Skip to Main Content
Link to Clark Family Library

HIS - 270-03 History Through Film

Primary Sources are often found in Archives

 

An Archive… (With a Capital A!) “is an organization dedicated to preserving the documentary heritage of a particular group: a city, a province or state, a business, a university, or a community.” - The Society of American Archivists definition

For example, 

•The National Archives and Records Administration in the United States 
•Archives Carnegie Institution for Science
•The Museum of Modern Art New York
•The New York Times online Archive

are all responsible for the preservation and management of archives. 

•

special collection

n. “a cohesive collection of noncirculating research materials held together by provenance or by a thematic focus…,

 

Why do we use Archives for the Study of Film

 

Archives are used for their informational value because they capture and preserve First Hand information, often in rare or unpublished form that details the context of a person, place, object, artwork, (including music, dance, performance) theory or publication.

This is particularly important for film because an actors/director/producers work is ephemeral - meaning occurring for only a short time. Often after a film is done all we see is the finished product. The material used in the making of the film often ends up in an archive.

For example: 

  • Photographic Documentation
  • Film Documentation
  • Scores
  • Scripts
  • Posters
  • Advertisement 
  • Reviews
 
All this information becomes a valuable window into the time in which the film was made, techniques, styles, fashions, social norms and bias and are often consulted in the remaking of movies.
New Line Cinema’s horror thriller “IT,” directed by Andrés Muschietti 2017, is based on the hugely popular Stephen King novel of the same name, which has been terrifying readers for decades. Source; Warner Bros on Youtube

 

 

IT, Stephen Kings Book adaptation to TV mini series 1990, Source; Hulu on YouTube