Since motion pictures were introduced and marketed to the world as a form of entertainment in the 1890s, they have had a very troubled history relative to institutions charged with collecting, preserving and interpreting the creative works of human kind. The notion that “movies” developed into an original art form during the early years of the 20th century is widely recognized, and that motion pictures collectively have had a pervasive and transformative influence on all aspects of modern history and culture is also unchallenged. Yet, in spite of this critical recognition, motion pictures have largely suffered an orphan’s existence during the past century in the museums, libraries, universities, archives, historical societies, and other institutions that exist to collect, preserve and study the memory of the world.
L. Jeffrey Selznick (1932–1997)
In the early 1930s, farsighted curators in Berlin, London, New York and Paris formed the Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) for the purpose of collecting and preserving the movies of their own countries, to expand the effort to other nations, and to promote awareness of the need to preserve motion pictures as cultural records of comparable importance to books, photographs, manuscripts, newspapers, sound recordings and other recognized formats of fixed human knowledge. FIAF membership has expanded during the past 70 years to include film preservation archives in more than 90 countries.
However, the concept of establishing schools and training programs for motion picture archivists and curators is a recent phenomenon. One of the first persons to recognize the importance of this next step in the evolution of film preservation and to marshall the planning and necessary resources was L. Jeffrey Selznick (1932-1997). In the early 1990s he began to formulate the concept of founding a school to train film archivists and, together with co-founder Paolo Cherchi Usai, established the first such school at George Eastman House in 1996. The success of the Selznick School and the contributions of its many graduates to the cause of film preservation are a living testimony to Jeffrey’s vision and the continuing support of the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.
The L. Jeffrey Selznick School is the first school of film preservation established in North America, and, as this is being written, is now in its tenth year. Over one hundred highly motivated film archivists have been trained and are now employed in motion picture conservation institutions in countries throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S.
The job title “Film Archivist” is now recognized ever more widely as a true profession, existing in a field of professional endeavor embracing concepts of ethical and curatorial standards, annual conferences, collections management issues, exhibition and interpretation, and cultural conservation. This is a very important conceptual breakthrough, but much more remains to be done to expand the acquisition and preservation horizons of traditional cultural institutions, to study the conservation challenges of digital moving image technologies, and to educate succeeding generations of motion picture archivists and curators. The staff, alumni, and students of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School at the George Eastman House, already the keepers of a proud tradition, happily accept that challenge.
Patrick Loughney, Ph.D, Director
The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation
at George Eastman House