Our Photograph and Audiovisual Curator, Matthew Mickelson, has been hard at work this last year cleaning, repairing, and digitizing the Albert Beguin collection. Consisting of 41 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm films, the collection documents the life of Dr. Albert Beguin, a noted scientist who worked for Eastman Kodak Company for 30 years, and his family. Born on his family’s farm outside of Rushville in 1902, Albert attended Chadron State College before graduating from the University of Nebraska where he earned a Master of Science in physical chemistry and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. While working for Kodak, Albert became the first person to hold a patent for slot-die coating, a process still used in the manufacturing industry. Slot-die coating involves applying a coating or solution onto flat surfaces such as glass, metal, paper, or plastic. In this role, Albert helped develop new coating technologies for color film stock, helping to make it more affordable for consumers.
Alfred, Duane, and Mable, 1938, shortly after moving from Lincoln to Rochester, New York
Albert married Mable Lucille Rogers in 1935, and the couple had three children, Duane, Fred, and Elaine. Though the family moved from Lincoln to Rochester, New York in 1938, they often returned to the Rushville area to visit family and made numerous trips to Rapid City, South Dakota, where Mable’s family lived. Events such as birthday parties, Christmas celebrations, graduations, summer vacations, and family reunions are documented. A number of films feature scenes from Nebraska, including views from Lincoln of the Nebraska State Capitol and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus in the 1940s, as well as scenes of the 1938 Sheridan County Fair. Others include trips to Niagara Falls, New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Mount Vernon.
Albert, Duane, and the family dog, 1938
Albert retired from Kodak in 1968. In May of 1970, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from Chadron State College. Albert passed away one month later on June 12, 1970, at the age of 67. Mable passed away on December 3, 2006, at the age of 93.
Mable, 1938
When the films arrived at NSHS, they were quite dirty and needed to be cleaned and stabilized before they could be safely digitized. This involved repairing old film slices that had failed due to the age of the film and carefully cleaning decades of dust that had accumulated on several reels. Once the films were stabilized, they were digitized using a Cintel G3 HDR+ 8/16 film scanner. The Cintel scanner gives NSHS staff the capability to digitize 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm film at 4K quality, a huge upgrade from our old equipment. The Albert Beguin collection was the first NSHS collection to be fully digitized at 4K, and the films can now be viewed the way they were meant to be seen here: RG6293.MI: Dr. Albert Beguin collection!
Example of a dirty film reel
Cintel Scanner
A close-up of the Cintel Scanner.
(Published October 2026)
