The Pivotal Role of Student Labor in the Clarke Historical Library's Moving Image Access and Preservation Project

Abstract

The Pivotal Role of Student Labor in the Clarke Historical Library's Moving Image Access and Preservation Project Marian J. Matyn (bio) and Tressa Graves (bio) INTRODUCTION TO THE CLARKE, ITS INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT, AND ITS HOLDINGS The Clarke is both a historical library and archives.1 It is one of the major archives and historical libraries in the state of Michigan and the only one in the northern Lower Peninsula. Its major collecting focus is Michigan history, children's literature, and Central Michigan University (CMU) archives. While the primary-source collections include a wide variety of formats, moving image film constitutes only a small part of the overall collection. Of the nearly 8,000 cubic feet of archival collections in the Clarke stacks, approximately 110 cubic feet are 8mm and 16mm films (450,000 linear feet total). Summary Information on AV Materials in the Clarke Most of the Clarke's films are 16mm acetate film stock, although there is also a small number of 8mm films. The majority of the Clarke's film materials are a part of the Channel 9 & 10 News Collection, 1950s–1980s. Channel 9 & 10 was and remains the main TV news station for the thirty-five counties in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the entire Upper Peninsula, and parts of Canada. The initial estimate was that the Channel 9 & 10 Collection totaled approximately three thousand reels of film shelved in seventy cubic feet of archival shelving in variously sized containers. These films are the only extant copies of the station's news production from the period. Other films in the Clarke's collection, mostly with a Michigan or CMU focus, are distributed throughout numerous paper-based archival collections and total an additional 20,500 linear feet. [End Page 27] Identification of Significant Subsections of the AV Collection and Their Challenges The main issues faced are lack of description, lack of donor forms, and some level of physical deterioration. No particular series or subseries is in worse condition than another. One CMU film, Football Scrimmage (September 1950), has significant acetate decay and a strong vinegar odor. Seventeen reels of the Channel 9 & 10 News Collection are fused together in a solid mass, an issue known as blocking, thus leaving the films unviewable and unidentifiable. Several Channel 9 & 10 News clips have color dye fading and are now magenta hued. The Clarke has inadequate funds for conservation or digitization of these few films that are badly deteriorated. In the case of Football Scrimmage, it is possible that we will be able to find a CMU alum who will be willing to pay for digitization of the film. Not knowing what is on the blocked films makes it hard to find donors. Many small manuscript-focused archives with film collections are unaware that the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) exists and is willing to help them locate other archives better able to care for their film.2 Staff Context of the Archives and Identification of the Authors/Project Leaders The Clarke has six full-time staff members and student employees, none of whom is trained or educated in film access and preservation. Until 2011, archivist Marian Matyn was a lone arranger archivist. Although there are now two archivists, moving images are not part of the newer archivist's responsibility. Matyn and undergraduate student Tressa Graves began the project in 2012 to identify, rehouse, preserve, and make accessible the archival film collections. Neither Matyn nor Graves was a film specialist when the project began, although Graves had interned during summer 2012 at the Alaska Film Archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. When planning the project, Matyn and Graves lacked established backgrounds, education, and extensive experience with film. Prior to the film preservation and access project, only very basic archival housing and description were completed for films. Significantly, the Clarke is the first university archives in Michigan to embark on a film access and preservation project. The Henry Ford, located 152 miles southeast of CMU, was the first Michigan cultural heritage institution to initiate a film preservation project. The Clarke was the second institution in the state to do so, closely followed by Michigan State University (MSU...