American Telephone and Telegraph Company Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Information, Technology and Society Search this
Extent:
39 Items
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Motion pictures (visual works)
Training films
Date:
1942-1978
Scope and Contents note:
Thirty-nine 16mm films on various subjects relating to telephone systems and communications, such as pole worker safety; party line etiquette; the transition from silent film to sound film; and the application of satellites, lasers and transistors to sound communication.
Arrangement:
4 series:
Series 1, Promotional Films, 1942-1978
Series 2, Scientific/Educational Films, 1955-1970
Series 3, Corporate/Technical Training Films, 1956-1970
Series 4, Acquired Films, 1960-1962
Provenance:
Collection donated by Division of Information, Technology and Society, National Museum of American History.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Researchers must view videotape copies.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Fifteen 16mm composite optical track sound films of varying length, all in color except for two. The films were acquired by the National Zoo and presumably used as training films exhorting employees to practice safe work habits and avoid accidents. Each film provides full credits and the distributors and producers are listed.
The collection includes 15 16mm composite optical track sound films of varying length. The films are mostly color, with the exception of two black/white films. The collection consists of one series.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
This collection of safety films comes from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. Presumably these films were acquired during the 1970s and shown to employees at the Zoo as a means of instilling safe practices within the workplace. Their specific history and background is unknown. However, each film provides full credits and the distributors and producers are listed.
The training film serves the purpose of educating employees, reflecting the interests of the corporation, and encouraging safe practices within the workplace. A subgenre of training films, is a category dealing solely with safety issues. The safety film is supposed to promote safe living and the elimination of harmful or dangerous working conditions. Originally made by corporations such as auto-manufacturers, railroad companies, and insurance businesses, these films tend to communicate the interests of the corporation versus that of the employee. Frequently, these films tend to place the blame on the victim, shifting any responsibility for accidents away from management and onto the worker. As a result the safety film focuses more on the accidents that occur than the actual safety issues. Often the film presents a melodramatic story of an employee's tragic accident, and selectively illustrates the pain and suffering undergone in the workplace.
Provenance:
This collection of safety films was transferred to the Archives Center by the Smithsonian National Zoo. No records of the transfer exist.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
2.96 Cubic feet (consisting of 9 boxes, 1 folder, 7 oversize folders, 8 map case folders, 1 flat box (partial), plus digital images of some collection material. )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Theater programs
Ephemera
Business ephemera
Date:
1893-1969
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Motion Pictures forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents note:
Motion pictures were first publicly exhibited in the United States at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893. While the films exhibited there were technically crude with little to no plot or story and far from the polished product of today, they immediately caught the public's attention.
Within a short time the motion picture industry (creation, distribution, and marketing) had grown into a lucrative business. Those first motion pictures were often short serial films run in a series to keep customers coming back to follow the story's plot line to its conclusion. Gradually, films became longer and a number of performers developed legions of fans guaranteeing a certain amount of box office business from name recognition of the star alone.
Initially, the film industry consisted of many small companies, but competition cleared the field and fewer, larger corporations cornered the market in both production and distribution. Independent theatre owners, who were at first almost wholly independent of the production companies, also became rare as the major theatre chains developed their own movie studios to ensure a steady stream of films to be shown at their theaters. The film industry, at first based in New York City and on the East Coast, moved to the famed Hollywood, California, in the late 1910s early 1920s.
The Motion Pictures section of the Warshaw Collection consists of various types of materials relating to motion pictures. The collection is especially strong for the silent movie era, 1893-1927. This portion of the collection is divided into seven series.
Materials in the Archives Center:
Archives Center Collection of Business Americana (AC0404)
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Missing Title
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Motion Pictures is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Motion Pictures, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection documents their work as travel filmmakers, photographers, and writers from 1954-2015. Their films are an example of the travel lecture film, a genre which combined silent travelogue films with live narration. Chickering and Porterfield presented their films throughout the United States and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s before turning to freelance still photography and travel writing in the early 1980s. The audiovisual and photography collection begins with their first joint travels in the 1950s and covers a range of their professional activities through the early 2000s, mainly encompassing original travel footage, edited travelogues, and travel still photography. Supporting documentation includes film scripts, lecture recordings, personal and professional manuscripts, financial and professional records, and a substantial amount of newspaper and magazine articles which serve as a record of the press generated by and about Chickering and Porterfield.
Scope and Contents:
The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection documents their work as travel filmmakers, photographers, and writers from 1954-2015. The audiovisual and photography collection begins with their first joint travels in the 1950s and covers a range of their professional activities through the early 2000s, mainly encompassing original travel footage, edited travelogues, and travel still photography. Supporting documentation includes film scripts, lecture recordings, personal and professional manuscripts, financial and professional records, and a substantial amount of newspaper and magazine articles which serve as a record of the press generated by and about Chickering and Porterfield.
Records pertaining to Chickering and Porterfield's film career include full lecture scripts for their five major silent travel films: Austria à la Carte (1960), Caribbean Dutch Treat (1963), Bravo Portugal! (1965), Europe's Mini-Countries (1968), and Winter in Mexico (1973). Chickering and Porterfield delivered these scripts at venues throughout the United States in front of live audiences while the (silent) travelogues were screened behind them, essentially acting as live narrators. Silent access copies are available for each of these films except for Austria à la Carte; audio recordings of their live lectures are available for Austria à la Carte, Caribbean Dutch Treat, Winter in Mexico. Reference video is also available for Chickering and Porterfield's two shorter sound films: Four Seasons of Austria (1962) and Portugal with Pleasure (1968). Other film material includes several sets of lecture tour records listing dates, locations, topics, and fees, as well as a large amount of advertising material.
Also included in this collection are a large number of published and unpublished manuscripts, including both personal projects and assignment travel writing. Several personal narrative essays and more complete memoir drafts give insight into Chickering and Porterfield's filmmaking process, industry tips, and travel methods, as well as anecdotes from the field. Assignment travel writing ranges geographically, with a focus on cruise ships.
Other materials in the collection include extensive inventories of still photography, personal and professional correspondence, and a substantial amount of printed material which was retained as a central resource for press generated by and about Chickering and Porterfield.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 9 series: Series 1. Film documentation, 1959-1986, undated; Series 2. Still photography documentation, 1958-2004, undated; Series 3. Writings, 1954-1997, undated; Series 4. Printed material, 1959-2002, undated; Series 5. Other professional materials, 1987-2000, undated; Series 6. Correspondence, 1957-1992, 2000, 2015, undated; Series 7. Films and film-related sound recordings, circa 1960-2015; Series 8. Other audiovisual material, 1957, 1966, 1981, undated; Series 9. Photographs, 1956-2001, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Lisa Chickering (1922-) and Jeanne Porterfield (1923-2010) were travel filmmakers, photographers, and writers in New York City whose professional output spanned from the 1960s through the early 2000s. Chickering and Porterfield first met in Chicago, where they were childhood friends and neighbors. Porterfield attended the University of Chicago and eventually earned a master's in musicology from the American Conservatory of Music, after which she trained under Uta Hagen to pursue stage and television acting; Chickering trained as an opera singer and pianist before turning to work as a stage and cabaret singer, as well as a model at the John Robert Powers Agency. The pair's filmmaking career began in 1954, when they traveled to Paris for a singing engagement Chickering had booked. When they arrived, they found the engagement had fallen through. Porterfield began to act as Chickering's agent, and the two cobbled together a three-year international tour, which they documented on an 8mm camera. Upon returning to New York in 1958, they incorporated a production company, Viewpoints, Inc., and returned to Europe to film their first professional project.
Viewpoints, Inc. released five full-length (70-80 minute) silent travelogues through the 1960s and early 1970s, set in Western European and North American tourist destinations: Austria à la Carte (1960), Caribbean Dutch Treat (1963), Bravo Portugal! (1965), Europe's Mini-Countries (1968), and Winter in Mexico (1973). Chickering and Porterfield acted as directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors on each film. The pair also presented these films on the travel lecture film circuit at venues in the United States and Canada ranging from Kiwanis clubs to major concert halls, narrating their silent footage onstage in front of live audiences.
Viewpoints, Inc. also released two shorter 30-minute public relations sound films sponsored by Volkswagen of America: Four Seasons of Austria (1962, which used footage from Austria à la Carte) and Portugal with Pleasure (1968, which used footage from Bravo Portugal!). Both of these films won awards at the American Film Festival. A third public relations film, co-sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the Curaçao Tourism Board and titled Curaçao: The Caribbean Dutch Treat, was released in 1962 and used footage from Caribbean Dutch Treat.
Chickering and Porterfield turned to still photography in earnest in the 1980s and continued working through the early 2000s; their work was published as educational filmstrips as well as in various leading travel and lifestyle publications, including in The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country, Glamor, Gourmet, Harper's Bazaar, and Better Homes & Gardens. The pair also authored a number of travel features to accompany their photos, with a particular emphasis on cruise ships.
Porterfield died in 2010 in New York City, where Lisa still lives.
1922 -- Lisa Chickering born December 24 in Chicago, Illinois.
1923 -- Jeanne Porterfield born February 14 in Beloit, Wisconsin.
1954 -- First joint travels abroad
1958 -- Viewpoints, Inc. (production company) incorporated
1960 -- Austria à la Carte released
circa 1962 -- Recipients, Silver Plaque of Merit in Tourism from Austrian National Tourist Office
1962 -- Recipients, American Film Festival Blue Ribbon (for Four Seasons of Austria) Four Seasons of Austria released
1962 -- Recipients, Blue Ribbon from the American Film Festival Travel Category (for Four Seasons of Austria)
1963 -- Caribbean Dutch Treat released
1965 -- Bravo Portugal! released
1968 -- Europe's Mini-Countries released
1968 -- Recipients, American Film Festival Blue Ribbon (for Portugal with Pleasure) Portugal with Pleasure released
1968 -- Recipients, Blue Ribbon from the American Film Festival Travel Category (for Portugal with Pleasure)
1972-1975 -- Educational filmstrips photographed by Chickering and Porterfield distributed by the Society for Visual Education, Inc.
1973 -- Winter in Mexico released
circa 1975 -- Began working in still photography and travel writing
1982 -- Recipient (Porterfield), Grand Prize for Black and White Photography, Society of American Travel Writers
1983 -- Recipients, First and Second Prize, Society of American Travel Writers Freelance Council Photo Contest
1987-1990 -- President (Chickering), Travel Journalists' Guild
2008 -- Recipient (Chickering), Bern Keating Award for Lifetime Service, Travel Journalists' Guild
2010 -- Died (Porterfield) January 15 in New York, New York.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Anthropological Film Collection (formerly the Human Studies Film Archives) by Lisa Chickering in 2015.
Restrictions:
The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the National Anthropological Film Collection may not be played.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Citation:
Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield Collection, National Anthropological Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution
Series 7 consists of Viewpoints, Inc. film and video elements and related sound recordings from circa 1960-2015. These materials directly relate to Chickering and Porterfield's professional film output and consist of edited and unedited film in a variety of formats as well as recordings of the corresponding lectures delivered by Chickering and Porterfield on the travel lecture circuit.
Elements include Kodachrome camera original film in the form of workprints and outtakes; Kodak prints of the edited films, made for potential projection and distribution; videocassette and DVD transfers of the same; and sound recordings used or recorded on tour, including lecture narrative recordings and field sound. Lecture recordings are largely undated but provide a glimpse into the timing and delivery of (and audience reaction to) Chickering and Porterfield's longer lecture films. Some recordings include snippets of other performers.
Chickering and Porterfield released five full-length (70-80 minute) silent travelogues through the production company Viewpoints, Inc. in the 1960s and early 1970s: Austria à la Carte (1960), Caribbean Dutch Treat (1963), Bravo Portugal! (1965), Europe's Mini-Countries (1968), and Winter in Mexico (1973). Chickering and Porterfield acted as directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors on each film.
Viewpoints, Inc. also released two shorter 30-minute public relations sound films sponsored by Volkswagen of America: Four Seasons of Austria (1962, which used footage from Austria à la Carte) and Portugal with Pleasure (1968, which used footage from Bravo Portugal!). Curaçao: The Caribbean Dutch Treat (circa 1963) appears to be a trailer or excerpt from the longer film.
This series is arranged in the following subseries chronologically according to film release date: 7.1 Austria à la Carte, circa 1960; 7.2 Four Seasons of Austria, circa 1962; 7.3 Four Seasons of Austria (Outtakes), circa 1962; 7.4 Caribbean Dutch Treat, circa 1963; 7.5Curaçao: The Caribbean Dutch eat (Trailer), circa 1963; 7.6 Bravo Portugal!, circa 1965; 7.7 Portugal with Pleasure, circa 1968; 7.8 Europe's Mini-Countries, circa 1968; and 7.9 Winter in Mexico, circa 1973.
Collection Restrictions:
The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the National Anthropological Film Collection may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield Collection, National Anthropological Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution
This subseries consists of scripts for the five full-length travel lecture films released by Chickering and Porterfield. No scripts exist for their two shorter sound films, as they would not have delivered lectures over the films' existing soundtracks.
Folders house both complete script copies and various drafts for each film. The complete copies were found assembled in labeled folders. Other drafts, complete and incomplete, were found bundled together, with pages mixed and out of order. They have been reassembled and associated by the archivist.
Arranged chronologically by film release date; note that these copies of the scripts are not dated and may have originated later than the film itself.
Collection Restrictions:
The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the National Anthropological Film Collection may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield Collection, National Anthropological Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution
Note on film box: Sound Film made by Madeline C. Lejwa on Project for Aubette Tapestry (next word illegible) for National Gallery of Washington. II. Note in film box: Careful attention this film is torn midway also burnt. Note on reel: II Margerette (next work illegible) Prep of Loom.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Chalette records, 1916-1996, bulk 1939-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Note on film box: Sound film made by Madeleine C. Lejwa on "Project for Aubette" a tapestry made for National Gallery in Washington, Aubusson (rest of note illegible) 197. Other side of box: Subject: Aubette. II Driving to Aubusson - Carta. Spine of box: ARP Tapistry for Natl. Gall. Washington III. Leader: Beginning of reel no II.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Chalette records, 1916-1996, bulk 1939-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.