The Yale Film Archive is a film archive located in

Sterling Memorial Library Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Gothic Revi ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, and is part of the

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 mill ...

. The film collection consists of more than 7,000 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8mm prints and the video collection includes more than 50,000 items on DVD, Blu-ray, LaserDisc, and VHS. The Film Archive engages in the conservation, preservation, presentation, and circulation of moving image materials. The Yale Film Archive is an Associate of the

International Federation of Film Archives The International Federation of Film Archives (french: Fédération internationale des archives du film, FIAF) was founded in Paris in 1938 by the Cinémathèque Française, the Reichsfilmarchiv in Berlin, the British Film Institute and the Museum ...

. Founded in 1982 as the Yale Film Study Center, the Yale Film Archive traces its roots to film collections at Yale dating back to the 1960s, including the historic archives of a number of prominent film collectors. The Film Archive is currently involved in efforts to preserve film on film and to share its collection through public screenings, to ensure that films can continue to be presented as they were originally seen by audiences. The film collection of the Yale Film Archive is made up of a wide range of holdings, from Hollywood features to experimental shorts, from home movies to Bollywood musicals. The collection spans more than 120 years of cinema history, and includes films from around the globe as well as a number of films made by Yale alumni and about Yale and New Haven. Researchers can view films on site in the Yale Film Archive's screening room, capable of showing 16mm film, DCP, and multiple consumer video formats including 3-D Blu-ray. The Film Archive also has two flatbed film viewing stations and ten private video viewing booths for individual use. The Yale Film Archive regularly screens its 35mm prints for the public in the Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, the last 35mm-equipped public venue in New Haven County. Yale Film Archive staff regularly consult on special film projects around the University, including the preservation of film material in the Benny Goodman Collection in th
Irving Gilmore Music Library
of the

History

In 1968, Yale began collecting 16mm film with the purchase of several hundred prints known as the John Griggs Collection of Classic Films. The Griggs films came to Yale largely through the efforts of experimental filmmaker

Standish Lawder (1936 – 21 June 2014) was an American artist, art historian and inventor, who contributed to the structural film movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Biography Born in Connecticut in 1936, Lawder attended Williams College and the Nation ...

, then Assistant Professor in Yale’s History of Art Department, and Yale alumnu
Spencer Berger
a film collector and historian of the

Barrymore family The Barrymore family is an American acting family. The Barrymores are also the inspiration of a Broadway play called ''The Royal Family'', which debuted in 1927. Many members of the Barrymore family are not mentioned in this article. The surnam ...

. The purchase was funded by three alumni: Fred W. Beinecke
Richard E. Fuller
an

all graduates of the University. Although modest, this acquisition encouraged other collectors to donate their films, which then became part a vital part of film curricula. Over the next 15 years, film as an academic discipline grew immensely, leading to the formation of both th
Film Studies Program
and the Yale Film Study Center in 1982. During the 1980s, the 16mm archive burgeoned with film donations by Yale alumni Spencer Berger, Ralph Hirshorn, and others, while Yale’s 35mm archive was born with hundreds of rare prints of television programs produced by Herbert Brodkin, and collections such as those of the pioneering experimental director Mary Ellen Bute, a 1926 alumna of the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

. In 2013, the monthly screening series
Treasures from the Yale Film Archive
" showcasing 35mm prints from the archive's collection, began. The screenings feature introductions by Film Archive staff as well as Yale faculty, and have also included guest filmmakers such as

Michael Roemer Michael Roemer (born January 1, 1928) is a film director, producer and writer. He has won several awards for his films. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A professor at Yale University, he is the author of ''Telling Stories''. Ea ...

Warrington Hudlin Warrington W. Hudlin, Jr. (born July 16, 1952) is an American film director, producer, and actor. Early life Hudlin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, the son of Helen (née Cason), a teacher, and Warrington W. Hudlin, Sr., an insurance ex ...

Tamar Simon Hoffs Tamar Simon Hoffs ( née Tamar Ruth Simon; October 23, 1934) is an American filmmaker, best known for directing the indie films '' Red Roses and Petrol'' (2003) and ''Pound of Flesh'' (2009), both starring Malcolm McDowell. Life and career Hoffs ...

, Norman Weissman, Frank and Caroline Mouris, and

Willie Ruff Willie Henry Ruff Jr. (born September 1, 1931) is an American jazz musician, specializing in the French horn and double bass, and a music scholar and educator, primarily as a Yale professor from 1971 to 2017. Personal life He was born in Sheff ...

, as well as musical accompaniment for silent films b
Donald Sosin
In July, 2017, the Yale Film Archive formally became part of the Yale University Library. In January, 2021, the Film Archive moved to a newly renovated 3,200 square foot headquarters, designed b
Apicella + Bunton Architects
in Sterling Memorial Library.

Preservation

Films preserved by the Yale Film Archive
include ''Passages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake'' (directed by Mary Ellen Bute) and ''The Boy Who Saw Through'' (produced by Bute and directed by George C. Stoney); ''Our Union,'' directed by

Carl Marzani Carl Aldo Marzani (4 March 1912 – 11 December 1994) was an Italian-born American political activist with a series of careers as a volunteer soldier in the Spanish Civil War, organizer for the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), United States intellige ...

; ''To Be a Man'', directed by

Murray Lerner Murray Lerner (May 8, 1927 – September 2, 2017) was an American documentary and experimental film director and producer. Career Lerner was born May 8, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Nacham and Goldie (Levine) Lerner. Murray's fat ...

; and four films by animator Frank Mouris: ''Quick Dream'', ''You're Not Real Pretty But You're Mine...'', ''Chemical Architecture'', and ''Coney Island Eats''. In 2018, the Film Archive completed preservation of director Nicholas Doob's 1979 film
Street Music
" which features performances by 19 street musicians including
Oliver "Pork Chop" Anderson
"

Brother Blue Hugh Morgan Hill (July 12, 1921 – November 3, 2009) who performed as Brother Blue, was an American educator, storytelling, storyteller, actor, musician, and street performer based principally in the Boston area. After serving as First Lieut ...

Bongo Joe Coleman George "Bongo Joe" Coleman (November 28, 1923 – December 19, 1999) was an American street musician who was recognized for performing with a makeshift drum kit manufactured from oil drums. Considered both an inspired and novelty act, Coleman d ...

, Jimmy Davis
Guy MosleyGene Palma
and " The Automatic Human Jukebox." The Yale Film Archive also preserved 2-inch videotapes containing a 1972 broadcast by WTIC of "What's Happening," a local news program that covered the visit to Yale by Duke Ellington and other jazz musicians including

Eubie Blake James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, he and his long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote '' Shuffle Along'', one of the first B ...

, Dizzy Gillespie, Jo Jones, Charles Mingus,

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He work ...

, and

Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, an ...

. In 2021, the archive completed preservation work on Sedat Pakay's 1973 short film ''James Baldwin: From Another Place'', which captures James Baldwin during his time living in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Turkey in 1970.

Collections

The Yale Film Archive holds a number o
individual collections
of the films of various filmmakers and film collectors, some of which are listed below.
Ashish Avikunthak
filmmaker * Steve Benson, poet and filmmaker * Spencer Berger, film collector * Mary Ellen Bute, animator
Phyllis Chillingworth
painter, filmmaker *

Kathleen Collins Kathleen Collins (March 18, 1942 – September 18, 1988) (also known as Kathleen Conwell, Kathleen Conwell Collins or Kathleen Collins Prettyman) was an African-American poet, playwright, writer, filmmaker, director, civil rights activist, and ...

, filmmaker
Victor Cromwell
former CBS cameraman
Nicholas Doob
documentary filmmaker

film collector
John Griggs
actor and film collector *

, filmmaker *

Alexis Krasilovsky Alexis Krasilovsky is an American filmmaker, writer and professor. Krasilovsky's first film, ''End of the Art World'' documented artists including Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Krasilovsky moved from New York to Los Angeles in the 1970 ...

, filmmaker, writer, professor * Carl Marzani, activist and publisher *

Jordan Mechner Jordan Mechner (born June 4, 1964) is an American video game designer, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He is best known for designing and programming the Broderbund Apple II games ''Karateka'' and '' Prince of Persia'' in the 1980s, the la ...

, filmmaker and video game designer
Josh Morton
filmmaker * Frank Mouris, animator
Sedat Pakay
photographer and filmmaker
Leopold Pospisil
anthropologist and filmmaker * Paul Preuss, writer and filmmaker *

, musician and filmmaker * Norman Weissman, filmmaker and author
Robert Withers
filmmaker

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Yale Film Archive
Film archives in the United States Yale University New Haven, Connecticut 1982 establishments in Connecticut FIAF-affiliated institutions