Collector finds 31 rolls of undeveloped film belonging to an unknown WWII soldier (25 photos)

Collector and restorer Levi Bettweiser was lucky to make amazing discovery - he bought at auction a collection of undeveloped film that once belonged to a soldier who fought in the Second world war. He documented the process of meticulous restoration these images, and the result will please every lover of historical pictures.





Bettweiser purchased the film at an auction in Ohio. Majority coils were water damaged and rusted, so he wasn't sure can show anything. Bettweiser - professional restorer of old film, so he does not face such difficulties get used to, but these pictures were taken by a soldier during World War II, Therefore, the restorer had to be especially careful when film restoration due to the historical value of these images.



In total, he had 31 undeveloped coils at his disposal. films. They were all taken by the same unknown photographer and numbered. On some reels you can still distinguish the inscriptions: “Beach Lucky Strike", "The Beginning of the Train Trip", "French Funeral, 1947 year". The collection also included several letters wrapped around rolls of undeveloped film.







Among the letters were personal correspondence and a kind of diary. One from these notes, the original photographer wrote, “I have always had lonely life, I dreamed of success and love.



Restoring old film is not an easy task. Bettweiser is a professional and takes the utmost care and pride in his work. He meticulously goes through the processing process, realizing which can easily ruin these historic shots.



“When I take out the film I just developed, I becoming the very first person to ever see this image. They were never enjoyed, they were never remembered, and so it sort of makes this photo even more important, because she had never had moments like this before. And that's the goal Rescued Film Project,” says Levi Bettweiser.



The Rescued Film Project is a coalition of photo restorers including Bettweiser, who find it incredibly important to save the film, before she is lost forever. Anyone can send them undeveloped film and they will restore it for free.



“We are sent a lot of information about the places where these were made. photographs, because they are facts that can be studied. But as far as who this photographer was, we have much less information.”



Here's what the photographer's personal notes looked like.






And here are the pictures that Levi Bettweiser managed to restore.

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