“Men and Dust”: Breath That Kills
posted January 16, 2014
Miners have been dying from varieties of pneumoconiosis since they have been shuttled via mine elevators to toil in shafts thick with dust that, once it sufficiently scars the lungs, suffocates its victims. In 1940, Sheldon Dick bore witness to the plague in his "Men and Dust."
SPEAKING IN PALINDROMES
posted January 6, 2014
Caylin Smith asks Thomson & Craighead (Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead) about their goals in repurposing "found" online data and video to create artworks for the Digital Age. How are they using online networks and social-information vehicles. And how are they handling the tricky business of preserving "born digital" audio-visual art works?
“The Daughter of Dawn” Will Never Go Dark
posted January 4, 2014
After "The Daughter of Dawn" was shot in Oklahoma during the summer of 1920 and then released in October of that year, it was shown only a few times — in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Tulsa, and a handful of other cities— but then seemed to have disappeared. Now, rediscovered, it has been restored and honored with a national guarantee of preservation in perpetuity.
The 1966 March on Cicero, A Step Towards Equity
posted January 2, 2014
"Cicero March," an eight-minute, black-and-white film from 1966 that depicts the fraying of African American patience with the slow redress of racial inequity, is among 25 films that the Library of Congress last week selected for permanent preservation.
25 U.S. Films Deemed Essential to Preserve
posted December 20, 2013
The Library of Congress has announced the 25 films that have been added for 2013 to the U.S. National Film Registry. As each year, the selection includes classics, gems, curiosities, and some films you may well consider duds. And you can help to choose next year's batch.
The Deafening Silence of Early American Film
posted December 18, 2013
A Library of Congress report documents authoritatively what film archivists have long known: Shockingly little of the nation’s cinema inheritance remains.
MOVIE POSTER MADNESS
posted December 10, 2013
After a scheme to get rich off thousands upon thousands of old movie posters fell through, Kirby McDaniel began MovieArt, a leading movie-poster dealership. Since 1979 he has run it from Austin, Texas.
Our Nixon is Probably Not Your Nixon
posted November 17, 2013
When it comes to the legacy of Richard M. Nixon, countless biographies and studies have set the political-science terrain. It’s a wonder that Penny Lane and Brian L. Frye have managed to find anything to add.
Yesterday, Harvard Square; tomorrow…the World?
posted November 6, 2013
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, might not appreciate a new online video, audio, and print archive, The Zuckerberg Files.
For Welles Fans, There’d Never Be “Too Much Johnson.” Until Now.
posted October 27, 2013
The discovery in 2008 of a lost Orson Welles silent film has been one of the finds of recent years. Little matter that the footage not only is not a finished film, not even a rough cut.