Microfilming in the Digital Age

Multi-Pay Vouchers (MPV) are important records. As we said in an earlier post, pay vouchers are in some cases the only surviving documents that can verify service for benefit-seeking veterans whose OMPFs (Office of Military Personnel Files) were destroyed in the 1973 fire. These records are also increasingly important for historical and genealogical researchers.

Although scanning MPVs in high-resolution color would provide a higher level of graphic reproduction, NARA’s primary goal is the long-term preservation of the essential information contained in these documents. Silver halide film stored in appropriate conditions is a preservation standard with a life expectancy beyond 500 years. In the first photo above, you can see the difference between a scanned copy (left), and microfilmed copy (right).

Microfilm is an excellent intermediate format that you may easily digitize at any point in the future at minimal expense and effort. A reel of 1200-plus images can be digitized in a matter of minutes.


Filming is productive, averaging 250 document pages per hour at NARA-St. Louis. This rate is unattainable with digitization without utilizing automated document feeders on scanners, a practice that is not recommended for archival holdings.

The next microfilm reformatting project in St. Louis will involve discharge cards, which, like military pay vouchers, are used to establish evidence of military service. These cards contain information such as duty stations and chronological career details that are not contained on pay vouchers.

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