We are celebrating World Day for Audiovisual Heritage today. Sponsoring organization CCAAA has made this statement: “Audiovisual materials can tell your story, your truth, and your presence. They provide a window to the world, allowing us to observe events we cannot attend, hear voices from the past who can no longer speak, and craft stories that inform and entertain. Audiovisual content plays an increasingly vital role in our lives as we seek to understand the world and engage with society.” Be sure to look at CCAAA’s website for lots more information: https://www.ccaaa.org/
Thinking back on my 20 years here at UGA’s Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection and all the important things I’ve seen and heard on films and tapes that have come through our doors, my mind boggles at imagining the huge amount of important audiovisual items, all over the world, that hold so much significance in their communities and elsewhere. Many of these items are unseen, tucked away, hidden, inaccessible, or have been destroyed over time in the name of progress. These items are not hidden on purpose, rather they are hidden because there are not enough resources (people, money, and time) to get all of them fully inspected, cleaned, repaired, and digitized as quickly as we’d like. As time goes by, the obsolescence of the carriers and their respective players, hinders the ability to transfer the items.
We know that millions of feet of television news films were thrown out and lie buried in landfills in the 1970s and 1980s when videotape was brought in to cover news stories. Few station employees considered that all that film they’d shot since the 1950s was important to keep, and managers often wanted the space that a film archives took up, so out went the films. Luckily, for us some stations (such as WSB-TV Atlanta) kept their archives and that material is available for study and re-use. Newsfilm is just one fraction of the audiovisual story. Our holdings are incredibly varied, from modest home movies to pieces of important documentary productions, and date from 1916 to present day. https://bmac.libs.uga.edu/pawtucket2/
Film archives exist for you, the public, to use. Everyone can play a part in saving our world’s audiovisual heritage. If you have or find old films or videotapes and think they may be important, contact the office of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, www.amianet.org, and someone there can direct you to an appropriate film archives near you. Other sources of assistance are your local library, archives, or historical society. Here in Georgia, our staff is happy to help you with your films and tapes. It is our mission to preserve the moving image and audio history of Georgia.
