A Treasury of Sounds and Images - Part 3

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Nestled in the hills of Virginia, 70 miles from Washington, D.C., is the Packard Campus that houses the Library of Congress' film and sound archive, which serves as the caretaker to our nation's most iconic and precious images.

A recent visit took us to the inner sanctum for a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the place where archivists do their invaluable work in preserving our cultural heritage.

We visited with Matthew Barton, sound archivist, who talked about the sound collection.

Of paramount importance is the film archive, where precious nitrate film is stored.

Here, archivist Rob Stone explains the different formats covered by the archive. Those formats include the paper prints of the earliest films.

As we penetrate further into the inner sanctum, nitrate film specialist Larry Smith explains the nitrate collection, which includes the negatives of Thomas Edison. Smith points out that most of the collection is not comprised of government films, as one might suspect, but Hollywood studio films, including the holdings of Disney and RKO.

Now it is time to enter the chilly confines of the nitrate vaults themselves. We also get to see some examples of negatives, including one to "The Great Train Robbery."