keep in their family album.

We are always happy to help if we can; but unfortunately, motion picture film is not a good source of 'stills', and cine frame enlargements are generally of poor quality compared with pictures taken on a conventional still camera.

If you'd like to know more about this please download and view a PDF here.