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Kelly BogelMIAP Final ProjectProf. Howard Besser14 Dec. 2009William K. Everson CollectionThroughout this semester, I have been working with the William K. Everson Collection located in the New York University Cinema Studies Department Archives at 665 Broadway, New York, NY. This project, though initially proposed as entailing a more extensive approach, has narrowed to focus on a few aspects, while still maintaining ideas for further development of the collection. In addition to a general collection assessment, I focused my main efforts on restoring the 16mm film prints in the Everson collection. Lastly,I have devised a plan for a better in-house storage system for digital media and metadata.William K. Everson was an extremely influential figure among film students, scholars, and historians in New York City, particularly from the 1960s through the 1980s. He was a silent film historian and expert and was dedicated to preserving silent films and B-films from the 1940s, and earlier, that would have been otherwise lost or abandoned. Hewas founding member of the Theodore Huff Film Society, which also included Charlie Chaplin biographer Theodore Huff, film critic Seymour Stern, and Variety writer Herman G. Weinberg. This group screened many of Everson’s silent films, for which Everson would prepare extensive Program Notes. These Notes were critical analyses of the films to be screened, as well as Everson’s academic thoughts and opinions. Many of Everson’s screenings consisted of B films, or those previously overlooked in an academic setting.11 Wikipedia “William K. Everson,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Everson.1Everson, as a pioneer or preservation and an extremely knowledgeable film scholar, taught at NYU’s Cinema Studies program from 1972 to 1996, at the New School for Social Research, and at the School of Visual Arts. Upon his death in 1996, his widow, Karen Everson, donated his extensive paper collection to the NYU archives. During the same time, NYU purchased a large portion of Everson’s film prints, which are also partially housed in the NYU archives.2As an invaluable component to New York University’s Cinema Studies and Moving Image Archiving and Preservation programs, the William K. Everson collection holds thousands of original source materials. Proper storage and access to this Collection should be established and maintained so that students, historians, and scholars alike can glean information and research from Everson’s extensive lifework and collection.Paper CollectionThe Paper Collection, which was donated to New York University Cinema Studies Department by Everson’s widow, Karen, was acquired in 1998. It is located in room 638 of the archives and is currently being stored in regulated climate conditions. The temperaturefluctuates between 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 73 degrees Fahrenheit, but it is usually maintained around 70 degrees F. The humidity is normally around 50%. Despite some fluctuations, the Papers are stored in good conditions in a controlled manner.The Collection has been organized into thirteen series, with subseries where necessary. The corresponding Finding Aid, which is a work in progress, was originally begun by Charley Leary, but for the past five years has been reformed by Nate Brennan. 2 “William K. Everson Collection,” New York University Cinema Studies, http://www.nyu.edu/projects/wke/bio.htm.2Before Charley, MA graduate Alice Black and archivist Anne-Marie Cook worked on the Papers Collection. Nate’s extensive work on the project has been integral to the progress of the Collection, and has allowed for a very simple, yet comprehensive index for the archival structure of the physical documents. Labeling on all materials is composed of a numbering system that matches the series and sub-series numbers and letters on the finding aid. The Finding Aid outline is as follows:William K. Everson Papers Finding AidSeries I – Film society and film festival program materialsSub-series A – Theodore Huff Memorial Film SocietySub-series B – New SchoolSub-series C – Misc. WKE NotesSub-series D – Film festival programs and cataloguesSeries II – Film industry materialsSeries III – Clippings filesSeries IV – Press materialsSub-series A – hanging file press materialsSub-series B – oversize press materialsSub-Series C – double-oversize press materialsSeries V – Legal documentsSub-series A – WKE relatedSub-series B – non-WKE relatedSeries VI – ManuscriptsSub-series A – manuscripts written by WKESub-series B – manuscripts written by othersSub-series C – WKE class notesSeries VII – Screenplay, dialogues, continuities, and scenariosSeries VIII – CorrespondencesSeries IX – Film literatureSub-series A – periodicalsSub-series B – booksSub-series C – published screenplaysSub-series D – cataloguesSub-series E – reference books by authorSub-series F – reference books by titleSub-series G – oversize literatureSeries X – Audio MaterialsSeries XI – Photographs and film stillsSeries XII – Movie theater programs and handbillsSeries XIII – Miscellaneous3Access to the Paper CollectionDue to the immense quantity of documents and articles in the Paper Collection, simply organizing them into this comprehensive structure is quite a monumental task. Furthermore, because the original finding aid and organization was begun by Charley, but isnow being continued and renovated by Nate, every document must be looked at a second time in order to ensure that it is correctly placed according to the structure of the Finding Aid and labeled correctly within the Archive. Nate’s Finding Aid outline and corresponding Word document listing all of these items is currently only available for employee usage within the Archive. Lastly, because Nate has only been able to work on the Paper Collection sparingly for the past several months, the progress has slowed significantly. However, his structure has greatly improved upon the last organization of the Collection, and it is now beginning to near completion.As of right now, Everson’s book collection (Series IX, sub-series B), his Program Notes from his numerous film screenings (Series I, sub-series A-D), some Press Materials (Series IV), and a few Photographs (Series XI) are the portions of the Paper Collection that are available for access outside the archive.Everson’s books are currently available in the Study Center Library


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NYU CINE-GT 1800 - MIAP Final Project

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