Since first getting involved with finding lost black and white cartoons, [Dave Bossert has] been amazed at some of the conditions, both good and bad, that these films have been in. Think about it, a cartoon from 1927 is ninety-years-old this year. Yet, some of the finds have been beautiful prints and others are fragments or partial film clips, which may require locating a second print of the same title to cobble together a complete cartoon. So, when a lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon is found, either full or partial, that's when the real work begins with restoration and preservation. Most of the lost Oswald cartoons that [Dave has] helped to recover over the years have typically been 16mm or 35mm film prints. These have been located, with the help of [Dave's] friend and colleague David Gerstein, in various public and private archives or with an individual film collector, either in the United States or Europe. Once a title has been identified and verified, a simple agreement is put in place with the owner of the short, allowing for access to the print for a nominal fee in order to get a digital scan of the complete film element.
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