The Rhode Island Historical Society Film Archive

"Epic of Bataan," Reader's Digest, v.40 (June 1942), 4. "Heroine of Mercy," in Lowell Thomas, These Men Shall Never Die, pp. 68-70 (on Lt. j. g. Anna Bernatitus, U.S.N., decorated for her service in the Bataan campaign). James Belote, Corregidor: Saga of a Fortress (see index for references to nurses on the Rock). Juanita Redman, I Served on Bataan (by a nurse) "Bataan Wounded Lived With Pain," Life, v. 12 April 20, 1942) 32. "Bataan Nurses," Life, v. 12 (June 15,1942), 16. The Cast: Film in Review, v. 21 (May 1970), 268-282 (Colbert) v. 20 (Aug.-Sept, 1969), 453 (Lake) v. 18 (Nov. 1967), 586 (Reeves) Halliwell, Filmgoer's Companion: information on Colbert, Goddard, Lake, Reeves, Tufts, Abel and Britton "I, Veronica Lake," Life, v. 14 (May 17,1943, 77. The Archivist Below and in subsequent issues, film archivists will be writing about the services that their institutions can offer to the research, theproblemsfilm preservation and cataloging and their suggestionsfor research historians and teachers. While most contributors will be motion picture archivists we hope to include material on audio, still picture and other archives as well Contributions are welcome. The Rhode Island Historical Society Film Archive By Barbara Humphrys The Rhode Island Historical Society Film Archive exists as a response ofa 1 50-year old organization to the communications revolution that has made inadequate the collection ofmanuscript and printed materials to document and synthesize American history. For more than a hundred years, places' people and events have fallen under the scrutiny ofthe camera—still, motion picture and video. What it records on glass, paper, celluloid, or tape is just as vital to our understanding ofthe vast and present as is the written word. Occasionally more vital, in fact, for the camera sometimes '"sees" more than the mind realizes; the visual media constitute an alternate means (as opposed to supplementary) ofexpression and communication offacts and ideas—in fact, they compete with the printed media; and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the visual media can go beyond the documentation ofevents to the initiation ofthem. Persons associated with film have recognized these phenomena; have encouraged the collection and preservation ofmotion pictures; and have used materials in collections to study the development ofthe medium and to investigate certain aspects of society. These activities have resulted, ironically, in books: but there has also been activity in the field ofcompilation film—the selection and reassembling ofhistorical footage for a particular purpose — although this activity has taken place more in Europe than in the United States. And now historians are awakening to the research possibilities ofmotion picture film— and to the attendant physical problems. Each year there are more journal articles, conferences, and convention sessions devoted to various film topics and to the encouragement ofother historians tojoin in. But they are justifiably put offby the 36 scattered locations of sources, virtually nonexistent documentation, and the other problems that even the film scholars who are used to physically handling the medium have accepted as a fact oflife. A mere gathering offilm is not only useless, it may be dangerous. Thirty-five millimeter films made before 1951 are likely to be composed ofemulsion ofhighly variable quality and a nitrate base that is flammable. Such film must be copied onto acetate base film, and costs oftransferal can be staggering. However there are even more complicated problems that result from the nature of film when one tries to serve both preservation and use. Once the material originally collected is put in a condition suitable for preservation (clean, wet-spliced, 16mm, black & white, optical sound safety film wound on cores and stored horizontally in film cans on steel shelves in cool, clean air), a major purpose has been. Served. But a researcher cannot take this material from a shelf casually or quickly examine it, as he is used to handling books. He also cannot submit it to the hazards of a projector. He can carefully—examine it on viewing equipment (even minimal, hand operated viewing equipment is expensive). The solution, then is projection prints made from the original material (more expense and a cataloging system which reflects content well enough to save some of the...