Base Authority List

Aluminum

Animal Skin Product

Board

Bone/Ivory/Claw/Tooth

Cardboard

Cellulose acetate butyrate

Ceramic

Enamel

Film/Plastic: Acetate
scope note: Developed as a safety film, acetate has been used as a film base since the 1930s. Under adverse storage conditions, acetate will deteriorate as part of a chemical process called "vinegar syndrome."
source: NARA Managing Audiovisual Records, 1996

Film/Plastic: Nitrate
scope note: Also called "nitrocellulose film" or "cellulose nitrate", nitrate is chemically unstable and highly flammable. It was manufactured as a transparent, plastic film base until 1951.
source: NARA Managing Audiovisual Records, 1996

Flim/Plastic: Polyester
scope note: Polyester has been widely used as a base for sheet film since the 1970s.
source: NARA Managing Audiovisual Records, 1996

Film/Plastic: Unknown

Glass
scope note: Glass is the base for both glass plate negatives and lantern slides.

Metal
scope note: Metal, particularly aluminum, is used as a base (substrate) for optical disks.

Other

Paper
scope note: A medium commonly made from pulped cellulose fibers (derived mainly from wood, rags, or certain grasses) suspended in water, formed into sheets on a screen, and dried. Paper is commonly used as the base for textual records.
source: SAA Glossary, 1992

Photographic Paper

Photographic Paper: Fiber-based

Photograhic Paper: Resin-coated
scope note: Paper coated with polyethylene on both sides. Commonly referred to as RC paper.
source: Encyclopedia of Printing, Photographic, and Photomechanical Processes, 1990

Plant-based material

Plastic/Rubber/Synthetic Resin

Shell

Shellac
scope note: Used as a base for phonographs.
source: Webster's 10^th, 1997

Steel

Stone

Stretched Canvas

Textile

Vinyl

Wax
scope note: Used as a base for phonographs.
source: Webster's 10^th, 1997

Wood