Last week we welcomed the 5th cohort of Photographic Preservation and Collections Management graduate students to George Eastman House.  This was their first week of classes and we are already exhausted (staff and students). Only another 8 months to go!  Today we spent the morning listening to our 16 students report on their summer internships; each student is required to spend 8 weeks in the summer, between year 1 and year 2, working in the field.  It was great to hear about their experiences and the list of host institutions is an impressive one; we had students at ICP, the National Gallery of Art, the Getty Research Institute, Chicago History Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and other esteemed institutions.  The following pictures are from yesterdays preservation class where the students had a photographic handling lab directed by Archivist, Joe Struble and Assistant Curator, Jamie Allen.  I will probably be blogging about the students a lot in the coming months and hope to convince some of them to share their experiences here too.

Joe Struble demonstrates how NOT to handle a photograph.

Students looking at prints after a GEH collections history lecture.  This may be the only time you will ever see Alfalfa, Russian Jewess and Afghan Girl sequenced together.  The black and white photograph obscured by a student is an Ansel Adams photograph of Yosemite.  What a great example of the breadth and diversity of the collections at Eastman House!

This week I will be spending my time exploring the impressive collection storage  held by the NFSA.

Materials in the collection are vast and include many areas of both film and television. This includes such items as: costumes (including the wedding dress worn by Toni Collette in the film “Muriel’s Wedding”), televisions, projectors, motion picture film, various video formats,  disks, wax cylanders, DVD’s, glass slides, production stills, film posters, film props and my personal favorite: a ‘clap-o-meter’ from a television studio.

The Archive holds it’s materials in four separate locations which can basically be put into these categories: 1). Preservation materials; 2.)Access copies; 3.) Paper and registration (document) materials; 4.) Nitrate collection.  This week I will be given a tour of these separate areas and a brief study of how they are stored.

One such area is involves the audio recording on disks.  Currently, the archive is working on a risk management project of ‘disk flipping;’ that is, taking recorded sound disks and flipping them in their vertical preservation storage containers.  This is to help prevent the the disks own weight from bending and damaging the disks.  This may sound rather odd, but image a disk sitting in the same position for 20 years.  Gravity could take a toll on such material. 

Other areas I will be reviewing include the film and video collection.  Stay tuned for more information!

One of the highlights for my trip to the NFSA is to visit the ARC , where I can sit in the dark and enjoy some of Australia’s wonderful cinematic offerings!

Trevor Anderson and Reece Black gave me a wonderful tour of the ARC Cinema and projection booths, including the lens collection they have for the Kineton projectors.  They also showed me a time a time captured video of the building of the cinema. It was fascinating to watch as the seats were built into a already existing space. 

I also got a glimpse of the HVAC system for the theatre.  It is truly remarkable, with a diffused system to allow an even exchange of air throughout the theatre.  This give all patrons the benefit of a comfortable environment, and greatly reduces the noise of  heaters and air conditioners turning on and off throughout the film.

Taken from the NFSA website :

Arc’s projection booth is where the magic begins. The cinema is fitted with cutting-edge 35/16 mm changeover projection, using a pair of custom-designed Kinoton projectors chosen for their adaptability as well as for their precision technology. Arc’s Kinotons are amongst a handful of projection systems in Australia capable of screening all manner of historic and contemporary images in a wide range of aspect ratios, with the ability to run silent films at correct speeds.

Arc’s innovative sound system can present many different audio formats, from the earliest days of sound on film to state-of-the-art digital audio. Sound reinforcement for live accompaniment to silent film is also supported, paving the way for ground-breaking silent cinema events.

Arc’s state-of-the-art archival film projection system means that the NFSA will be able to screen rare prints not only from its own collection but from other libraries and archives around the world, opening up access to films rarely seen in Australia.

To read more about this wonderful venue, and see current film listings,  please visit http://www.nfsa.gov.au/whats_on/arc/index.html

Today, September 1st, is the first day of Spring! Now that I have adjusted to the time change, I can begin to explore my new surroundings.

Canberra (pronounced CAN-bra, with emphasis on the CAN) is Australia’s only completely planned city, designed around 1911. It is the home to approximately 320,000 Australians, most of whom are civil servants. It is also the home of some amazing museums!
On my first day of walking around the city I briefly passed some of these great sights. This included a view of Black Mountain Tower, which provides magnificent 260 degree views of the city and surrounding country.

The National Museum of Australia is the place to go to learn about the history of Australian settlement. It is on my list of places to visit on the weekends!
http://www.nma.gov.au/index.html

Across Lake Burley Griffin is the National Library of Australia. The folks at the Archive tell me it is worth a look, expecially the Ballet Russes exhibit currently on display.

Welcome to Canberra!