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Over the years, a number of nitrate filmstock fires in processing laboratories and archive storage vaults have destroyed hundreds (perhaps thousands) of silent era films — in many cases destroying the original camera negatives and/or the sole surviving positive prints. Some films are permanently lost through willing destruction, when executive decisions were made to scrap nitrate negatives and positives to reclaim pennies-worth of silver content.
1914 Lubin Vault Explosion and Fire
13 June 1914, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1914 Keystone/Ince Laboratory Fire
1914, Los Angeles, California
1914-1915? Edison Bronx Studio Fire
[?] late 1914 or early 1915?, Bronx, New York
1915 Paramount Laboratory Fire
11 September 1915, New York?
1924 Universal Vault Fire
1924, New Jersey?
1926 Century Film Corporation Studio Fire
1926, Hollywood, California
1933 Warner Bros/First National Vault Fire
1933, New York?
1937 Fox Vault Fire
9 July 1937, Little Ferry, New Jersey
194? Museum of Modern Art Vault Fire
194?, New York
1943 Harold Lloyd Vault Fire
1943, California
1948 Universal Filmstock Destruction
1948, ?
1959 La Cinémathèque française Fire
10 July 1959, Paris, France
1961 Fox Vault Fire
1961, New Jersey
1967 MGM Vault Fire
13 May 1967, Culver City, California
1978 George Eastman House Vault Fire
[?] 29? May 1978, Rochester, New York
1978 National Archives Vault Fire
7 December 1978, Suitland, Maryland
2008 Universal Vault Fire
June 2008, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2018 Cineteca di Bologna Fire
4 July 2018, Bologna, Italy
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