VHS videotapes (NTSC system) released by Smithsonian Video, 955 L'Enfant Plaza, Suite 7100, Washington, DC 20560.

The Library of Congress has taken the initiative in the debate on the archival use of video with the first group in a series of tapes reproducing silent films preserved by the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. The six volumes in distribution include Within Our Gates by Oscar Micheaux; D.W.Griffith's The Narrow Road and Maurice Tourneur's Alias Jimmy Valentine, anthologies on women filmmakers (Alice Guy-Blaché, Lois Weber) and American animation (1900-1921); two fantasy features, The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and A Florida Enchantment (1914); The Scar of Shame, one of the few surviving films made by African-American filmmakers during the silent period.

Other institutions - such as the British Film Institute -have already ventured into the territory of video for research and educational purposes. For the first time, however, a film archive makes an explicit case about the need to integrate the preservation work with material intended for short-term consumption. Discussion on this point has developed throughout the years without leading to any agreement among film curators and programmers. At least, the rationale suggested by the Library of Congress through this project is clearly stated in the information booklets enclosed to each volume: "any profits from the sale of [the] tapes will be devoted to film preservation and to releasing further film holdings on video". Those who wish to have access to the same films on their original medium are given the choice between these tapes and the 35mm reference prints in the archive, thus reducing the wear and tear of the films and the pressure on the staff in the archive.

The question is, how many users will be motivated to look at a carefully (and often beautiful) restored print when a non-photographic ersatz is available at a modest price from the very same archive which has preserved the source? Again, reasons of democracy and budgetary needs are likely to collide with the ethics of scholarship. The lack of a paragraph of explanation on this point is the only gap in the otherwise excellent notes - written by Scott Simmon - of the brochures accompanying the tapes, with accurate outlines on films, filmmakers, condition of the print source, and suggestions for further reading and viewing. No doubt, there are archival standards of quality for non-archival reproductions of moving images. In such perspective, this series is a model of archival awareness and intellectual commitment towards film preservation. (Paolo Cherchi Usai)