The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) is a non-profit foundation, established in 1987, and located in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally ...

, which funds projects in a wide range of

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

concerns in the fields of archaeology, music, film preservation, and historic conservation, plus Greek

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the w ...

, with an aim to create tools for basic research in the

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

History

Over the years, it has created databases on

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

texts, texts in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and Coptic, Ancient Greek

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

and inscriptions,

Founding Fathers of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

and others, and also

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

in translation. It also funds external projects such as the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources and the complete works of C.P.E. Bach. PHI is also concerned with early education of children. The institute is independent of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and is not associated in any way with any Hewlett-Packard Company foundations. Its current president is former professor David Woodley Packard, who has served as a director, but never an officer, of Hewlett Packard.

National Audio-Visual Conservation Center

In 1997 with the approval of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

the David and Lucile Packard Foundation purchased the former high-security storage facility operated by the

Federal Reserve Board The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the m ...

. The facility is located inside Mount Pony in Culpeper, Virginia. With Congress and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

the facility was transformed into the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, which completed construction in mid-2007, called the Packard Campus (PCAVC). The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is a facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation's library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings. The Packard Campus is home to nearly 7 million collection items. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National Film Preservation Board and the national registries for film and recorded sound.

Restoration of historic theaters

upStanford Theatre, Palo Alto California PHI has worked on the restoration of two historic theaters: *

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

Fox Theatres Fox Theatres was a large chain of movie theaters in the United States dating from the 1920s either built by Fox Film studio owner William Fox, or subsequently merged in 1929 by Fox with the West Coast Theatres chain, to form the Fox West Co ...

, that is now the new home of the Opera San José. Opened 1927 the San Jose Fox closed in 1973. PHI renovated and reopened in it in 2004. Now called the California Theater. * PHI worked on the restoration of the historic Stanford Theatre. Designed by architects

Weeks and Day Weeks and Day was an American architectural firm founded in 1916 by architect Charles Peter Weeks (1870–1928) and engineer William Peyton Day (1886–1966). Weeks was born in Copley, Ohio, educated in the atelier of Victor Laloux at the Éco ...

, the theater was originally opened in 1925. In 1987 it was purchased and restored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It is currently operated by the Stanford Theatre Foundation, led by David Woodley Packard.

Packard Humanities Institute, Santa Clarita

Using the experience and knowledge of helping make the Packard Campus (PCAVC), Packard started a new project in Santa Clarita. Opened in 2014, Packard Humanities Institute in

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17 ...

has film vaults for media preservation. The facility has one of the most modern vaults for the storage of nitrate film. The exterior of the facility is ancient Greek architecture made with Italian

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

. The interior is made in the style of San Marco, Florence

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

. Packard Humanities Institute in Santa Clarita is partnering with the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the a ...

and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in the preservation for both the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and Packard Humanities film library. PHI Santa Clarita also holds 400,000 archive films from

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

and Republic Pictures. PHI Santa Clarita also holds and is transferring the

Hearst Metrotone News ''Hearst Metrotone News'' (renamed ''News of the Day'' in 1936) was a newsreel series (1914–1967) produced by the Hearst Corporation, founded by William Randolph Hearst. History Hearst produced silent newsreels under the titles of ''He ...

collection, newsreels made from 1915 to 1975, on a Scanity motion picture film scanner. File:Packard Humanities Institute, Santa Clarita.jpg, Packard Humanities Institute, Santa Clarita File:PackardHumanities Institute, Santa Clarita.jpg, PHI Santa Clarita, Film Vault

Packard Humanities Institute Collection

Since 2010, the Packard Humanities Institute Collection has been held at the Academy Film Archive. This collection is the largest known assemblage of theatrical trailers on film, consisting of over 60,000 coming attractions, advertisements, theatrical snipes, film excerpts, television spots, and public service announcements.

References

External links

Packard Humanities Institute
official website
Packard Humanities Institute - Persian Literature in Translation

Classical Latin Texts

Searchable Greek Inscriptions

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
{{Authority control 1987 establishments in California Ancient Greece studies Conservation and environmental foundations in the United States Greek epigraphy Humanities institutes Los Altos, California Non-profit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Organizations based in Santa Clara County, California Organizations established in 1987