Archived TV and film footage is kept safe and sound underground in a salt mine in Kansas. The Hutchinson Salt Mine in Kansas covers 900 underground acres. When a section is finished as a mine, that space can be used for climate-controlled storage, through a company called Underground Vaults (which sounds like a name for a coffin company) and Storage. So far, around 50 acres are dedicated to storage facilities. In this interview, sales manager Jeff Ollenburger said,
No water, no insects or animals, constant temperature and humidity, and that's why so many Hollywood films, videotapes, props, and other memorabilia are stored there -plus governmental archives the company won't tell us about. Link -Thanks, John!
It dates back to the Cold War era in the late fifties…a group of Kansas businessmen were seeing a need in the business community to store sensitive and vital records and information underground. It was the height of the Soviet Union and United States' tension in the Cold War. Nuclear warfare was top of mind for everybody, and to get everything that was important underground was a key driving element of the security of the day, and it was that need to find a location that led that group to Hutchinson, to the salt mine. Here we're in a salt mine that has been in operation since the twenties. And space was not a limiting factor--there was plenty of room, controlled access in and out, and a perfect storage environment, so it just kinda came to be that it was the ideal spot.
No water, no insects or animals, constant temperature and humidity, and that's why so many Hollywood films, videotapes, props, and other memorabilia are stored there -plus governmental archives the company won't tell us about. Link -Thanks, John!
There's one of these in Pennsylvania too, only it's old limestone mines. I used to work for a government agency that leased space from them, as it was a secured mine :) It was always slightly creepy, and there's never cell signal.
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We went to the Underground Salt Museum as part of our summer vacation this year. It was totally awesome! Hutchinson also has a space museum called the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. They are world famous for their realistic recreations of space hardware and were responsible for the mock-ups used in the movie Apollo 13. We visited both places on the same day. Visit the Underground Salt Mine website to purchase discounted combo tickets: http://undergroundmuseum.org/index.php
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I remember working at UV&S and once was out a ways and they turned off the lights. I didn't know dark could be so... dark. I suppose at the museum they point out everything is brought up / down the elevator. This includes the "used" waste oil (not water) from the commodes. Good times.
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