Sherman Grinberg is Live!

The Sherman Grinberg Film Library is digitizing its 35mm black and white library to 4K, using new technology contained in its own digitization scanner built by Lasergraphics, in Irvine, CA, and outfitted with special lenses that are calibrated to optically remove or hide scratches and dust.   "Grinberg has scanned about 2 million feet of film and has maybe another 8 million or so to go," said the library’s chief archivist, Bill Brewington.   "We are also doing our own metafiling, in-house, with the help of a librarian from UC Berkeley.” he said.  

"It has taken a long time to figure it out, but Grinberg now has a smooth-operating program for preserving our film,” said Brewington. 

He noted that the film is being uploaded for licensing at ShermanGrinberg.com.  The most important content consist of the Paramount and American Pathe’ newsreels, dating from 1896 to 1957, and Grinberg is methodically working through the whole library.  The prestigious old collection has been used by filmmakers since the late 1950s and has been mined by Ken Burns and others for their projects.

Because Grinberg has its own digitization machine operated by its own in-house staff, it can locate and pull 35mm film from the shelf and ship it electronically to customers within 24 to 48 hours.  

Brewington has been with the Sherman Grinberg Library, located in Los Angeles, for more than 40 years, and has seen it go through many owners and technological transformations.  For information, call (310) 382-0637.