An Encomium to Richard Raack, Historian-Filmmaker

Abstract

An Encomium to Richard Raack, Historian-Filmmaker | Rollins Peter C. Rollins Oklahoma State University An Encomium to Richard Raack, Historian-Filmmaker Film & Historyhas known Richard Raack for twenty years, beginning our relations with him in the late 1960s when "The Historian as Filmmaker" theme was very popular at American Historical Association meetings. Both Richard Raack, and his colleague, Patrick Griffin, were the center of much discussion because of their historian-made documentary entitled Goodbye Billy: America Goes to War, 19171918 (1972). This short historical compilation ignited considerable excitement because of the philosophical position behind the film—that historians should wrest the researching and making ofhistorical films away from the showbiz folks. John O'Connor, Editor of Film & History opened the pages of the journal to these two pioneers, allowing them to explain their reasons and methods. The call to action was electric! Raack and Griffin were endlessly generous with their writings, bibliographies, and other advice to novices—to include a graduate student named Peter Rollins. Both were willing to talk on the telephone and to share their thoughts for revolutionizing methods in making historical films for the classroom. Alas, the revolution never occurred. But R.C. Raack has shared his insights and writings with a whole generation of historians. Richard, Pat, and I worked together to make Will Rogers 1920s: A Cowboy's Guide to the Times (1976), an experience which changed my life as a scholar and artist. During the project, I was shown how to research filmic materials in archives; how to record the materials; how to process the film; and how to edit and mix. A number of crises also taught me how to handle the tensions and vicissitudes ofproduction and post-production. We really got our hands dirty with that project and I have been a better scholar—and filmmaker—as a result. At the same time, Richard Raack was tapping his language skills in German, Polish, and Russian to conduct both film research and major historical research in the archives of Berlin, Warsaw, and Moscow. His revolutionary book of 1995, Stalin's Drive to the West: The Origins ofthe Cold War has profited from Richard's language skills and his willingness to expend his own savings in the search for truth. At a recent conference at Salisbury, Maryland, a number of filmmakers (with no training in history) presented themselves to the assembled scholars as "historians." One of the British producers got up at a very elaborate, evening session and said directly, "I am a historian." Only Richard Raack was curmudgeon enough to challenge these claims; indeed, Richard has exemplified the kind of scholar and filmmaker we were promised in the 1960s. Like a scholarly Moses, he stands at the edge of the Promised Land, sipping a glass of California wine and chortling over the absurdities of our fin de siede. He scans the horizon ... Perhaps a new generation will bring along a group of creative people who will fulfill the promise ... Surely, we hope so .... Until then, we celebrate the work of Richard C. Raack— a fine and original scholar, lover of all the arts, and one of the first historian/filmmakers. May there be many more and may Film & Historyhelp to promote that movement! Cover for Raack's film resource material workbook for Goodbye Billy. Vol. 28.3-4(1998) | 57 ...