{"id":2757,"date":"2015-12-16T17:45:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T17:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/der.org\/community\/?p=2757"},"modified":"2018-01-10T00:47:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T00:47:04","slug":"opening-and-closing-the-der-vault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.der.org\/opening-and-closing-the-der-vault\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening and Closing the DER Vault – 1968-2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Opening

In the late 1960s, Lorna Marshall opened an account at a well known storage warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts to house the Marshall family\u2019s materials from their Kalahari trips. In the following 40 years, \u201cthe vault\u201d (as it became known) also provided a secure location for original film elements, distribution prints, and other materials related to the work of DER founders, filmmakers, and friends. However, as safe and convenient as the space was, a dusty warehouse lacking any kind of control over temperature or humidity does not make an ideal environment for long term film storage.<\/p>\n

When I was a new member of the DER staff, I had helped with re-canning elements from John Marshall\u2019s Pittsburgh Police<\/em> series of films, which was my introduction to the vault and its contents. By then, the original camera negatives and edited film masters of Marshall\u2019s !Kung films<\/a> had been transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives at the Smithsonian Institution \u2013 see their excellent online exhibit<\/a> for more information about that collection. However, much of the other film remaining in the vault was aging and facing risk of deterioration, and some were already developing vinegar syndrome<\/a>, so it was crucial that we move these materials into proper archival storage.<\/p>\n

In 2012, we began to inventory the vault\u2019s contents in preparation for relocating them \u2013 a process which would take several years to complete. Fortunately, many cans and boxes were labeled with recognizable titles, many of them still part of the DER catalog, but others were mysteries: unreleased titles by Marshall or Timothy Asch<\/a>, or works by their colleagues which had been entrusted to DER\u2019s care. Additionally, there were artifacts related to Marshall\u2019s research \u2013 boxes of books on South African history, ethnographies, field guides, and popular novels of the time.<\/p>\n

Over the course of several months and numerous vault visits, I identified the various discrete collections contained in the vault. Then, with help from DER board member Karma Foley and former DER staff member Brittany Gravely, I sketched out a plan for relocating the films into appropriate archives including the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Human Studies Film Archives, and Harvard Film Archive.<\/p>\n

Many\u00a0prints\u00a0in the\u00a0Documentary\u00a0Educational Resources Collection at Harvard Film Archive<\/a> are available to rent for exhibition. Please contact us<\/a> if you are interested in showing one of our films on 16mm!<\/p>\n

Materials from the vault that are now safely archived:<\/strong><\/p>\n