Tweet Packard Campus Film Identification Workshop

SILENT FILM ARCHEALOGY:
A Packard Campus Film Identification Workshop

The staff of the Moving Image Section of the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation will host SILENT FILM ARCHEALOGY: A Packard Campus Film Identification Workshop, during June 14-16, 2012. The workshop will include unidentified films from other film preservation archives in addition to those from the Library’s collection.

NOTE: Due to resource limitations, participation in this workshop in 2012 will be limited to film archivists and historians actively engaged in film preservation activities and research efforts devoted to American produced films of the silent era. No support will be provided by the Library of Congress for travel, lodging, meals, local transportation or other expenses incurred by participants.

SILENT FILM ARCHEAOLOGY: A Packard Campus Film Identification Workshop will be a three day event and take place at the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation, Culpeper, Virginia, during June 14-16, 2012. The majority of the films presented will be “silents” but will not be shown in silence. Phil Carli, Ben Model and Andrew Simpson will provide musical accompaniment. In addition to full days of workshop screenings, there will be evening public screenings of recent restorations the titles of which will be announced at a later date.

A recently completed study by David Pierce, now being prepared for publication by the Library of Congress, confirms what film archivists have long suspected---that 76% of all U.S. feature films produced between 1912 and 1930 no longer survive, or exist only in fragments in non-US film archives. In spite of this sobering statistic, it is known that most US film archives hold considerable amounts of both “unidentified” and “inadequately identified” films and film fragments from the silent era. The SILENT FILM ARCHEALOGY: A Packard Campus Film Identification Workshop will bring together practicing film archivists and researchers in an informal atmosphere for the purpose of screening 35mm prints and sharing comments and opinions, with the expectation that a significant number of the puzzles among the Library’s collection of unidentified and poorly identified films will be solved. Some film elements with sound tracks may also be screened.

It is hoped that this important film research and discovery effort will become a regularly scheduled Packard Campus activity, in service to the community of film preservationists, and that it can be expanded in the future to include all under-investigated areas of creative and technological achievement in the history of US motion pictures.

Prior registration is required and no reservations will be accepted after May 18, 2012. For more information, or to request a registration form contact: Rob Stone, Moving Image Curator at rsto@loc.gov. All registrants will receive additional information on schedule, housing and directions.

Rob,

Sounds like a great, and exciting event. Hopefully some major discoveries will take place in the process.

I don't mean to gripe but for Nitratevillians unprivy to Packard, it's located in Culpeper Virginia which is virtually unreachable from Washington unless you're driving. This would have normally been held at the Library of Congress - Madison Building, one of the three LoC main buildings on Capitol Hill. Since Packard opened there seems to be no more goings on at the Pickford Theatre just from what I see at the Pickford website. Albeit, keeping with traditional LoC guidelines for film viewing, the workshop is only open to deemed published scholars, historians etc.

The Packard honchos could follow the example of some European archives and make these unknown films available for viewing on the Internet. Of course, they could run into the problem of some liar claiming copyright on the silent film and asking the film to be pulled off the Web. 76% or more American silent films vanished into oblivion because in many cases no copyright holders cared about them for over 70 years. Now Hollywood corporations seem to be springing out of the woodwork to claim copyrights on the surviving film detritus. Of course, these believers in perpetual intellectual property rights won't spend a wooden nickel to preserve or restore the surviving silents they lay claim to. Their claims to ownership are in large part due to payoffs...oops, political contributions, made to grafting politicians' campaign funds. Campaign funds it now seems are used to pay the salaries of make work jobs given to the politicians' family members, relatives and probably intimate friends.

I don't mean to gripe

But you're going to whine anyway.

but for Nitratevillians unprivy to Packard, it's located in Culpeper Virginia which is virtually unreachable from Washington unless you're driving. This would have normally been held at the Library of Congress - Madison Building, one of the three LoC main buildings on Capitol Hill. Since Packard opened there seems to be no more goings on at the Pickford Theatre just from what I see at the Pickford website. Albeit, keeping with traditional LoC guidelines for film viewing, the workshop is only open to deemed published scholars, historians etc.

Culpeper is far from unreachable from Washington DC, in fact there is a commuter train that goes there in both the mornings and evenings. You may have to walk a bit or get a cab to the Packard Campus, but nobody said LOC had to supply anyone transport. If you can't get there under your own steam, so sorry. The published scholars and historians will have to make their way there on their own as well.

And, FYI, the Motion Picture Division never owned or operated the Pickford Theater. Mary Pickford gave it to the Library of Congress, not just the Motion Picture Division, and the programs and presentations that were done there by the Motion Picture Division were always negotiated with the part of LOC that was in charge of it, and now as the Motion Picture Division has been largely moved to Culpeper, and has a lovely theater of its own, the Pickford is now used for the workshops and presentations that were always a part of its main schedule. One could also whine that it was always inconvienient to go to the Pickford if one wanted to drive due to the lack of parking, in Culpeper there is at least plenty of parking, and the folks in the area seem to be quite happy to avail themselves of the public presentations that are now being held there.

And as for putting this stuff all up on the internet so everyone can have a crack at it, just getting this stuff prepped and put together in one place from various archives for a showing for those experts willing to donate their time and money to make the effort to go there and do the work is a major undertaking for the fine folk at the Packard Campus. And when it has been done before, you can quarantee that stuff that had been ID'ed and was important has gotten out to the Public in some form or another, so relax, you'll get to see the good stuff and be saved having to look at the two pristine nitrate reels of camel birthing. You're welcome.

Basically, the message is as always, stop whining. Sorry if you can't make it, but nothing but good will come of it, and everyone involved is working way above and beyond the call of duty and budget to make it happen so all of you will get to see more goodies on your flatscreens without having to exert yourself more than a few clicks on Amazon and a few dollars on your charge card to do so.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

You will note that the announcement speaks to the workshop being intended for among other things "historians" involved in "research efforts" which would INCLUDE most anyone on Nitrateville, hence the posting to the site. So PLEASE if you are interested send me an e-mail at: rsto@loc.gov. There is a great amount of film scholarship being conducted by the regular users of Nitrateville.

Also, regardless of the fact that Microsoft Word's spell check gives it a pass as posted, it should read: SILENT FILM ARCHAEOLOGY.

Hope to see many of you there.

Rob

Sounds like a fascinating and worthy workshop....

You will note that the announcement speaks to the workshop being intended for among other things "historians" involved in "research efforts" which would INCLUDE most anyone on Nitrateville, hence the posting to the site. So PLEASE if you are interested send me an e-mail at: rsto@loc.gov" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank. There is a great amount of film scholarship being conducted by the regular users of Nitrateville.

Rob

I have attended informal film identification sessions here in Los Angeles (no music, no theater, no heat/airconditioning... come to think of it, no chairs). They are fun, although it's also helpful to have good facial recognition skills. This sounds like a worthy and useful event.

I don't mean to gripe

But you're going to whine anyway.

but for Nitratevillians unprivy to Packard, it's located in Culpeper Virginia which is virtually unreachable from Washington unless you're driving. This would have normally been held at the Library of Congress - Madison Building, one of the three LoC main buildings on Capitol Hill. Since Packard opened there seems to be no more goings on at the Pickford Theatre just from what I see at the Pickford website. Albeit, keeping with traditional LoC guidelines for film viewing, the workshop is only open to deemed published scholars, historians etc.

Culpeper is far from unreachable from Washington DC, in fact there is a commuter train that goes there in both the mornings and evenings. You may have to walk a bit or get a cab to the Packard Campus, but nobody said LOC had to supply anyone transport. If you can't get there under your own steam, so sorry. The published scholars and historians will have to make their way there on their own as well.

And, FYI, the Motion Picture Division never owned or operated the Pickford Theater. Mary Pickford gave it to the Library of Congress, not just the Motion Picture Division, and the programs and presentations that were done there by the Motion Picture Division were always negotiated with the part of LOC that was in charge of it, and now as the Motion Picture Division has been largely moved to Culpeper, and has a lovely theater of its own, the Pickford is now used for the workshops and presentations that were always a part of its main schedule. One could also whine that it was always inconvienient to go to the Pickford if one wanted to drive due to the lack of parking, in Culpeper there is at least plenty of parking, and the folks in the area seem to be quite happy to avail themselves of the public presentations that are now being held there.

And as for putting this stuff all up on the internet so everyone can have a crack at it, just getting this stuff prepped and put together in one place from various archives for a showing for those experts willing to donate their time and money to make the effort to go there and do the work is a major undertaking for the fine folk at the Packard Campus. And when it has been done before, you can quarantee that stuff that had been ID'ed and was important has gotten out to the Public in some form or another, so relax, you'll get to see the good stuff and be saved having to look at the two pristine nitrate reels of camel birthing. You're welcome.

Basically, the message is as always, stop whining. Sorry if you can't make it, but nothing but good will come of it, and everyone involved is working way above and beyond the call of duty and budget to make it happen so all of you will get to see more goodies on your flatscreens without having to exert yourself more than a few clicks on Amazon and a few dollars on your charge card to do so.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

so you're going to be our mother now, ...to tell us when we can whine, gripe or whatever. i'll gripe & whine all I have to if I want to make my point. FYI , hell yes it's unreachable if you're coming from the city. The commuter train runs only at certain times, not late at night and not on weekends. Get real! The Pickford is located in the LoC, not out in the middle of nowhere. And most people who went to the Pickford found parking or took the subway. The event is already sounding kind of uppity and on top of that your SNARLY response.

so you're going to be our mother now, ...to tell us when we can whine, gripe or whatever. i'll gripe & whine all I have to if I want to make my point. FYI , hell yes it's unreachable if you're coming from the city. The commuter train runs only at certain times, not late at night and not on weekends. Get real! The Pickford is located in the LoC, not out in the middle of nowhere. And most people who went to the Pickford found parking or took the subway. The event is already sounding kind of uppity and on top of that your SNARLY response.

No, you're sounding kinda uppity, and whiny, and actually a whole lot more people seem to be attending the public showings in Culpeper than came to the frequently sparsely attended Pickford shows. They might also take offense at you're calling them "the middle of nowhere", like DC is such a joyful place to be. Maybe its a good thing you won't be attending, even though you'll be most likely and undeservingly reaping the benefits of it.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Culpeper is a wonderful town. One of my all time favorite antique shops is there as is the always lovely It's About Thyme. The Packard Campus is a place I am very much looking forward to visiting.

Pity this was not opened until 4 months after I moved from Warrenton back to California. 12 miles to Culpeper was a hop skip and jump!

so you're going to be our mother now, ...to tell us when we can whine, gripe or whatever. i'll gripe & whine all I have to if I want to make my point. FYI , hell yes it's unreachable if you're coming from the city. The commuter train runs only at certain times, not late at night and not on weekends. Get real! The Pickford is located in the LoC, not out in the middle of nowhere. And most people who went to the Pickford found parking or took the subway. The event is already sounding kind of uppity and on top of that your SNARLY response.

No, you're sounding kinda uppity, and whiny, and actually a whole lot more people seem to be attending the public showings in Culpeper than came to the frequently sparsely attended Pickford shows. They might also take offense at you're calling them "the middle of nowhere", like DC is such a joyful place to be. Maybe its a good thing you won't be attending, even though you'll be most likely and undeservingly reaping the benefits of it.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Rich, I could care less about them being offended(swaying off topic). And whether DC is a joyful place or not(it is when it wants to be), is irrelevant to getting to Culpepper which was my main point. Reaping benefits of what?, a bunch of people sitting around trying to identify unnamed people whom they think are some star they think they know. I thought that was fruitless and useless, perhaps when/if one of them IDs Stroheim in ' 'An Unseen Enemy' ' or something, then that'll prove their eyeballs are better than ours on Nitrateville. Sheesh!!

Rich, I could care less about them being offended(swaying off topic). And whether DC is a joyful place or not(it is when it wants to be), is irrelevant to getting to Culpepper which was my main point. Reaping benefits of what?, a bunch of people sitting around trying to identify unnamed people whom they think are some star they think they know. I thought that was fruitless and useless, perhaps when/if one of them IDs Stroheim in ' 'An Unseen Enemy' ' or something, then that'll prove their eyeballs are better than ours on Nitrateville. Sheesh!!

Now you're showing too much of your own ignorance. These Unidentified film sessions have uncovered quite a bit of material and brought a number of films back to the attention of the silent film community and have done nothing but good and the people who have donated their time and effort in doing this work, going back to the days of the Al Joy Fan Club at UCLA and now in these larger sessions at LOC deserve nothing but our thanks.

Von Stroheim in AN UNSEEN ENEMY, you were that guy huh? Definitely stay in DC, we don't need you.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Rich, I could care less about them being offended(swaying off topic). And whether DC is a joyful place or not(it is when it wants to be), is irrelevant to getting to Culpepper which was my main point. Reaping benefits of what?, a bunch of people sitting around trying to identify unnamed people whom they think are some star they think they know. I thought that was fruitless and useless, perhaps when/if one of them IDs Stroheim in ' 'An Unseen Enemy' ' or something, then that'll prove their eyeballs are better than ours on Nitrateville. Sheesh!!

Now you're showing too much of your own ignorance. These Unidentified film sessions have uncovered quite a bit of material and brought a number of films back to the attention of the silent film community and have done nothing but good and the people who have donated their time and effort in doing this work, going back to the days of the Al Joy Fan Club at UCLA and now in these larger sessions at LOC deserve nothing but our thanks.

Von Stroheim in AN UNSEEN ENEMY, you were that guy huh? Definitely stay in DC, we don't need you.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

you're ignorant and presumptive. Who said I was in DC? I've gone to the screenings for many a year, met some of the great people up there. If they need larger facilities so be it , I have no hate for that. I just don't have to prove nothing to you. You want to participate in the workshop, knock yourself out.

Rich, I could care less about them being offended(swaying off topic). And whether DC is a joyful place or not(it is when it wants to be), is irrelevant to getting to Culpepper which was my main point. Reaping benefits of what?, a bunch of people sitting around trying to identify unnamed people whom they think are some star they think they know. I thought that was fruitless and useless, perhaps when/if one of them IDs Stroheim in ' 'An Unseen Enemy' ' or something, then that'll prove their eyeballs are better than ours on Nitrateville. Sheesh!!

Now you're showing too much of your own ignorance. These Unidentified film sessions have uncovered quite a bit of material and brought a number of films back to the attention of the silent film community and have done nothing but good and the people who have donated their time and effort in doing this work, going back to the days of the Al Joy Fan Club at UCLA and now in these larger sessions at LOC deserve nothing but our thanks.

Von Stroheim in AN UNSEEN ENEMY, you were that guy huh? Definitely stay in DC, we don't need you.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

you're ignorant and presumptive. Who said I was in DC? I've gone to the screenings for many a year, met some of the great people up there. If they need larger facilities so be it , I have no hate for that. I just don't have to prove nothing to you. You want to participate in the workshop, knock yourself out.

Well, you're the one whining about it being unreachable from DC, if you're not from there, why open your trap? If it ain't in your backyard, you're gonna have a hissy about it, is that the case? Culpeper is a ways from anywhere if you don't live there.

In any case, this is way more than the time worth wasting on you. Stay home, count your button collection, whatever.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Like I said I don't prove nothing to you. I'll show up at Culpepper if I want,

You'll have to get a car first........



RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Danny Burk]

OK, enough. Sepiatone, your last post was out of line and I've deleted it.

[Mike Gebert]

Another reason to go to Culpeper.

Rich, I could care less about them being offended(swaying off topic). And whether DC is a joyful place or not(it is when it wants to be), is irrelevant to getting to Culpepper which was my main point. Reaping benefits of what?, a bunch of people sitting around trying to identify unnamed people whom they think are some star they think they know. I thought that was fruitless and useless, perhaps when/if one of them IDs Stroheim in ' 'An Unseen Enemy' ' or something, then that'll prove their eyeballs are better than ours on Nitrateville. Sheesh!!

Any respect I had for you in the past just vanished.