Voice and Vision: The Evolution of Screen Archiving in Australia
Paper delivered at the 6th History and Film Conference, Melbourne, 2 December 1993.

Introduction

We come to this conference to get to work on our screen heritage: to analyse it, evaluate it, present it, debate it, promote it - and to apply the disciplines and values of the historian to understand why the visual past matters to the present. And we believe it does matter: otherwise we wouldn't be here.

I want to reflect on one of our core values, without which this conference wouldn't be possible, yet which it is easy to take completely for granted. Let's view it in its own historical context, precisely so we can avoid that temptation.

I'm referring to the means by which our film heritage has been transmitted to us today: that is, the structures, skills, people and events which comprise the history of screen archiving in Australia. It's a saga that has sometimes made headlines, has fired the national imagination, and has influenced other countries. It's a story of people who have devoted themselves to an idea, and who, rather than write, research or make films themselves, have made it possible for others to do so.

My time frame is the last 25 years. The reason is personal: it coincides with my direct experience of the field. In December 1968 I joined the Film Section of the National Library in Canberra, and became responsible for its Historical Film Collection. Along the way it was joined by an audio counterpart and has since grown into a separate institution, the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA).

I'm not going to give you a boring corporate history. There isn't time, and in any case the story is larger than just the NFSA. Rather, I want to survey some key themes and events. To set the scene, let's contrast "then" and "now", and then walk the distance between.

A. Then and Now
The World in 1968

It was the year USSR invaded Czechoslovakia, and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. John Gorton became Prime Minister.

Color television was still seven years away. Stations were required to air 18 hours of prime time Australian content per month. Homicide, the News, and Showcase 68 joined the Dick van Dyke Show, The Flying Nun and Till Death do us Part in the top ten. Graham Kennedy won the Logie for Best Personality. Videotape was a technology still confined to television stations: outside the cinema, 16mm was the production and distribution medium.

The Historical Collection for which I became responsible in 1968 operated as an adjunct to the large film lending operations of the National Library. As such, it lacked full time staff or systems of its own, and had only the most basic technical facilities. Although its origins went back to 1935, it had really been assembled from the mid-1950's onward, largely through the visionary and courageous work of the head of the National Library's Film Division, Rod Wallace.

Its uniqueness lay in both its purpose - as a preservation, not distribution, collection - and its range, across the whole historical and artistic sweep of Australian film and television production. Its placement in a broadly-based public institution permitted a cultural, rather than commercial, perspective to apply.

In 1972, the Historical Collection (later the National Film Archive) became a distinct staff unit of 7 people which I was appointed to head. They included Karen Foley, who later succeeded me in that role. This gave the critical mass needed to handle and develop the systems, access services, and collection growth as well as a technical capacity.

The following year, under a grant from the Film and Television School, I made a 5 month study tour of film archives in Europe and North America. My resulting report, published in summary in Cinema Papers (December 1974), documented the current work of a dozen or so archives and related this, through some recommendations, to what I saw as the present state and future needs of work in Australia. These included the need for an autonomous nations film archive, a professional career structure, adequate storage, technical and access facilities, legislation and the like. Perhaps because it filled an information vacuum, the report gained some currency (even notoriety) and fed into wider activism.

In 1975, the Association for a National Film and Television Archive emerged, basing their principles partly on the report. Led by historians Graham Shirley and Barrie King, it made a submission to the Committee of Inquiry on Museums and national Collections, and for the next few years would be active in stimulating awareness and debate. In turn, in 1976, the Australian Film Commission convened a Working Party on Film Archives (involving the National Library, Australian Archives and the Australian Film and Television School) whose entities tracked developing concerns about structures, funding and staffing.

Meanwhile, other public organisations were giving greater attention to film and television archiving. In Sydney, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) began to develop its program archive. Film Australia gave increasing attention to caring for its backfile and establishing a stock shot library. Australian Archives backed such efforts by Commonwealth agencies to care for their audiovisual records, and established its own storage, retrieval and technical services.

In Canberra, the Australian War Memorial actively built its holdings of footage from the World Wars, adding the Vietnam war and other material. In Perth, the W.A. State Film Archive began, focusing on film beyond the geographic gaze of eastern organisations.

Ross Cooper, Andrew Pike and contemporaries were pioneering postgraduate research in cinema. Tony Buckley had released his compilation film Forgotten Cinema. The Australian Film Institute, the National Film Theatre of Australia and the film society movement were developing the film culture. Australian film literature was embryonic.

So was film archiving. Probably no one, me included, did it full time on a paid professional basis. Television stations and film companies had their in-house backfiles. There was a network of private collectors. The Australian War Memorial had military footage. In the National Library, the Historical Collection Rod Wallace had assembled, from the earliest silents to contemporary at about 5.000 reels, half of them nitrate film. The cultural value of such high cost work was still doubted.

By 1968, substantial and institutionally distinct national film archives with scores, even hundreds, of staff, and purpose built facilities, had been growing in Europe and North America for decades.

The world in 1993

The VCR and satellite vision is commonplace and PayTV, we hope, is just around the corner. The hypermedia future, with its proliferating programs, information highways and laser discs stretches before us. Video projection and HDTV may eventually supersede film altogether.

Today's young adults haven't known a time when Australian films and TV dramas were notable because of their rarity. Government support of the industry is institutionalised. Newsreels have returned to the screen, but now recycled as living history.

Cinema and media studies in schools and universities are commonplace. There is as substantial literature and research based on Australian cinema and television, and a widespread recognition of the cultural importance of the moving image. Historical footage compilations are a standard program format.

Hundreds are employed full time in audiovisual archiving, in both public and private sectors. The distributed national collection comprises hundreds of thousands of film and video reels. There is a National Film and Sound Archive which, like the industry at large, is a world player. A range of other national and state institutions have significant, and complementary, operations. Private collectors, bless them, are still with us.

B. Some Key Events in the Story

So now to some key events, as I saw them. I emphasise "some" - in a short paper I have to be selective and arbitrary. Nor is there space to fully explore how changing times and values influenced events. I apologise right now for omitting mention of people, happenings or issues that deserve due place in any adequate documenting of the story. Also, on this occasion, I won't cover the ‘sound' part of the story, which has a separate evolution. Sound and image became closely related in the NFSA after 1984. With those severe limitations, let's proceed.

Added to the activities of commercial production houses and networks, private collectors, researchers and program makers, a widening community of specialists, users and activists developed. The National Film Archive of the National Library served as a reference point and its membership of FIAF became increasingly meaningful as contact became more frequent.

The Last Film Search, launched in 1981 as a national "treasure hunt" for disappearing nitrate film, was the first major use of corporate sponsorship (Kodak and the Utah Foundation) in Australian screen archiving. Successful in its objective, it also caught media attention and public sentiment to such a degree that the urgency and value of the National Film Archive's work gained a new level of acceptance. It wasn't long before most Australians knew that "Nitrate won't wait".

At last, in late 1983, the long-simmering question of the national Film Archive's institutional autonomy and resourcing became a matter of controversy in the media and in Parliament. Emotions ran high, and battle lines were drawn between the National Library and the pro-autonomy voices. The Prime Minister (Bob Hawke), his principal advisor (Bob Hogg) and his Arts Prime Minister (Barry Cohen) became personally involved. During this complex chain of events, the Australian Film Institute organised a film industry conference whose recommendations ultimately provided the basis on which the Government set up the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), as a separate body, in April 1984.

Eighteen months later, the NFSA's first Advisory Committee, chaired by Joan Long, released "Time in our Hands", an extensive vision for the institution's development and an articulation of its basic principles, philosophies and policies. It projected the NFSA as an institution devoted solely to audiovisual archiving and able to act as a reference point and centre of expertise for the field in Australia. By 1993, permanent staff had grown from 15 to about 130, with an annual budget of almost $9 million.

In 1988, the NFSA's $4 million "Operation Newsreel " project, sponsored by News Corporation and the Greater Union Group, became possibly the largest ever corporate sponsorship of a cultural project in Australia.

In 1992, the National Library convened the "Towards Federation 2001" national conference of libraries, archives, galleries and museums. Among many other things, the conference formalised the NFSA's role in relation to the other collecting institutions and networks, and set an agenda for formalising coordination among the various players in the audiovisual field.

1. Changing awareness and values.

Early in my career at the National Library, a senior colleague expressed to me his considered view of the worth of Australian feature films, with particular reference to the Cinesound Dad and Dave series. "They're just embarrassing", he said, "and a 16mm copy is good enough. It gives you a record. No one would ever want to show them in theatres again." He encouraged me to be "philosophical" about what we already held, and about what might still be lying undiscovered. There would never be money enough to preserve them anyway.

He may have been trying to inject some realism into my youthful enthusiasm. Among librarians that I knew this view was not unusual. In those days of the cultural cringe, most Australians might have agreed with him. It was sometimes an adventure to ensure that certain films survived in hopes that such views would change.

Today, of course, the Cinesound films are classics, shown and studied widely. We take pride in our rich, varied and venerable film heritage. We are analysing its defining place in our culture as art and historical record, as a cohesive force and as an expression of the national character. We are moving towards a time when moving images will have the same cultural status as the written word.

We have also, through our governments, largely accepted the practical corollary of this shift: the price tag. We now accept that moving images don't survive if neglected: that they require a publicly funded infrastructure to survive in a long term; that the job must be done properly if it is done at all: and that it can't be done on the cheap. A long way, fortunately, from passive acceptance of inevitable loss.

How did the values change? I think there were external factors, such as the resurgence of the film industry and the move towards more Australian content on television, which helped us to outgrow the cultural cringe. There was growing awareness of reference points overseas, so we could evaluate our archival and academic efforts. There was the impetus which the passage of time itself lends.

But equally, there was a growing body of people asserting new values and priorities, and there were growing collections of material which film and program producers could use to make the heritage more visible, especially on television, underscoring the value of archiving. Peter Luck's compilation series This Fabulous Century epitomised this phenomenon, reaching mass audiences with a new way of looking at Australian history and character.

It takes me to my next point.

2. Activism and self help.

Whatever else might be said about this period, I am familiar with no better example of change in the public interest, and for the right motives. The accumulated efforts over time of many people, committed to an altruistic idea and a desire to protect a fragile heritage, achieved a new order. Most profited little from their efforts: nor was that their motivation. It was and still is my privilege to know them and work with them.

On the way, the ideas, methods and assumptions on which today's NFSA is based - and which spread out into the wider fields - were tested, challenged and refined. In 1968 very little about film archiving (including its cultural validity) could be taken for granted here. Everything had to be argued from first principles, for the role models were a world away in Europe, invisible to local gaze.

It was always possible to sit pat and wait for things to change. Something would have happened eventually. But the price would have been high, on four counts.

First, we would undoubtedly have lost much which now survives. Even as it is, the poor survival rate of our silent cinema is a permanent legacy of doing too little, too late.

Second, we would have missed the discipline of testing our validity, refining our assumptions, finding our own way rather than just copying someone else. It is no accident that the NFSA, once established, rapidly joined the world leaders in many aspects of its fields.

Third, we would have stayed in the shadows. As it was, the triumphs and tribulations of film archiving became news, the heritage became visible through use, and everybody won. Archiving here developed a broad populist base.

Fourth, the potential of corporate sponsorship to expand resources and visibility might have gone unrealised for many years. Without a ‘Last Film Search' or ‘Operation Newsreel', for instance, it would be a different story.

3. Intellectual basis

Every professional field needs an intellectual basis, and screen archiving is no different. A philosophy, code of ethics, and operational policies based on them form the frame of reference for its practitioners and those with who they deal. Practicalities, such as technical skills and collection management, also need to be based on a rationale. (To give just one example, screen archivists respect the integrity of the works they preserve: they don't re-edit them to suit prevailing political or artistic dictates. And no, that's not as elementary as it sounds).

25 years ago such a base did not exist in Australia. Within the National Library, for instance, film was deemed a particular format of library material and the disciplines and assumptions of librarianship were assumed to be applicable. (Until 1981, librarianship qualifications were mandatory for film archive staff.)

As experience showed this assumption to be inadequate, a new frame of reference had to be gradually developed, partly from experience and partly from comparison with overseas counterparts. The rationale needed to arise from the nature of the medium itself, not simply by extension from existing disciplines. Ethics have a similar basis but also need to comprehend the legal and personal relationships, and conflict-of-interest sensitivities, important to the fields.

Today the NFSA works to a professional frame of reference of its own creation: neither a subset of librarianship, museology or archival science, though it draws on all three. This is not an eccentricity but a necessity. Here and overseas, it's a frame of reference still to be fully formalised: an increasing need as audiovisual archiving evolves as a profession.

There is nothing quite like the thrill of finding an important film or recording which was believed lost. I know others share that thrill. There are numerous "lost and found" stories which I've been on the receiving end of, but let me share two.

One was finding the fragments of the 1906 film The Story of the Kelly Gang, that mythical progenitor of all feature films. Until 1976, all we had was the original program booklet - evidence, at least, of the film's content and stature, and including stills of several scenes. One of my colleagues was working through a newly acquired collection of nitrate, and opened a can which proved to contain a hundred or so trims - fragments of damaged films which the owner had saved. Not promising, but among them were several pieces, just a few frames long, of the Kelly film itself. The program booklet gave us positive identification. We couldn't believe our luck.

Two years later a Melbourne headmaster, Ken Robb, found two intact scenes in negative, under the floorboards of a demolished house in Melbourne. He gave them to us freely. Another two years, and some children found a decaying reel of print on a rubbish dump - people at Cinema Papers were alert in getting that to us. Today, there's about five viewable and tantalising minutes of the film.

Back in 1969 I met the late Laurie Smith, a diminutive Melbourne watchmaker who had a fairytale shop called "The House of Time", in Richmond - packed with clocks which all chimed on the hour. Laurie was also a film collector, and in his back room he showed me the original negatives of almost the entire output of Efftee studios in the 1930's: lovingly cared for. Laurie was in poor health, had had an offer from an advertising agency for the material, but wanted it to find a good home. We bought them for a nominal figure, and still have them.

But discovery takes many other forms, equally important, which are the essential corollary to such experiences. The process of managing, conserving and copying such complex and youthful materials is one of constant research, trial and error, and discovery, where the goalposts are constantly shifting. Once "preservation" simply meant copying a nitrate film onto acetate base. No longer. Archives must now use far more complex ways of managing their computer-inventoried collections and the cost-effectiveness of various copying or storage options. The challenges and thrill are no less, and the stakes get higher all the time. But that's too large a subject for now.

5. People

Nothing of note could have happened during the last 25 years without the right people in the right places.

Crucial to the success of any new field is commitment and continuity: the willingness by the few individuals involved to be in it for the long haul. They grow the expertise, evolve the ethos, subject knowledge and corporate memory around which relationships, depth and trust can develop. It is risky: it can limit career options, and it requires faith that the new field has a future. So circumstances tend to sort out the capable and the committed.

Fortunately they have been there: in the National Library/NFSA, the ABC, Australian Archives, the Australian War Memorial and elsewhere. I won't name them, lest my list be incomplete, but you probably know at least some of them personally. Around them, audiovisual archivists have started to emerge as a definable group with a shared ethos.

Equally, there are those who may be part of the story in other capacities: as external supporters and activists, as shorter term employees bringing their particular skill to bear, as policy and decision makers. I'm mindful, for instance, of collectors and donors who've faithfully supported the growth of the national collection, journalists who have monitored the field for years, bureaucrats and politicians who took an interest in a field that seemed to offer them little in return.

6. The value of a distinct institution

At the opening of the NFSA's headquarters building in October 1984, Prime Minister Bob Hawke said:

"The Archive will ensure the development of the necessary skills, facilities, ethos and methods needed for Australia to preserve our heritage (of films, radio and television programs, sound recordings and associated items) that are in their own right of lasting cultural value. Its establishment is a cultural landmark for Australia. It has also made clear the Government's intention to see this work given the status and resources it deserves..."

The idea of such an institution was first mooted in the 1950's, and began to find active support in the 1970's. It was Rod Wallace's ideal, and was firmly mine too after I saw overseas models in 1973. Others after me shared that vision. By 1983 it was time for the child to leave the parent.

The creation of the NFSA was not just a channel for providing increased resources. It was a cultural statement about the importance of the audiovisual heritage in its own right, a recognition that its archiving had come of age - needing a distinct national focus, and the independence to develop its own corporate culture. Symbolically, and in practice, it put the work on a new plane.

The NFSA never could and never will try to do the entire national job - it is too large, and will always be a shared task. But it can, and is rightly expected to, provide coordination and leadership in that task. That, I believe, can only lift the game and improve the chances for everyone.

Technologically, so much will change in the next 10 years that anyone who cares to ponder it will be amazed at the snail's pace of the last 25. The convergence of media, digitization of images and sounds, the proliferation of programming and choice, and the information highways into our homes will remake the mechanics of acquisition, preservation and access. The business of archiving will become more complex, both managerially and technically.

Collection building will be increasingly selective and therefore increasingly difficult. Deselection of existing material will figure as the other side of the coin, because economic reality will require conscious trade-offs rather than simply accumulation. Access services will diversify as new electronic delivery systems open up nationally and globally: the copyright, ethical and legal implications will be well beyond anything our experience to date has taught us to expect.

My guess is that the digital future will eventually supplant film and magnetic tape, as we now know them, as the media of preservation and dissemination. Imagine how that will change not only the technicalities of preservation and use, but also the traditional concept of the private collector.

Some things won't change. The reliance on committed and expert people, for one. The reliance on a sound policy and philosophy base, for another. The importance of being relevant to a broad support base, for the third.

I certainly won't be around for another 25 years, at least on a salaried basis. The Government has rules about retiring ages. But when I'm 65 I'll still be a participant in the archiving saga - like you. The film heritage will be as close as whatever, by then, has replaced my computer terminal. And I hope I'll still be avoiding the temptation to take it all for granted.

Ray Edmondson

Acknowledgments:
In preparing this paper I have drawn on the following:
Graham Shirley: "Activism towards a National Film Archive". in Cinema Papers, July 1984
Peter Beilby (ed.): "Australian Television - the First 25 Years" (Thomas Nelson, 1981)
Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper: "Australian Film 1900-19777" (Oxford University Press, 1980)

L'auteur applique une double démarche historique: l'une générale, partant des événements historiques mondiaux -en relation avec la communication- qui se sont déroulés entre 1968 et 1993 et l'autre personnelle, qui correspond à son expérience de vingt-cinq ans d'archivistique dans le domaine du cinéma et du son. Cette double approche permet à l'auteur de dégager quelques événements clés survenus dans le monde des archives en Australie, notamment:

- La “chasse au trésor” des films nitrate lancée en 1981 sous le nom de The Last Film Search a permis aux Archives Nationales du Film de gagner des points de notoriété.
- En 1983, des discussions entre partisans des archives du film rattachées a la Bibliothèque Nationale et partisans d'une entité autonome s'est dégagée la préférence pour la création d' Archives Nationales du Film et du Son autonomes.
- En 1985, le Comité Consultatif du NFSA, arrête sa position sur le développement de l'institution dans un document intitulé “Time in our Hands” (“Le temps est dans nos mains”). De 1968 à 1993, l'effectif du personnel passa de 15 à 130 et le budget à $ 9 millions.
- En 1988, l' “Operation Newsreel” permit de monter un projet de sponsoring important (la News Corporation et la Greater Union Group ont participé avec 4 millions à ce projet culturel).
- En 1992, la Bibliothèque Nationale a patronné, sous le nom de “Vers une fédération 2001”, un congrès national regroupant les bibliothèques, les archives, les galeries et les musées. Lors de ce congrès, le rôle du NFSA a été formalisé et un calendrier de coordination entre institutions opérant dans le domaine de l'audiovisuel a été établi.

L'auteur aborde également les thèmes clé qui ont, selon lui, marqué la genèse du NFSA:

- la modification de la conscience et des valeurs dans l'appréciation de l'image qui a gagné le même statut que la parole écrite, en tant qu'héritage culturel,
- le changement des attitudes vers une maîtrise plus active et indépendante des processus de préservation,
- la formation des fondements intellectuels nécessaires au processus étudié (une théorie, une déontologie, des règles et pratiques, etc.),
- le concept de “découverte” (de films inconnus ou présumés perdus) comme stimulant de la motivation de l'archiviste,
- les personnes comme facteur essentiel du travail accompli,
- l'importance de la création des Archives Nationales du Film et du Son en tant qu'affirmation du droit à un traitement spécifique de l'héritage audiovisuel national.

L'avenir, conclut l'auteur, est fait d'importants changements prévus dans la technologie, et de la consolidation de valeurs acquises telles que la conscience d'employer du personnel qualifié et enthousiaste, de disposer de bases théoriques et de dispositions fiables ainsi que de compter sur un très large soutien dans l'accomplissement scientifique de notre mission.

Sonido e imagen: la evolución del archivaje de imágenes en movimiento en Australia

En su discurso pronunciado durante la 6a. Conferencia de Historia y Cine, reunida en Melbourne el 2 de diciembre de 1993, Ray Edmondson, Director adjunto de los Archivos Nacionales del cine y del sonido de Australia, pasa en revista 25 años de historia del “NFSA”. El objetivo del autor es “la reflexión sobre nuestro acerbo de la imagen en la pantalla: su análisis, evaluación, presentación, dabate, pomoción y de la aplicación de las disciplinas y valores del historiador con el objeto de comprender porqué el pasado de las imágenes atañe el presente”. Para ello, el autor procede por una doble aproximación histórica: la general que toma en cuenta los sucesos históricos mundiales -en relación con la comunicación- acaecidos entre 1968 y 1993 y la personal -correspondiente a 25 años de experiencia de archivista en el campo de la imagen y del sonido. La doble aproximación del “mundo de 1968” al mundo de �”, permite al autor de señalar losacontecimientos importantes de la historia de los archivos de Australia.

- La “caza del tesoro” de películas en nitrato lanzada en 1981 bajo el nombre “The Last Film Search” permitió a los Archivos Nacionales del Film cobrar cierta notoriedad.
- En 1983, de la discusión entre partidarios de archivos del cine dependientes de la Biblioteca Nacional y partidarios de un organismo autónomo, se marcó la preferencia por la creación de los Archivos Nacionales del Film y del Sonido.
- En 1985, el Comité consultativo del “NFSA” define su concepción de la institución en un documento intitulado "El tiempo en nuestras manos".
- De 1968 a 1993, el efectivo del personal pasa de 15 personas a 130 y el presupuesto a 9 millones.
- En 1988, la “Operation Newsreel” permite montar un proyecto de sponsoring importante (La News Corporation y la Greater Union Group participan con 4 millones en un proyecto de rescate de cintas de noticiosos considerado de importancia cultural).
- En 1992, la Biblioteca Nacional aceptó patrocinar, bajo el lema “Hacia una federación 2001”, un congreso nacional que agruparía a las bibliotecas, archivos, galerías y museos. Durante dicho congreso se formalizó el rol del NFSA y se estableció un calendario de coordinación entre instituciones que operan en el campo del audiovisual.

El autor aborda luego los temas que según él han marcado la historia del “NFSA”:

- la modificacón de la conciencia y de los valores en la apreciación de la imagen en movimiento como acervo cultural,
- el cambio de actitudes hacia los problemas de preservación (tendiente a un control más activo y autónomo de los procesos de preservación),
- la formación de las bases conceptuales necesarias al fenómeno estudiado (desarrollo de una teoría, una deontología así como de reglas y prácticas profesionales),
- el concepto de “descubrimiento” (de films desconocidos o dados por perdidos) como estimulante de la motivación del archivista,
- las personas como factor esencial del trabajo realizado (“nada hubiese podido hacerse durante estos 25 años sin la dedicación de las personas adecuadas, en el lugar adecuado”),
- la importancia que tuvo la creación del "NFSA" para la afirmación del derecho a un tratamiento específico del acervo audio-visual nacional.

El porvenir, concluye el autor, está hecho de importantes cambios tecnológicos por un lado y de elementos de continuidad y consolidación de los valores adquiridos por el otro.