Moving Image Archives: Past and Future

Author(s): Daniel J. Leab

Source: Film History, Vol. 12, No. 2, Moving Image Archives: Past and Future (2000), pp. 131133
Published by: Indiana University Press
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FilmHistory,Volume12, pp. 131-133, 2000. Copyright JohnLibbey& Company

ISSN:0892-2160. Printedin Malaysia

Moving Image
Archives:
Future
Past
and
I

f,

istoryis a vast storehouse', according

to Voltaire,'fromwhichwe take what
we need'. Butwe mustchose 'wisely':
as the 18th-centuryFrenchman of letters argues, 'we mustselect'. The need for selection holds especially true for archives (officialor
otherwise)whichmustdeal withthe veritableflood
of moving-image materialgenerated duringthe
20th century,and massivelyproliferatingas you
read these words.The ongoing miraclesof moderntechnologyintermsof warehousingand cataloguing this material as well as a generous
the necesexpansionof facilitiesnotwithstanding,
sary institutionalspace and capability falls far
short.1
Archives,whichalwaysseem to have had such
problems,have been withus for a verylong time.
The historian, Donald McCoy, recalls that 'the
word "archives"derives from the Greek word
archeion,whichmeantbothrecordsand theirstorage places ...'. Butsuchfunctionsactuallypredate
the Greeks by manyyears.Thereare instancesof
archival record-keepingthat date back to the
Sumerians,before2000 BC.2
Moving-imagearchives,for obvious reasons,
are a muchmorerecentphenomenon.Whilevarious technological innovations,whichcreatedthe
illusionof movement(whathas been describedas
a 'continuum'of 'early experimentsand devices
aimed at presentingimages in sequence') existed
duringthe 19th century,the movies as we know
themcame intobeing duringthe mid-i 890s. During the recentcelebrationsof 'the centenaryof the
cinema'variousnationalfirstswereclaimedforthe
initialshowing of motion pictures,commercially
and artistically.3

Towhatevercountryscholarshipfinallygrants
the accolade of being first,alreadyover a century
ago withthe movies barelyin swaddlingclothes,
some people stronglyargued for the need to archive the movingimage. WilliamKennedyLaurie
Dickson,an Englishmanwho whileworkingunder
the 'supervision'of the Americaninventor,Thomas
Edison,played a key role in the developmentof
motionpicturesat Edison'sWestOrange NJ laboratories,argued for the validityand usefulnessof
such an archiveas earlyas 1894. He maintained
that 'instead of dry and misleading accounts,
tinged withthe exaggerationsof the chronicler's
mind,our archiveswillbe enrichedbythe vitalised
picturesof great nationalscenes, instinctwithall
the glowing personalities which characterise
them'.Justa few yearslaterin 1898, on the other
side of the Atlantic,BoleslawMatuszewski,a Parisbased Polishcinematographer,ina pamphlet,Une
nouvellesource de I'histoire,called for 'the creation of nationalfilm archivesthat would identify,
collect, describe,and preservethisnewsource ...'.
He well understoodthe problemsinvolved,asserting 'I have no illusionsthat my projectwillquickly
be made effective...'.4
Historybore him out. Thefirstsuccessfulfilm
archiveswere not establisheduntilthree decades
later.And not until 1938 did film archivesin the
UnitedStates,Great Britain,Franceand Germany
come togetherto forman International
Federation
of FilmArchives(FIAF).Forthe nexttwo decades
film archivingwas influenced stronglyby Henri
Langlois, the legendary creator of the
CinemathequeFrancaise,who has been characterisedaptlyas 'one of the most remarkableand
controversialfigures ever to grace any profes-

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132
132

Daniel
Daniel J. Leab
Leab

sion ...'. Langlois'smanycontributionsto movingimage archivingnotwithstanding,that world ultimately turnedagainst his secretive, exclusionary
policies. Inthe 1960s and the 1970s FIAF(which
untilwell afterWorldWarIIhad grownonly a bit
beyond the original founding four archives)attracted a significant membershipfrom Eastern
Europeand the ThirdWorld,as a flourishingmovie
cultureled to the organisingof moving-imagearchivesaroundthe globe.5
These fledgling organisationsoften did not
have an easy time. All of these archives,even the
moresuccessful,faced a seriesof difficultchoices.
What,forexample,shouldbe saved?Thehistorian
Nicholas Pronayput it well: 'Filmand television
provide... recordsof what people/places looked
and sounded like;recordswhichare alwaysevocative and valuable ..., entirelyirrespectiveof the
artisticquality,if any,whichthey possess'. Moreto
the point, who shall do the saving? As was wellsummarisedin 1996 byWinstonTabb(thenAssofor Library
ciate Librarian
Servicesat the Library
of
Congress),'whatare the technicalpreservation...
problems? How do we ensure that they are addressed?Andmostimportant,perhaps,howdo we
fundall of the above.'6
The extraordinarytechnological innovations
constantlytaking place means that issues such as
access, funding,and storage mustcontinueinflux.
Consideraccess, for example. Inthe early 1990s
RobertRosen- directorof the Filmand Television
Archivesat the Universityof California,LosAngeles - observed that 'some video stores probably
hold biggerstocksthansome archives'.Now there
are available both laser discs and DVDswith'extras'thatoffermore in termsof viewingthan could
any archive.TVchannelssuch as AmericanMovie
Classicsand TurnerClassicMovies,as well as periodic offeringsof less recent movies on various
'premium'cable channels have transformedour
TVsets into a comfortablecinematheque- and
thanksto 'timeshifting',one whereaccess is at our
convenience.7
The Internetnow has become a significant
player,makingless commerciallyviable materials
available.TheAmericanMemoryCollectionof the
of Congress (http://www.memory.loc.gov/
Library
ammem/film.html)includes among its offerings
some fascinatingearly Americananimationand

'The Spanish-AmericanWar in Motion Pictures'.

ThecurrentHead of Research&Studyat the UCLA
archivehas put it verywell: 'Fromthe Vaultsto the
World'.The Web also offers an opportunityfor
organisations to make their holdings available
easily and inexpensively,as well as offeringlinks
that lead to a more traditionalutilisationof resources: thus the LatinAmericanVideo Archives
havecreatedan 'on-linesearchabledatabaseand
orderingservicewhichincludesthousandsof Latin
Americantitles and unitesthe collectionsof hundredsof USand foreigndistributors
and individual
into
a
makers
on-line
location'
film/video
central,
About.cfm).8
(http://www.lavavideo.org/LAVA/
The futuretreatmentby archivesof materials
from the past and the present remains unclear,
subjectto varyingfactors.Quantumleaps in technology, exponentiallydeveloping sources, constantlyincreasingcosts, growinggovernmentand
privaterestrictions- all need to be dealt with by
archivesand theirmanagersover and over again.
Thisissue of FilmHistorydeals withsome aspects
of currentarchivaldevelopments.The late filmdirector,StanleyKubrick,once said 'if you can talk
brilliantlyabout a problem,it can create the consoling illusionthat it has been mastered'.Thearticles in this issue offer no set solutions but do
providesome milestoneson the long road to understanding.9
RayEdmondsonis no strangertothisjournal's
pages. In his 1995 article, 'Is FilmArchivinga
Profession',he presentedan intriguingoverviewof
the debates among film archivistsabout goals,
practices and philosophies - the article is well
wortha re-read.70 Inthis issue he presentsfrom
his Australianperspectivea reporton moving-image archivesin SoutheastAsia, raisingsome challenging questions about the Western-oriented
profession'sresponse to archivesin that area. Its
increasingimportanceis well demonstratedbythe
July2000 jointconference,the firstof its kind,of
the InternationalAssociation of Sound and
Audiovisual Archives and the Southeast AsiaPacificAudioVisualAssociation,hostedbythe NationalArchivesof Singapore.
The Smitherand Webb articledeals withaspects of the historyof the FilmDepartmentat the
ImperialWar Museum, one of the most-utilised
and best-knownarchivesanywhere.Footagefrom

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Moving
Image Archives:
Archives:Past
Pastand
Future
and Future
Moving Image

133
133

thisarchiveis to be found constantlyin a multiplic- Notes

ityof TVdocumentaryofferings.Wilsonservesas a
1. Colin Bingham, ed., Men and Affairs:A Moder
fine ciceroneto a collectionthathas muchinterestMiscellany(Sydney:CurrawongPublishingCo.,
1967), 237.
ing material.He deals with a little-knowndocu2.
Donald R.McCoy, The National Archives:America's
ment/manuscriptcollectionat a librarynot known
Ministryof Documents, 1934-1968 (Chapel Hill:
for its holdingsdealing with motion pictures.The
Universityof North Carolina Press, 1978), 3.
of Congress certainlyis betterknown.For
Library
3.
Paolo Cherchi Usai, 'The EarlyYears: Origins and
allthathas been writtenabout itsholdings,one can
Survival',in Geoffrey Nowell-Smith,ed., The Oxford
History of World Cinema (Oxford & New York:
always learn more. Loughneyhas penned a thorOxford UniversityPress, 1996), 6.
and
that
is
also
a
overview
ough
up-to-date
good
4.
Dickson, quoted in Daniel J. Leab, 'Introduction',
read. Crippsonly tangentiallytouches on the film
HistoricalJournal of Film, Radio and Television, 16
of
the
International
Committee
holdings
Olympic
(No. 1), 1996, 5; Sam Kula, 'Film Archives at the
but engagingly draws attentionto holdings that
Centenary of Film', Archivaria, #40, Fall, 1995,
210; Matuszewski quoted in Penelope Houston,
should be betterknown.Bertrandoffersan interKeepers of the Frame: The FilmArchives (London:
if
and
useful
tale
that
somewhat
convoluted
esting
BritishFilmInstitute,1994), 12.
challenges set concepts.
5.
Kula, p. 211.
Greg Lukowpresentsa substantial,informa- 6. Nicholas
Pronay,'ArchiveFilm/TelevisionPreservative overviewof the newlydeveloping possibilities
tion: The Historian's Perspective', The Audiovisual
forthose who wishto trainas moving-imagearchiLibrarian,5 (Winter1979), 24; Tabb in Television
and Video Preservation1997: A Studyof the Current
vists. Understandablyhe includes a plug for the
State of AmericanTelevisionand Video Preservation
programmeat his school, but he does deal intelli- Reportof the Librarianof Congress, Vol 2, 'Heargently and comprehensively with other proing, 6 March 1996, LosAngeles, California'(Washington, DC: Government PrintingOffice, 1997), 2.
grammes.Itis clearfromLukowthatthe trainingof
7.
Rosen quoted in Kula, 221.
moving-image archivistsis a burgeoning field.
8. Steven Ricci, 'From the Vaults to the World', paper
Abigail Leab Martindeals with an ambitiousatpresented at infog 99, a 'Conference on the latest
tempt by the Associationof MovingImageArchidigital developments in screen culture & research',
vists (AMIA)to solve the cataloguing problems
(http://www.cinemedia.net/AFI/randi/infog99/
faced byall moving-imagearchivistsas a resultof
ricci.html).
9. TerryEastwood, 'Reformingthe ArchivalCurriculum
differing, sometimes contradictorypractices at
to Meet Contemporary Needs', Archivaria, #42,
variousinstitutions.She laysout whatAMIAhoped
Fall 1996, 80.
to achieve: its Cataloging and Documentation
10.
Film
History,Autumn, 1995, 245-255.
Committeeformed a subcommitteeto create a
of
Practices
Compendium Cataloging
bysurveying
institutionson how they currentlycatalogued and
stored their moving-image holdings in order to
providesome solutionsbased on common practices. Martinwas a lead playerin writingup this
survey,whichis anticipatedto appear in hardcopy
Daniel J. Leab
and/or on-line bythe end of the year.

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