Arts and Ammo

When folks at the Arsenal on the Charles mention 15 and 35 millimeter, they’re not talking about ammo. Or at least, not anymore.

Ever since the Harvard Film Archive Conservation Center came to the 47-acre office park two years ago, discussion of film reels has replaced talk about bullets. But just a decade ago, the sprawling Watertown commercial center was home to one of the busiest munitions plants in the country. The Arsenal churned out ammunition, small arms, ammo cartridges, and light armor for the U.S. Military until it was decommissioned in 1995. The site was subsequently cleaned up and developed into a multi-use office park, which Harvard acquired in 2001 for a modest $162 million.

Now, conservator Julie A. Buck and her team of nit-picky film buffs occupy one of the Arsenal’s many commercial real estate sites. Their mission is to maintain the 20,000 reels of film in the Harvard Film Archive’s collection.

“We do lots of repairs,” says Buck as one of her colleagues spools through a reel to check for damage. “Often films that have been donated or films that we lend out get damaged.”

And so Buck and her associates meticulously recondition reels of acetate celluloid in a facility that used to recondition firearms.

The conservation center—once home to an army dormitory—is adorned with framed movie posters, from “La Dolce Vita” to the offbeat Maggie Gyllenhaal flop “Secretary.”

Much as the Film Archive tries to paste over the relics of the building’s artillery plant past, there’s still something disquieting about working at a site that used to manufacture guns. Every time a door slams, everyone still gets a little jumpy.