Conference examines role of archives in media, theater research

Some 2,000 miles separate Madison and Hollywood’s star-making machine, and it’s a 1,000-mile journey to New York’s Great White Way.

Yet the University of Wisconsin–Madison is home to one of the largest archival collections of film, theater, television and radio history in the United States — a treasure trove of nearly 250 individual collections held by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR), in cooperation with the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The center hits the half-century mark this year and has organized a conference on media, theater and history to commemorate the event. Fittingly titled “On, Archives!”, attendees will present historical research and explore the challenges of using archival materials in academic work.

Sessions will also cover the special challenges faced by archivists themselves in preserving the historical record of radio, film, TV and theater. A concurrent and complementary symposium, “Broadcasting in the 1930s: New Media in a Time of Crisis,” was arranged by an international group of radio scholars, thrilled with the opportunity to share their work.

“It’s unusual to combine archivists and academics at a media history conference. We’ll hear what goes on in each area, the issues all of us face, and the challenges of both using and taking care of sources,” says Michele Hilmes, professor of media and cultural studies in UW–Madison’s Department of Communication Arts, director of the WCFTR and conference chair. “The symposium on broadcasting in the 1930s fits well with Madison’s strength in radio history drawing on the papers of the National Broadcasting Company and many other significant collections held by both the WHS and the WCFTR.”

The conference will take place July 6-9 at the Pyle Conference Center, 702 Langdon St. In addition to presentations and workshops, UW–Madison’s Cinematheque has organized free, public programs of films and television programs drawn from or inspired by WCFTR holdings. Presentations include restored prints of “The African Queen,” and the Cold War documentary “Point of Order.” A program spotlights some recent WCFTR acquisitions. Other events include selections of shorts and documentaries produced during World War II from the Academy Film Archive that haven’t been screened since the 1940s, along with some rare 28mm films — all preserved and restored so they can be screened.

People are often surprised about the variety, quality and quantity of materials held by WCFTR, which is home to one of the oldest and most extensive collections of print, audio/visual, and graphic materials relating to film, theater, radio and television in the United States. “We don’t have the profile of UCLA’s collection, nor the direct connection to the industry that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has. But we are the little archive that could,” says Hilmes.

The collections took off in earnest in the early 1960s when then-director Tino Balio made some major acquisitions. The purpose was to build a teaching tool and media library for faculty and graduate research. “Tax laws at that time allowed a deduction for donating collections,” explains Hilmes. “Things really boomed — Tino charmed the rich and famous into donating their collections to the WCFTR.”

Professor Emeritus Balio’s keynote address will open the conference. Titled “A Child of the Sixties: The Founding and Early Years of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research,” Balio’s talk, Tuesday, July 6, 9:30 a.m., is free and open to the public, as are all the keynote addresses.

The laws have changed, eliminating the tax write-off and collecting has slowed, but the WCFTR is always adding to its collections, says Hilmes. Some recent new acquisitions include those of filmmaker and Wisconsin alumnus Stuart Gordon, additions to the Irna Phillips collection (credited with inventing soap operas), and collections from Bridget and Jerome Dobson, who were scriptwriters for “The Guiding Light,” “As the World Turns,” “General Hospital,” and others.

Hilmes says hundreds of media scholars come to the WCFTR every year from all over the world to explore the archives and hundreds of books have been written based on research done at the center. Many of the conference presenters coming in July are returnees; they were graduate students here and have gone to become faculty members on other campuses. “This work is preserving the history of American culture, which has become world culture. There is no place that hasn’t been touched by Hollywood,” says Hilmes. “Without records of the past we can’t understand where we’ve been.”

More information on the WCFTR and the conference, including a complete conference schedule, is available here.