On my last trip to the National Archives, I noticed several people using
clear colored plastic sheets, and others using colored papers on which to
view the microfilms. I didn't ask them at the time why they did that, so i
am hoping someone can share with me the advantages of doing that, and also
suggestions for other tools such as magnifiers that help in looking at
microfilmed documents. Thanks in advance.

Jessica Tropp
Northampton, MA
USA
Researching:
LEVIN(E), KARCHMER, SILVERMAN, RIVKIND >from Vilna
ENTE >from Przemysl, Poland
TROPP >from Galicia
GOLDNER >from Romania

The colored plastic, or sometimes colored paper, helps to sharpen the
image on poor quality microfilm. Yellow seems to work best.

Dolores Palomo

The microfilm or the document itself may have poor contrast due to age. By
viewing the image against different colored backgrounds one can often make
out details that are obscure when viewed only agains a white background.
I use blue, yellow and green. Sometime one color works better than others.
Maginfiers are usually not needed. The microfilm machine itself has
magnification, some have zoom lenses, some interchangeable lenses.

David Rosen
Boston, MA

Jessica Tropp wrote:

Clear plastic sheets, often used for school papers and other small
reports, come in many colors. The yellow ones, and sometimes blue ones,
can help clear up microfilmed copies of documents. I think they work by
cutting down on the background, but the do work. If you have a poor
copy or a copy of a difficult document, try it-the sheets are very
inexpensive. You just put a small piece of the material with the film
in the holder-obviously you have to move the material for a different
frame.

Sally Bruckheimer
Buffalo, NY