From 8 mm to iPhone: views from the crowd provide a rich source of local history

Abstract

Home movies and videos have not traditionally been seen as key resources informing cultural or historical studies. Yet recent moves to raise the profile of home movies and acknowledge their value as historical documents, particularly focused on the family and locality, has seen a growing awareness of the need for their acquisition and preservation. For local-studies collections, movies, video and now digital media should feature as part of the broader collecting policy. This paper presents an overview of the media and their importance, focusing on their relevance to such collections, and discusses a range of approaches to their acquisition, handling and management.