Film News

HISTORIANS 'l^^^^^o. * NEWSLETTER FILM COMMITTEE Vol. I, No. 2 Edited by: Martin A. Jackson;=r- ~~ May> 1971. John E. O'Connor ***FILM NEWS*** The Matsunaga Bill Congressman Spark Matsunaga of Hawaii has introduced legislation aimed at the preservation of historically valuable television and radio broadcast material. The proposed measure (HR35) would establish the Library of Congress as a depository for television film and tapes and would make such material available to scholars. The Historians Film Committee favors the principle of securing and preserving film records and is inclined to support the Bill. We seek the advice of our membership, however, and print the Bill in full in order to inform you of its provisions. We welcome your comments, especially on the question- of possible amendments. It has been suggested, for instance, that the deposit of television film and tape should be specified as voluntary on the part of the networks. We plan to follow developments closely and to notify our members regularly of the Bill's progress. IN CONGRESS A Bill to authorize and direct the Librarian of Congress to establish and maintain a library of television and radio news programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the Congress firmly believes that in order for people to govern themselves well it is imperative that they have a well-developed sense of their own history and a thorough understanding of the problems that their predecessors had encountered, and of the solutions that they had worked out. It is further recognized that a principal source of knowledge of the past has been the newspapers and other similar factual accounts that have been recorded contemporaneously with the events . In recentz years, a primary source of such contemporaneous reports has been the television and radio news broadcasts, which because of their impermanent nature are not often preserved for very long after they are broadcasted. It is, therefore, the purpose of this Act to establish a repository for videotapes, films, or tapes of those television and radio programs, and other programs, which together will provide a wealth of source material for future historians and other scholars a.;d students of the American people,(cent,· 13*2) Sec. 2. The Librarian of Congress is hereby authorized and directed to establish and maintain a library containing nationally televised or broadcasted programs which the Librarian determines to be of substantial public interest, including, but not limited to, nationally broadcasted television and radio news programs, public affairs programs, and .other programs dealing with current events. Sec. 3. The Librarian of Congress shall obtain, preserve, and index videotapes, films, or tapes of those programs collected under section 2 of this Act and he shall make those videotapes, films, and tapes available for purposes of study and research. Sec. 4. The Librarian of Congress, upon request, may provide copies of those programs listed under section 2 of this Act to scholars and others engaged in serious research: Provided, That the Librarian first shall promulgate such regulations pertaining to the procedures for obtaining said copies as will secure from infringement any copyright or other restrictions which may exist, and, in so doing, the Library shall not be subject to suit for infringement. Sec. 5. There are authorized to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act/ ***SOURCE NOTES*** To the teacher who is a novice at choosing films for the classroom and who wishes to survey the possible titles available in a given field, the shower of notices and catalogues from producers and distributors must seem incredibly confusing. Actually there are several reference volumes to be found in most major libraries that can make the chore a good deal easier. What many might assume to be the best source is the Library of Congress Union Catalogue of Motion Pictures and Filmstrips. In fact it has many drawbacks. Published every five years with more current supplements, there is no complete index. There is a subject index but its categories are difficult to follow, Films and filmstrips are mixed together, descriptive comments are very short and often...