San Francisco Cinematheque Archives Assessment

FAIN: PG-50802-10

San Francisco Cinematheque (San Francisco, CA 94103-2637)
Steve Polta (Project Director: May 2009 to December 2011)

Hiring two consultants to assess the preservation needs of a collection of 303 historical and contemporary avant-garde experimental films, videos, and audiotapes created since 1955; 1,908 cataloged files on the works and careers of individual artists; and 328 institutional files. The funding will also support the purchase of preservation supplies and equipment recommended in 2003 following an assessment of the paper-based collections.

San Francisco Cinematheque's archives supports the organization's mission to broaden the cultural impact of artist-made film and video by preserving and providing public access to important materials documenting the field's history and culture. This grant will support the assessment of the physical conditions and preservation needs of two important collections within the archives: (1) Cinematheque's paper collection, which contains rare and unique manuscript material and ephemera documenting the careers of artists and the work of the field's exhibiting and support institutions. This assessment will be followed by the purchase of appropriate storage supplies, as recommended. (2) Cinematheque's collection of 303 analog audio recordings of presentations by artists, historians and scholars of the field at Cinematheque events from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s. This assessment will be followed by the production of a preservation plan which will be used to secure preservation funding.