UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCES

LIS 2226:  Moving Image and Sound Archives
Summer 2005

Tuesdays, 2:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
SIS 404

Instructor:  Karen F. Gracy, Assistant Professor
Office:  SIS 657
Phone:  (412) 624-7679
E-mail:  kgracy@pitt.edu

Office Hours:  Mondays, 2-5 p.m.


Course purpose and goals | Course format | Course policies | Course requirements

 Deadlines and assignment weighting | Required texts | Course overview


Detailed Class Schedule with Readings:

May 10 | May 17 | May 24 | May 31 |   June 7 | June 14
 
June 21 | June 28 | July 12 | July 19 | July 26


Course purpose and goals

The aim of this course is to introduce archives and preservation students to the issues and challenges of preserving moving image and sound material.  This course has no prerequisites, although those students with backgrounds in preservation, archiving, and/or media studies will find that much of the material covered in this class builds upon and enriches the knowledge gained in previous coursework.

Over the course of the term, we will be focusing on the following topics:
Learning objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:
  1. Trace the trajectory of development of moving image and sound recording technologies, and relate the history of technological development to current concerns of moving image and sound preservation practice;
  2. Identify the major players in moving image and sound preservation, and describe their influence on the field;
  3. Differentiate among different formats and genres of moving images and sound recordings;
  4. Recognize and articulate the preservation concerns associated with each major type of moving image and sound recording technology;
  5. Recognize and articulate care and handling procedures for different moving image and sound recording formats;
  6. Apply appraisal criteria to moving image and sound collections, making general recommendations for preservation and restoration based on the characteristics, content, and use of a particular work or collection of works;
  7. Compare and contrast different approaches to documenting moving image and sound collections, and make general recommendations for creating metadata or other surrogates based on the characteristics, content, and use of a particular work or collection of works;
  8. Develop an approach for providing access to audiovisual archives that balances multiple factors, including preservation imperatives, copyright restrictions, and costs of reformatting for use.
  9. Describe the visual and aural qualities of works on film, videotape, and various audio formats, and use that information in making preservation and restoration decisions;
  10. Evaluate the decisions made in preservation and restoration work in terms of meeting standards for visual and aural quality, and maintaining the authenticity and integrity of a work.

Course format


This course will be conducted as a seminar, and will include occasional lectures on historical and institutional contexts of moving image and sound archiving.  Significant periods of time will be devoted to discussion, in-class case studies, and guest lectures from working professionals in the field.  At least one class session will be held off-site.

Course policies

Attendance

Weekly attendance is mandatory (including field trips), and will be factored into your participation grade.  Only medical or family emergencies are considered valid excuses for missing class.  Tardiness and leaving class prior to dismissal in excess of 15 minutes will be counted as absence.   Important:  Students who miss more than two class meetings will fail this course!

In consideration of the instructor and your fellow students ...

Please turn off all electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, and PDAs) while class is in session.  If you will be using a laptop to take notes, please adjust the volume setting so that you do not disturb others.  Thank you.

Written assignments

Students should adhere to the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style when preparing papers. 

The instructor expects full and timely completion of all assignments in order to receive full credit.  Assignments will be marked down 1/2 grade for each day that they are turned in past the deadline noted in this syllabus.  Important:  Failure to complete any of the written assignments will result in a failing grade in this course!

Incompletes

The instructor actively discourages students from requesting incompletes.  The only circumstances in which an incomplete will be awarded are medical or family emergencies, or other such unavoidable calamities.

Students with Special Needs

If you have a disability that requires special accommodations or other classroom modifications, you need to notify both the instructor and Disability Resources and Services no later than the second week of the term.  You may be asked to provide documentation of your disability to determine the appropriateness of accommodations.  To notify Disability Resources and Services, call 412-648-7890 (voice or TDD) to schedule an appointment.  The Office is located in 216 William Pitt Union.

Course Policy on Academic Integrity

Please familiarize yourself with the School of Information Sciences’ Guidelines on Academic Integrity, found at: http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~wadmin/academics/information/sisacint.html.  It is the student’s responsibility to carefully document his or her work using the appropriate style of citation.  The instructor will be using Turn It In Software to check all written assignments for evidence of plagiarism.  Be aware that plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a failing grade in this course.

Course requirements


Master’s students will be responsible for the following assignments (detailed instructions and grading rubrics for all assignments will be handed out separately):
  1. Participation (20% of final grade):  Each student is expected to complete the required readings on a weekly basis, and to participate regularly in class discussions about the readings, current issues, and case studies.  Students who do not actively participate in class discussions on a regular basis will receive no higher than a “B” for this course.
  2. Viewing Report, a.k.a., Developing a Critical Eye and Ear (10% of final grade):
  3. Restoration Case Study (30% of final grade):  Team up with another student to look at a particular film or sound recording which has been restored and examine the decisions made.
  4. Final Project (40% of final grade),  choice between the following two options (for both the topic is due by June 14th; paper due July 26th)

Doctoral students

Doctoral students who take this course for credit are asked to participate fully in the preparation of readings and all in-class discussions and case studies.  For their written work, they will have the option of completing all written assignments that the master’s students will be doing, or, they may opt to write a publication-quality paper of twenty-five to thirty pages which deals with some aspect or issue of moving image or sound archiving.  The instructor should be consulted as to which option has been chosen, and she must approve topics before students undertake research for the term paper.  If the student wishes to pursue publication of the resulting paper, the instructor will be happy to direct him or her to appropriate journals to which the paper may be submitted.

Deadlines, Assignment Weighting, and Overall Grades for the Course


Master’s students

Assignments Due Date Percent of Grade
Viewing Report June 7, 2005
 10%
Topic for Term Paper
 June 14, 2005
 ----
Restoration Case Study (both written paper and oral presentation)
 July 12, 2005
 30%
Term Paper or Nomination Paper
 July 26, 2005
 40%
Class Participation Ongoing 20%


Doctoral students

Assignments Due Date Percent of Grade
Research Paper July 26, 2004
 80%
Class Participation Ongoing 20%

Grading rubrics for each assignment will be available on the Courseweb site for the class.  Please not that the grading scale for each assignment may vary slightly, and will be attached to the grading rubric.

Grading Scale

Overall course grades will determined according to the following scale:
       
A = 94-100 points
 C+ = 77-79 points
A- = 90-93 points
 C = 73-76 points
B+ = 87-89 points
 C- = 70-72 points
B = 83-86 points
 F = below 70 points
B- = 80-82 points

Required Texts

Every week, students will come to class prepared to refer to and discuss the week’s assigned readings.  Readings for this course will be varied, as they reflect the fields of moving image and sound archiving; some will be historical, theoretical, or otherwise academic in nature, others will be more geared to professionals, and may be technical in nature.  Your task will always be to try to understand the essence of the information and ideas being conveyed.  You may not always understand every nuance, but you should be able to fit what is being discussed into the “big picture.”

The following list includes required texts for the course.  Although these works will be on reserve at the SIS Library (journal articles will be on electronic reserve), I encourage everyone to purchase their own copy if possible.  The only exception is Alan Ward’s Manual of Sound Archive Administration which, at $84.95, is almost obscenely over-priced.

Course Overview


Week
 Date
 Topic/Activity
1
 May 10th
 Introduction to the course;
Logistics and requirements;
The World of Moving Image and Sound Preservation:  Archives, Archivists, and the Archival Community:
  Professional associations, including AMIA, FIAF, ARSC, IASA, SAA, OHA
  Other supporting players, including film laboratories, post-production houses, suppliers
2
 May 17th
 History of the Technology, Pt. 1:  Early Analog Sound and Moving Image Technologies
3
 May 24th
 History of the Technology, Pt. 2:  The Transition from Analog to Digital
Institutional History, Pt. 1:
  Film Archives and the Studios, Sound Archives and the Recording Industry
4
 May 31st
 Institutional History, Pt. 2:
  Media Collections within Larger Cultural Institutions
  Media Outside the Mainstream of Cultural Production
International Perspectives:  Audiovisual Archiving Abroad (Guest Speaker:  HeaLim Rhee)
5
 June 7th
 Appraisal of Moving Image and Sound Archival Material
6
 June 14th
 The Nitty-Gritty of Care and Handling
  Properties and Formats of Film, Magnetic, and Optical Recording Media
Guest speaker (at Archives Service Center):  Miriam Meislik, Archives Service Center
7
 June 21st
 Documentation of Moving Image and Sound Archives:
  Representation, metadata, standards, and relationship of AV material with other related materials in the archive;
  Media asset management systems (how to integrate analog and digital collections)
8
 June 28th
 Preservation of Moving Image and Sound Formats
  Refreshing, Reformatting, and Restoration Work
  Costs of Preservation Work
  Funding Sources
9
 July 5th
 Exploring Relationships with Film Laboratories and Audio Post-Production Specialists
Tour of Summit Labs (tentative date)
10
 July 12th
 Ethics of Restoration; Student Reports on Case Studies
11
 July 19th
 Access to Moving Image and Sound Archives:
  How to provide it, including rules for client handling of material;  
  Limitations on access due to conflict with preservation imperatives or because of legal restrictions;
  Copyright and the public domain;
  Public vs. private ownership of culture;
  Exhibition and the need for contextualizing moving image/sound material
12
 July 26th
 Oral History Programs
Preservation Policy
Wrap-Up


Screening/Listening Schedule

(12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m., SIS 1st Floor Conference Room, unless otherwise noted)

(Schedule subject to change, based on availability)

1
 May 10th
 In-class viewing:  "Save Our Sounds" (approximately 40 minutes, 2003)
2
 May 17th
 Lyrical Nitrate, 1905-1915 (50 minutes, 1996); Projection Day!  Screenings TBA (based on availability from the Media Resource Center), or, selections of early motion pictures from the Treasures from American Film Archives DVDs
3
 May 24th
 Keepers of the Frame (Randy Gitsch, 1999; 70 minutes); Selections from Folkway's Anthology of American Folk Music
4
 May 31st
 The Atomic Cafe (Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, Pierce Rafferty, 1982; 88 minutes); Multiple Sidosis (Sid Laurents, 1969; 10 minutes)
5
 June 7th
 Hell's Highway:  The True Story of Highway Safety Films (Brett Wood, 2002; 91 minutes); Signal 30 (1959; 28 minutes); Private Snafu:  "Spies" (1943, 4 minutes); Japanese-American Communities (1927-1932, 7 minutes)
6
 June 14th
 In-class viewing (at Archives Service Center):  Considerations in Preparation and Printing of Deteriorated Film (12.5 minutes)
7
 June 21st
 In-class viewing of short films illustrating challenges in audiovisual cataloging (TBA)
8
 June 28th
 The Eternal Frame (1976; 24 minutes); Restoration of The Eternal Frame; Vertigo restoration featurette
9
 July 5th
 Moving Images for the Future (Film Technology; 20 minutes).  Leave early for Summit Film Lab Tour
10
 July 12th
 Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 2002 (originally released in 1927); 124 minutes)
11
 July 19th
 This is Prelinger Archives; WGBH Media Archives and Preservation Center Presentation Reel; From Stump to Ship:  A 1930 Logging Film (28 minutes);

12
 July 26th
 Forgotten Silver (Peter Jackson, 1997; 80 minutes);  An Oral Historian's Work (1987; 33 minutes);

Detailed Class Schedule with Assigned Readings


May 10:

Topics

Introduction to the course; Logistics and requirements;
The World of Moving Image and Sound Preservation:  Archives, Archivists, and the Archival Community

Viewing

In-Class Movies:  "Save Our Sounds" (2002; part of the History Channel's Save Our History series)

Required reading

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  pp. 1-5  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Marlow, Eugene, and Eugene Secunda.  Shifting Time & Space: The Story of Videotape. New York: Praeger, 1991.  Ch. 2 (pp. 13-24).  HD 9697 V542 M37 1991

McWilliams, Jerry.  The Preservation and Restoration of Sound Recordings. Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History, 1979.  Ch. 1, "History of Sound Recording," (pp. 3-21).  TS 2301 P3M22

Rushin, Don.  “Five Decades of Magnetic Tape.”  Broadcast Engineering 31.5 (1989):  36-50.

Explore the following websites:

    Association of Moving Image Archivists, http://www.amianet.org

    Association of Recorded Sound Collections, http://www.arsc-audio.org/

    International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, http://www.iasa-web.org/

    International Federation of Film Archives, http://www.fiafnet.org

    International Federation of Television Archives, http://www.fiatifta.org/

    International Oral History Association, http://www.ioha.fgv.br/

    Oral History Association, http://omega.dickinson.edu/organizations/oha/

    National Film Preservation Foundation, http://www.filmpreservation.org

    National Television and Video Preservation Foundation, http://www.ntvpf.tv/


Additional Recommended Background Reading:

Gitelman, Lisa.  Scripts, Grooves & Writing Machines: Representing Technology in the Edison Era.  Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.  Ch. 4 (pp. 148-183).  P 96 T422 U6343 1999

Millard, Andre.  America On Record: A History of Recorded Sound.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.  Ch. 6-7 (pp. 115-157).  (An excellent book, worth buying if you can find it.)  ML1055 M47 1995

Sterne, Jonathan.  The Audible Past:  Cultural Origins of Sound Reproducation.  Durham:  Duke University Press, 2003. Ch. 6. TK 7881.4 .S733 2003

Winston, Brian.  Technologies of Seeing: Photography, Cinematography & Television.  London: BFI, 1996.  Introduction, Ch. 1-3 (pp. 1-87).  P 96 T42W55 1996


May 17:  History of the Technology, Pt. 1  (Analog):  Early Analog Sound and Moving Image Technologies

Required Readings:

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  pp. 6-18.  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Bordwell, David, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson.  The Classical Hollywood Cinema:  Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (New York:  Columbia University Press, 1985).  Skim ch. 19-23, pp. 243-308. PN1993.5.U6 B655 1985

Copeland, Peter.  "Forensic Evidence in Historical Sound-Recordings."  Aural History:  Essays on Recorded Sound.  Ed. by Andy Linehan.  London:  British Library, 2001.  ML 1055 I58 2001

Fielding, Raymond, ed.  A Technological History of Motion Pictures and Television.  Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1967.  (pp. 1-22, 49-59. 118-119, 125-140).  qTR 848 F5

Morton, David.  Off the Record:  The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America.  New Brunswick, N.J.:  Rutgers University Press, 1999. TK7881.4 .M66 2000  Ch. 1,  pp. 13-47.

Winston, Brian.  Technologies of Seeing: Photography, Cinematography & Television.  London: BFI, 1996.  Introduction, Ch. 4-5 (pp. 88-118).  P 96 T42W55 1996

Additional Recommended Resources:

Archival Moving Image Materials. 2nd ed. "Glossary."  Library of Congress, 2000.  http://www.itsmarc.com/crs/arch0342.htm

Bachman, Rebecca. "Video Preservation: Glossary of Terms," http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/bavc/bavcterm.html (19 July 1999).

Ed Reitan's Color Television History [website], http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/index.html

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  Glossary, pp. 99-108.  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Screensound Australia.  Technical Glossary of Common Audiovisual Terms. http://www.screensound.gov.au/glossary.nsf/Main/Glossary+Index?OpenDocument

Additional Recommended Readings:

Fossati, Giovanna.  "When Cinema Was Coloured."  All the Colours of the World:  Colours in Early Mass Media, 1900-1930. Reggio Emilia, It.: Edizioni Diabasis, 1998. 121-132.  TR 853 T88 1998 (Other articles from this book are also highly recommended).


May 24:  History of the Technology, Pt. 2  (Late Analog to Digital)

Required Readings:

American Institute of Conservation, Electronic Media Group. “Video Format Identification Guide.”  Available online at: http://www.video-id.com/

Kefauver, Alan P.  Fundamentals of Digital Audio.   Madison, WI : A-R Editions, 1999.  TK7881.4 .K4323 1998  Read Ch. 1, skim other chapters of interest.

Read, Paul and Mark-Paul Meyer, eds.  Restoration of Motion Picture Film.  Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000.  Ch. 9-10, Glossary (pp. 53-79, 317-341).  TR  886.3 R47 2000

Roosa, Mark.  "Video Analysis and Evaluation."  Playback: A Preservation Primer for Video.  Sally Jo Fifer, et al., eds. San Francisco: Bay Area Video Coalition, 1998. 5-10.

Schubin, Mark.  "A Digital Primer, Schubin-Style."  Creating Digital Content:  Video Production for Web, Broadcast, and Cinema.  Ed. by John Rice and Brian McKernan.  McGraw-Hill, 2002. Read Ch. 1 (pp. 1-32), skim other chapters of interest.  Available electronically through PittCat.

Also recommended:

Fells, Nick, Pauline Donachy and Catherine Owen.  Creating Digital Audio Resources:  A Guide to Good Practice. Oxford:  Oxbow, 2002. TK 7881.65. F45 2002

Texas Commission on the Arts.  "Videotape Identification and Assessment Guide."  Available online at:  http://www.arts.state.tx.us/video/


Institutional History, Pt. 1:  Film Archives and the Studios, Sound Archives and the Recording Industry

Required Readings:

Barry, Iris. “The Film Library and How It Grew.” Film Quarterly 22.4 (1969): 19-27.

Gronow, Pekka and Ilpo Saunio.  An International History of the Recording Industry.  London: Cassell, 1998.  Ch. 6-8 (pp. 95-212).  ML 3790 G7813 1998

Houston, Penelope. Keepers of the Frame:  The Film Archives. London: British Film Institute, 1994.  PN1993.4 H68 1994

Schuursma, Rolf. "Approaches to the National Organisation of Sound Archives." Sound Archives: A Guide to their Establishment and Development. David Lance, ed. Vienna, Austria: International Association of Sound Archives, 1983.  pp. 1-9.

Schatz, Thomas.  The Genius of the System:  Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.  Skim for background on the studio system.  PN 1993.5 U65S3 1988

Slide, Anthony. Nitrate Won't Wait:  A History of Film Preservation in the United States. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992. TR 886.3 S55 1992

Recommended Background Readings:

Barnouw, Erik.  A History of Broadcasting in the United States.  3 vols.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1966-1970.  HE 8698 B262

Barnouw, Erik.  Tube of Plenty:  The Evolution of American Television.  2nd rev. ed.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1990.  Ch. 1-3 (pp. 1-148), skim rest of book.  HE 8700.8 B37 1990

Douglas, Susan.  Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899-1922.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.  HE 8698 D685 1987

Essays on Recorded Sound.  Ed. by Andy Lineham.  London:  British Library, 2001.  ML 1055 I58 2001

Gomery, Douglas.  The Hollywood Studio System.  New York:  St. Martins Press, 1986.  PN 1993.5 U6 G58 1986b

Marco, Guy. Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound in the United States. New York, Garland, 1993.  (ML102 S67E5 1993; Reference book in Music Library).

Roud, Richard. A Passion for Films:  Henri Langlois and the Cinémathèque Française. New York:  Viking Press, 1983.  PN1998 A3L3649 1983

Trope, Alison.  "Le Cinéma Pour le Cinéma:  Making a Museum of the Moving Image."  The Moving Image 1.1 (2001):  29-67.

Wasko, Janet. Hollywood in the Information Age. Austin, TX: U of Texas P, 1995. Ch. 1-4 (pp. 1-69).  PN1993.5 U6W37 1994

Wasson, Haidee.  "The Cinematic Subtext of the Modern Museum:  Alfred H. Barr and MoMA's Film Archive."  The Moving Image 1.1 (2001):  2-28.


May 31:  Institutional History, Pt. 2
  Media Collections within Larger Cultural Institutions
  Media Outside the Mainstream of Cultural Production
International Perspectives:  Audiovisual Archiving Abroad (Guest Speaker:  HeaLim Rhee)

Required Readings:

Becker, Snowden.  “Family in a Can:  The Presentation and Preservation of Home Movies in Museums.”  The Moving Image 1.2 (Fall 2001):  89-106.

Dick, Ernest J. "Corporate Memory in Sound and Visual Records." The Records of American Business.  Ed. James O'Toole.  Chicago:  Society of American Archivists, 1997. HF 5736 R3625 1997 pp.  275-295.

Marlow, Eugene, and Eugene Secunda.  Shifting Time & Space: The Story of Videotape. New York: Praeger, 1991.  Ch. 5 and 6 (pp. 81-136).  HD 9697 V542 M37 1991

McGreevey, Tom, and Joanne L. Yeck. Our Movie Heritage. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1997. TR886.3 M37 1997

Morton, David.  Off the Record:  The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America.  New Brunswick, N.J.:  Rutgers University Press, 1999. TK 7881.4 .M66 2000 Ch. 5,  pp. 136-170.


Strongly recommended:

Fielding, Raymond.  The American Newsreel, 1911-1967.  Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1972.  PN 4888 M6 F5 (Bradford Campus)

Kattelle, Alan D.  Home Movies:  A History of the American Industry, 1897-1979.  Nashua, NH:  Transition Publishing, 2000.  TR 896 K38 2000

Linehan, Andy.  Aural History:  Essays on Recorded Sound.  London:  British Library, 2001.  ML 1055 I58 2001

Smith, Ken.  Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films, 1945-1970.  New York:  Blast Books, 1999.  Available from instructor (will loan for photocopying purposes).


June 7:  Appraisal of Moving Image and Sound Archival Material

  **Viewing Report Due**

Required Readings:

Dick, Ernest J.  "Appraisal of Collections."  The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 32-48.  Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Harrison, Harriet W.. "Archival Appraisal." Audiovisual Archives: A Practical Reader.  Paris:  UNESCO, 1997.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001096/109612eo.pdf#xml=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=ged&set=3EA1C82E_2_113&hits_rec=2&hits_lng=eng

Kula, Sam. Appraising Moving Images:  Assessing the Archival and Monetary Value of Film and Video Records.  Lanham, MD:  Scarecrow Press, 2002.  PN 1993.4 K79 2003

Norris, Debbie Hess.  "Videotape Collections:  Establishing Priorities for Preservation."  Playback: A Preservation Primer for Video.  Sally Jo Fifer, et al., eds. San Francisco: Bay Area Video Coalition, 1998. 60-68.

Paton, Christopher Ann.  "Appraisal of Sound Recordings for Textual Archivists."  Archival Issues 22.2 (1997):  117-132.

Ward, Alan.  A Manual of Sound Archive Administration.  Aldershot, England:  Ashgate, 1990.  Ch. 2, pp. 14-32. CD 950 W36 1990 (AIS Reference)


Recommended Readings:

Connors, Thomas.  "Appraising Public Television Programs:  Toward an Interpretive and Comparative Evaluation Model."  American Archivist 63 (2000):  152-174.

Waffen, Leslie.  "The Art of Appraisal and Selection of Sound Recordings for Archival Retention." Selection in Sound Archives: Collected Papers from IASA Conference Sessions. Helen P. Harrison, ed. Special Publication No. 5 Milton Keynes, England: International Association of Sound Archives, 1984.

Zimmerman, Patricia.  “Morphing History into Histories:  From Amateur Film to the Archive of the Future.”  The Moving Image 1.1 (Spring 2001):  109-130.


June 14:  The Nitty-Gritty of Care and Handling:
  Properties and Formats of Film, Magnetic, and Optical Recording Media

Required Readings:

Adelstein, Peter Z.  "Videotape Storage."  Playback: A Preservation Primer for Video.  Sally Jo Fifer, et al., eds. San Francisco: Bay Area Video Coalition, 1998. 11-17.

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  pp. 19-33; 59-69.  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Hincha, Richard.  (1992).  “Crisis in Celluloid: Color Fading and Film Base Deterioration.” Archival Issues.  17(2): 125-135.

Kodak.  The Book of Film Care. Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak, 1983.

Paton, Christopher Ann.  “Preservation of Acetate Disc Sound Recordings at Georgia State University.”  Midwestern Archivist 16.1 (1991):  11-20.

Reilly, James.  IPI Storage Guide for Acetate Film.  Rochester, NY:  Image Permanence Institute, 1993.  Z 692 M5I43 1993

St.-Laurent, Gilles.  The Care and Handling of Recorded Sound Materials.  Washington, D.C.: Commission on Preservation and Access, 1991. http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/st-laurent/care.html

Van Bogart, John.  Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling:  A Guide for Libraries and Archives.  Washington, DC:  Commission on Preservation and Access; St. Paul, MN:  National Media Laboratory, 1995. Z692 M25V35 1995  http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/index.html

Ward, Alan.  A Manual of Sound Archive Administration.  Aldershot, England:  Ashgate, 1990.  Ch. 5-6, pp. 80-191. CD 950 W36 1990 (AIS Reference)

Wheeler, Jim.  “Increasing the Life of Your Audio Tape.”  Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 36.4 (1988):  232-36.

Also recommended:

Brown, Harold.  Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification.  Brussels:  FIAF, 1990.  Available from instructor for photocopying purposes.

Grimm, Charles “Buckey.”  “A History of Early Nitrate Testing and Storage, 1910-1945."  The Moving Image 1.2 (Fall 2001):  21-38.

Pickett, A. G., and M. M. Lemcoe.  Preservation and Storage of Sound Recordings.  Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1959.  TS2301.P3 P5

Schüller, Dietrich.  “Sound Tapes and ‘Vinegar Syndrome.’”  Phonographic Bulletin 54 (1989):  29-31.

Smith, Leslie.  “Factors Governing the Long-Term Stability of Polyester-Based Recording Media.”  Restaurator 12 (1991):  201-18.

“UNC Archivists Bake Some Tapes:  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Faced With Rapidly Deteriorating Sound Recordings.”  Wilson Library Bulletin 66 (1992):  11.

Warren, Richard, Jr.  “Handling of Sound Recordings.”  ARSC Journal 25.2 (1994):  139-62.

Warren, Richard. "Storage of Sound Recordings." ARSC Journal 24.2 (1993): 130-175.

June 21:  Documentation of Moving Image and Sound Archives
    Representation, metadata, standards, relationship of AV material with other related materials in the archive);
    Media asset management systems (how to integrate analog and digital collections)

  **Final Paper Topic Due**

Required Readings:

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  pp. 70-76.  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Harrison, Harriet W.. "The Special Problems of Cataloguing Moving Images in an Archive." Audiovisual Archives: A Practical Reader.  Paris:  UNESCO, 1997.  http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001096/109612eo.pdf#xml=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=ged&set=3943ED2F_0_145&hits_rec=3&hits_lng=eng (pp 184-191).

Johnson, Jane Dunbar.  "Cataloging." The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 149-163. Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Schroeder, Kim. "The Basics of DAM [Digital Asset Management]." AMIA Newsletter 51 (2001): 39-40.

Thomas, David H. Archival Information Processing for Sound Recordings. MLA Technical Report no. 21. Music Library Association, 1992.  ML 111.5 T5 1992

Turner, James M. and Abby Goodrum.  "Modeling Videos as Works."  Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 33.3-4 (2002):  27-38.

Turner, James M., Michèle Hudon, and Yves Devin.  “Organizing Moving Image Collections for the Digital Era.”  Information Outlook 6.8 (2002):  14-25.

Vernon, R. David and Oya Y. Rieger.  “Digital Asset Management:  An Introduction to Key Issues.”  Available online at: http://www.cit.cornell.edu/oit/Arch-Init/DigAssetMgmt.pdf.

Whitson, Helene and Gerry Yeager.  "Arrangement and Description."  The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 127-147. Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Recommended Readings:

Crane, Rosi.  “Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?  Cataloguing and Indexing in the Natural History Unit Film Library.”  The Indexer 14.1 (1984): 23-26.

Haynes, Kathleen, Lynda Lee Kaid, and Charles E. Rand.  "The Political Commercial Archive:  Management of Moving Image and Sound Recordings."  American Archivist 59 (1996):  48-61.

Rasmussen, Edie.  “Indexing Images.”  Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 32 (1997):  169-196.

Taves, Brian.  "Toward a Comprehensive Genre Taxonomy."  The Moving Image 1.1 (2001): 131-150.  

Turner, James M.  “Representing and Accessing Information in the Stockshot Database at the National Film Board of Canada.”  Canadian Journal of Information Science 15.4 (1990):  1-22.

Standards and Guides for Moving Image and Sound Archives Documentation (acquaint yourselves with these resources)

Anglo-American Cataloging Rules.  2nd ed., 1988 rev.  Available through Cataloger's Desktop.  See Ch. 6-7.  

Archival Moving Image Materials: A Cataloging Manual. 2nd ed.  Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, 2000.  Current edition available at Hillman Gov. Docs. or through Cataloger's Desktop.
IASA Cataloguing Rules.  Stockholm: International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, 1999.  http://www.iasa-web.org/icat/

Martin, Abigail Leab, ed. AMIA Compendium of Moving Image Cataloging Practice. Chicago: Society of American Archivists; Los Angeles:  Association of Moving Image Archivists, 2001.  Appendices available online at http://www.amianet.org.

Rules for Archival Cataloging of Sound Recordings. Annapolis, MD: Association for Recorded Sound Collections, 1995.  Available at the Stephen Foster Library.

Taves, Brian et al. (comp.)  The Moving Image Genre-Form Guide.  Library of Congress, 1998.  http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/migintro.html


June 28:  Preservation of Moving Image and Sound Formats:
  Refreshing, Reformatting, and Restoration Work
  Costs of Preservation/Restoration Work
  Funding Sources

Required Readings:

Besser, Howard. “Digital Preservation of Moving Image Material?” The Moving Image 1.2 (2001):  39-55.

Brylawski, Samuel. "Preservation of Digitally Recorded Sound."  Building a National Strategy for Preservation: Issues in Digital Media Archiving.  Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, 2002. Available: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub106/sound.html

Cohen, Elizabeth.  "Preservation of Audio."  Folk Heritage Collections in Crisis.  Washington, DC:  Council on Library and Information Resources, 2001.  http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub96/contents.html

Davidson, Steven  "Videotape Issues and Concerns." The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual. Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  111-116.  Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  pp. 34-58.  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Ide, Mary, Dave MacCarn, Thom Shepard, and Leah Weisse. "Understanding the Preservation Challenge of Digital Television."  Building a National Strategy for Preservation: Issues in Digital Media Archiving. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, 2002. Available: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub106/television.html

Messier, Paul.  "Criteria for Assessing Digital Video as a Preservation Medium."  Playback: A Preservation Primer for Video.  Sally Jo Fifer, et al., eds. San Francisco: Bay Area Video Coalition, 1998.  25-38.

Murphy, William T.  "The Preservation of News and Documentary Film." The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual. Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Nelson-Strauss, Brenda. "Preservation Policies and Priorities for Recorded Sound Collections." Notes 48. 2 (Dec. 1991): 425-436.

Paton, Christopher Ann. “Preservation Re-Recording of Audio Recordings in Archives:  Problems, Priorities, Technologies, and Recommendations.” American Archivist 61 (1998): 188-219.

Schüller, Dietrich.  “Ethics of Preservation, Restoration, and Reissue of Historical Sound Recordings.”  Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 31.12 (1991):  1014-16.

Recommended Readings:

Besser, Howard. “Digital Longevity.” Handbook for Digital Projects:  A Management Tool for Preservation and Access. Ed. Maxine Sitts. Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, 2000. 155-66.  http://www.nedcc.org/digital/dighome.htm

 Desmet, Noël, and Paul Read. “The Desmetcolor Method for Restoring Tinted and Toned Films.” All the Colours of the World:  Colours in Early Mass Media, 1900-1930. Reggio Emilia, It.: Edizioni Diabasis, 1998. 147-50.  TR 853 T88 1998

Friend, Michael. “Film/Digital/Film.” Journal of Film Preservation 50 (1995): 36-49.

"Issues of Preservation and Media Production:  New Paradigms for the Digital Age.”  Ed. Ben Davis.  Digital Storytelling.  Los Angeles:  Razorfish, 16 May 2000.  Transcript.  http://www.digitaleverything.com/rr024_film_transcript.pdf.

Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 40.3 (2001).  Special issue on electronic media preservation, including technology- and video-based installation art.  Issue available from instructor for photocopying purposes.

Read, Paul.  “Tinting and Toning Techniques and their Adaption for the Restoration of Archive Film.” All the Colours of the World:  Colours in Early Mass Media, 1900-1930. Reggio Emilia, It.: Edizioni Diabasis, 1998. 157-167.  TR 853 T88 1998

Welch, Walter L.  “Preservation and Restoration of Authenticity in Sound Recordings.”  Library Trends 21 (1972):  83-100.


July 5:  Exploring Relationships with Film Laboratories and Audio Post-Production Specialists
Tour of Summit Labs (tentative date)

Suggested Readings

Association of Cinema and Video Laboratories.  Recommended Procedures for Motion Picture and Video Laboratory Services.  5th ed. http://www.acvl.org/manual.htm

Case, Dominic. Motion Picture Film Processing. London: Focal, 1985. TR886.2 C37 1985.  Skim.

Happé, L. Bernard. Your Film & the Lab.  2nd ed.  London:  Focal Press, 1983. TR886.2 .H36 1983.  Skim.

Read, Paul and Mark-Paul Meyer, eds.  Restoration of Motion Picture Film.  Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000.  Ch. 13-14, pp. 126-157.  TR  886.3 F58 2003


July 12:  Ethics of Restoration; Student Reports on Case Studies

    **Case Study Due**
    **Class Presentations**

Required Readings

Bowser, Eileen.  "Some Principles of Film Restoration."  Griffithiana 13.38/39 (Oct. 1990):  172-173.

Cherchi Usai, Paolo.  Silent Cinema:  An Introduction.  London:  BFI Publishing, 2000.  Ch. 1-3 (pp. 1-76).  PN 1995.75 C4613 2000

Lipman, Ross.  "Problems of Independent Film Preservation."  AMIA Newsletter 33 (1996):  24-30.

Strongly recommended

Walden, Sarah. The Ravaged Image, or, How to Ruin Masterpieces by Restoration. New York: St. Martin's, 1985.  ND 1650 W35 1985b


July 19:  Access to Moving Image and Sound Archives
    How to provide it, including rules for client handling of material;
    Imitations on access because of conflict with preservation or because of legal restrictions; copyright and the public domain;
    Public vs. private ownership of culture);
    Exhibition, and the need to contextualize moving image/sound material

Required Readings

Danielson, Virginia.  "Stating the Obvious:  Lessons Learned Attempting Access to Archival Audio Collections."  Folk Heritage Collections in Crisis.  Washington, DC:  Council on Library and Information Resources, 2001.  http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub96/contents.html

Den Bleyker, Dan.  "Research and Reference Service."  The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 166-175. Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

The Film Preservation Guide:  The Basics for Libraries, Archives, and Museums.  San Francisco:  National Film Preservation Foundation, 2004. http://www.filmpreservation.org/  pp. 77-92.  TR 886.3 F58 2003

Hertzum, Morten.  "Requests for Information from a Film Archive:  A Case Study of Multimedia Retrieval."  Journal of Documentation 59.2 (2003).  Available online through PittCat.

Rabin, Kenn.  "Licensing Footage:  A Researcher's Perspective."  The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 178-182. Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Rose, Brian.  "Television Archives and the Academic."  The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 194-197. Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Sheldon, Karan.  "Outreach."  The Administration of Television Newsfilm and Videotape Collections: A Curatorial Manual.  Steven Davidson and Gregory Lukow, eds.  Los Angeles:  American Film Institute; Miami:  Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, 1997.  pp. 200-220. Z 675 N4 A36 1997 (AIS Reference)

Roederer, Charlotte. "Copyright Status of Historical Recordings:  Protecting and Promoting the Public Domain." ARSC Journal 23.1 (1992): 30-34.

Seeger, Anthony.  "Intellectual Property and Audiovisual Archives and Collections."   Folk Heritage Collections in Crisis.  Washington, DC:  Council on Library and Information Resources, 2001.  http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub96/rights.html.

Waffen, Leslie. "Public Access and Dissemination." Sound Archives: A Guide to their Establishment and Development. David Lance, ed. Vienna, Austria: International Association of Sound Archives, 1983.  pp. 53-66.

Strongly recommended:

Bergeron, Rosemary.  "Identifying and Documenting the Small Gauge Image."  The Moving Image 2.2 (2002):  25-40.


July 26:   Preservation Policy; Oral History Programs

**Final Paper Due**

Preservation Policy

Required Readings

Belton, John, and et al. “Statement on the Use of Video in the Classroom by the Society for Cinema Studies Task Force on Film Integrity.” Cinema Journal 30.4 (1991): 3-6.

Edmondson, Ray.  Audiovisual Archiving:  Philosophy and Principles.  Paris:  UNESCO, 2004.  http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001364/136477e.pdf

International Federation of Film Archives.  Code of Ethics. FIAF, 1998.  http://www.fiafnet.org/uk/members/ethics.cfm

Lukow, Gregory. "The Politics of Orphanage:  The Rise and Impact of the Orphan Film Metaphor on Contemporary Preservation Practice." Orphans of the Storm I, University of South Carolina, 1999 Sept. 23. http://www.sc.edu/filmsymposium/archive/orphans2001/lukow.html.

Mann, Sarah Ziebell. “American Moving Image Preservation:  Defining the Preservation Landscape (1967-1977).” The Moving Image 1.2 (Fall 2001):  1-20.

Redefining Film Preservation:  A National Plan. Washington: Library of Congress, 1994. Hillman Library Gov Docs or http://www.loc.gov/film/plan.html

Rosen, Robert.  "The UCLA Film & Television Archive:  A Retrospective Look."  The Moving Image 2.2 (2002):  116-121.

Usai, Paolo Cherchi. "What is an Orphan Film?:  Definition, Rationale, and Controversy."  Orphans of the Storm I, University of South Carolina, 1999 Sept. 23. http://www.sc.edu/filmsymposium/archive/orphans2001/usai.html.

Recommended Readings:

Film Preservation 1993:  A Study of the Current State of American Film Preservation.  Vol. 1:  Report.  Washington, DC:  Library of Congress, 1993.   http://www.loc.gov/film/study.html

Nicholson, Heather Norris.  "Regionally Specific, Globally Significant:  Who's Responsible for the Regional Record?" The Moving Image 1.2 (Fall 2001):  152-163.

Television and Video Preservation 1997:  A Report on the Current State of American Television and Video Preservation.  Vol. 1:  Report.  Washington, DC:  Library of Congress, 1997. http://www.loc.gov/film/tvstudy.html


Oral History Programs

 Matters, Marion.  Oral History Cataloging Manual. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1995.  Z 695.1 H6 M38 1995 (AIS Reference)

Stielow, Frederick J.  The Management of Oral History Sound Archives.  New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1986.  CD 973.2 S74 1986

Treleven, Dale E., "Oral History and the Archival Community: Common Concerns about Documenting Twentieth Century Life," International Journal of Oral History 10 (Feb.1989):  50-58.