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|                                                                       |
| # Motion Pictures in the Library of Congress                          |
|                                                                       |
| This document has been largely excerpted from *Footage 89: North      |
| American Film and Video Sources*, New York: Prelinger Associates,     |
| 1989.                                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| Jump to: Introduction \| [I. The Copyright                            |
| Collection](http://lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/#1) \| [II.   |
| American Film Institute                                               |
| Collections](http://lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/#2) \| [III. |
| Non-Copyright, Non-AFI                                                |
| Collections](http://lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/#3)          |
|                                                                       |
| ## Introduction                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division of the   |
| Library of Congress (M/B/RS) oversees one of the largest collections  |
| of motion pictures in the world. Acquired primarily through copyright |
| deposit, exchange, gift and purchase, the collection spans the entire |
| history of the cinema. The Library has been actively collecting       |
| motion pictures since 1942, though thanks to the ingenuity of Thomas  |
| Edison and other early film producers, beginning in 1894 thousands of |
| films were deposited at the Library as still photographs. There was   |
| no provision in the copyright law for motion pictures until 1912, so  |
| filmmakers printed their movies on paper rolls or strips and sent     |
| them to the Library of Congress, some as late as 1915. In 1912, the   |
| copyright law established motion pictures as a distinct form, but the |
| Library chose not to house the inflammable nitrate film in use at the |
| time and returned all works to the claimants, retaining only          |
| descriptive printed material relating to the films. This practice     |
| changed in 1942 when, recognizing the importance of motion pictures   |
| and the need to preserve them as a historical record, the Library     |
| began to request the return of selected works, and to fill the gap    |
| between 1912 and 1942, to pursue gift collections and donations;      |
| M/B/RS continues to do so to this day.                                |
|                                                                       |
| ## I. The Copyright Collection                                        |
|                                                                       |
| Copyright deposits comprise the largest, most visible portion of      |
| M/B/RS holdings, and are the materials most often used by M/B/RS      |
| patrons. Selection of copyright deposits currently functions as the   |
| principal source of current acquisitions. Some 7000 to 8000 titles    |
| have been added annually in recent years. Although the quantity and   |
| range of acquired works has expanded since 1942, the concept of       |
| selectivity remains.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| The Copyright Collection therefore represents less a specific,        |
| definable collection than an ongoing process of acquisition. It       |
| continues to exemplify the wide range of U.S. film and video          |
| production and to reflect the diversity of American thought and       |
| experience. Remember, too, that external forces \-- especially the    |
| nature of the entertainment business and the technicalities of        |
| copyright regulation \-- have shaped the nature of the existing       |
| collection. For the footage researcher, the most important result is  |
| the predominant occurrence in the Copyright Collection of complete    |
| motion pictures produced and distributed in the U.S. (i.e., almost no |
| raw footage or outtakes and few non-U.S. productions).                |
|                                                                       |
| A more specific description of the copyright deposits in M/B/RS would |
| amount to a history of filmmaking in the U.S. These further           |
| observations, however, will benefit the footage researcher in search  |
| of actuality material.                                                |
|                                                                       |
| 1.  Generally, films protected by copyright may not be duplicated.    |
|     They are, however available for viewing for research purposes and |
|     can provide useful information. M/B/RS catalogs provide almost no |
|     subject access to this material.                                  |
|                                                                       |
| 2.  The vast majority of LC\'s theatrical newsreels are copyright     |
|     deposits. There is no subject access to news footage in LC        |
|     catalogs. As with other copyright deposits, very few issues were  |
|     selected in the first few years, but their numbers increased in   |
|     time. \"Movietone News\" holdings include scattered issues from   |
|     1942-45, 1950 and 1954-63 (12 issues are held for 1942-43; nearly |
|     complete holdings exist for 1957-63). \"News of the Day\"         |
|     holdings include newsreels from 1941-49, 1952-53, 1956-57 and a   |
|     complete run 1957-68 (3 to 6 issues exist for 1942 and 1952;      |
|     heavier holdings exist for mid-1940s). Scattered issues of        |
|     \"Paramount News\" for 1942-45 and 1955-57 are held. For          |
|     \"Universal Newsreel,\" scattered issues are held for 1943-45;    |
|     nearly complete runs for 1946-54, 1957-58 and 1960-67; none are   |
|     held for 1955-56. (Coincident with the eventual holdings of       |
|     \"Universal Newsreel\" in the National Archives, LC early on      |
|     decided to collect heavily from one series and acquire samples    |
|     from the rest. The choice of Universal now creates some confusion |
|     for inexperienced researchers as to the respective holdings and   |
|     policies of the two archives.) Very scattered, mostly earlier     |
|     issues of these newsreels occur throughout other collections in   |
|     M/B/RS.                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| 3.  One final note in connection with copyright: since 1912,          |
|     copyright regulations have required deposit of written material   |
|     for published motion pictures submitted for registration. These   |
|     \"copyright descriptions\" can range from one sentence to a full  |
|     dialogue and cutting continuity, may be consulted in the Motion   |
|     Picture and Television Reading Room. Patrons are required to use  |
|     a microfilm copy of the material if one exists, unless it is      |
|     determined by M/B/RS reference staff that there is a legitimate   |
|     need to see the original documents. A set of the microfilm is     |
|     retained for public use in the Motion Picture and Television      |
|     Reading Room.                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| ## II. American Film Institute Collections                            |
|                                                                       |
| With the founding of the American Film Institute (AFI) in 1967, there |
| was finally a national organization that could focus attention on     |
| film preservation and actively seek motion picture materials in need  |
| of preservation. \"Nitrate won\'t wait!\" became their rallying cry.  |
| Rather than create new physical facilities for film preservation, AFI |
| assumed the role of catalyst and facilitator \-- soliciting material, |
| working with collectors and seeking funds \-- while depositing        |
| collected films (now also television programs) in existing archives,  |
| primarily the Library of Congress. For more information about AFI,    |
| see their site on the World Wide Web.                                 |
|                                                                       |
| The AFI collections fill some of the gaps in the Library\'s other     |
| acquisitions, primarily for the years 1912-42, when no copyright      |
| deposits were retained, and in holdings of preprint materials.        |
| Thousands of titles have come to LC (as gifts) from AFI, the majority |
| of them original nitrate negatives and masters from major studios     |
| (Columbia, RKO and Universal). A wide variety of other films have     |
| been collected from individuals, corporations and historical          |
| organizations, mirroring M/B/RS\'s non-AFI collections. Almost all    |
| were produced prior to 1951, the period in which 35mm motion pictures |
| were produced on nitrate-based stock and therefore in need of         |
| preservation.                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| ## III. Non-Copyright, Non-AFI Collections                            |
|                                                                       |
| A wide variety of other motion picture films and videotapes has been  |
| received by M/B/RS over the years, independent of copyright deposit   |
| and the American Film Institute. Collections range in size from one   |
| to many items. Most of them may be duplicated with permission from    |
| the rights holder.                                                    |
|                                                                       |
| ### A. Captured Foreign Collections                                   |
|                                                                       |
| At the end of World War II a substantial number of films were         |
| confiscated in Germany, Italy and Japan and eventually shipped to     |
| repositories in the U.S. The films were deposited in the National     |
| Archives and Record Administration and the Library of Congress.       |
| Although it isn\'t exactly clear how the materials were divided       |
| between the institutions, it can generally be assumed that \-- as     |
| with other collections \-- theatrical entertainment films are more    |
| likely to be found in LC, and actuality films are more likely to be   |
| available at the National Archives.                                   |
|                                                                       |
| Public Laws 87-846 and 87-861 returned the film copyrights to their   |
| original owners (or successors) in 1963 and gave the Library          |
| screening privileges and permanent custody of the prints. The Library |
| worked with film archives in Germany, Italy and Japan to return the   |
| original nitrate prints in exchange for 16mm viewing copies, although |
| in some instances LC did the preservation work. The bottom-line       |
| consequence for footage researchers interested in purchasing copies   |
| from these collections is that M/B/RS will, in most cases, refer them |
| to organizations in the country of origin to obtain material or (in   |
| limited cases) request permission to duplicate material in M/B/RS.    |
|                                                                       |
| Almost all of these films are represented solely by 16mm prints (the  |
| major exception being the Italian Collection features); titles and    |
| soundtracks have not been translated. Title cards are filed           |
| alphabetically both in the Film and Television Catalog and separately |
| in the German, Italian and Japanese Collection Catalogs. Newsreels    |
| are listed only by issue number, under each series title, in the      |
| Foreign Newsreels Catalog. Although there is no subject index,        |
| dedicated researchers may browse through data sheets containing brief |
| descriptions of the shorts and newsreel issues. In addition there are |
| finding aids in English to some of he German newsreels. Feature films |
| are included in the Directors File.                                   |
|                                                                       |
| **German Collection.** This collection contains approximately 1,000   |
| silent and sound features (1919-45); over 1,000 newsreels, including  |
| an extensive run of \"Die Deutsche Wochenschau\" (Sept. 1939-March    |
| 1945); and numerous educational, entertainment, documentary and       |
| propaganda shorts. Despite the barriers of language and inadequate    |
| cataloging, the German films have remained in active use,             |
| particularly by scholars who have studied such divers topics as       |
| propaganda, musicals and the works of major directors (e.g., Fritz    |
| Lang) \-- evidence of both the rich variety and profound influence of |
| German cinema.                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| **Italian Collection.** This is the smallest of the captured          |
| collections, containing 40 features (1934-40); 275 Instituto Luce     |
| newsreels (1938-43); and 100 Luce shorts (1930-43). Small but mighty; |
| the features (like the Italian spectacles in the George Kleine        |
| Collection) have attracted the interest of scholars who find prints   |
| of these films difficult to locate. The preservation history of the   |
| Italian Collection is the source of its major distinction among the   |
| captured collections. LC assumed the responsibility for copying the   |
| nitrate originals, so there are 35mm negatives and prints in M/B/RS   |
| for most of the feature titles. The original prints and the           |
| copyrights have, however, been returned to Italy.                     |
|                                                                       |
| **Japanese Collection.** As with the German and Italian collections,  |
| the Japanese Collection contains a wide range of 200 features and 700 |
| educational, documentary and propaganda shorts from the 1930s and     |
| early 1940s; and the newsreels \"Asahi News\" (1935-39), \"Yomiuri    |
| News\" (1936-40), and \"Nippon News\" (1940-45).                      |
|                                                                       |
| There is an additional set of title cards for this collection,        |
| providing an alphabetical listing of English-translation titles.      |
| However, there is some evidence that the transliterated titles on     |
| which they are based are not always accurate.                         |
|                                                                       |
| Two very useful and unique reference aids are in the Reading Room     |
| subject files: an issue-by-issue list of headlines in both Japanese   |
| characters and English translation for \"Asahi News;\" and English    |
| language summaries of \"Nippon News.\"                                |
|                                                                       |
| ### B. United Artists Collection                                      |
|                                                                       |
| In 1969 the United Artist Corporation presented LC with its earliest  |
| surviving preprint material for approximately 3,000 motion pictures   |
| from the pre- 1949 film library of Warner Bros. pictures. The         |
| collection contains 50 silent features (1913-30); 750 sound features  |
| (1927- 48); 1800 sound short subjects(1926-48); and 400 cartoons,     |
| among them \"Looney Tunes\" and \"Merrie Melodies.\" The collection   |
| also includes nearly 200 sound features released by Monogram Pictures |
| Corporation and a number of \"Popeye\" cartoons released by Fleischer |
| Studios. There are no United Artists films in the United Artists      |
| Collection. The early synchronized sound Vitaphone shorts are lacking |
| accompanying sound discs.                                             |
|                                                                       |
| This is an enormous collection of nitrate negatives and masters,      |
| which are still undergoing transfer to acetate stock. Most of the     |
| safety film copies exist only in the preservation master stage,       |
| limiting accessibility for viewing and duplication. Some years ago,   |
| LC obtained 16mm prints (unfortunately, many are television prints,   |
| flat in picture quality and occasionally edited) for 70 well known    |
| Warner Bros. features (among the most popular of all American films), |
| including \"The Jazz Singer\" (1927); \"Little Caesar\" (1930); and   |
| \"Knute Rockne, All American\" (1940). Additional prints have been    |
| added to the collection, ranging from \"reject fine grain master      |
| positives\" (copies made for preservation but deemed inadequate)      |
| suitable for reference use, to sparkling 35mm prints reserved for     |
| theatrical projection. United Artists also donated 16mm prints of     |
| most of the Warner Bros. and Monogram films to the Wisconsin Center   |
| for Film and Theater Research, Film and Photo Archive.                |
|                                                                       |
| Titles and holdings are listed in the various M/B/RS catalogs. There  |
| are a number of published reference books on Warner Bros. films.      |
| Copyrights are still in effect for most of the films in this          |
| collection; a donor restriction also applies. United Artist has       |
| passed through various hands, but current ownership of this material  |
| resides with Turner Entertainment Co.                                 |
|                                                                       |
| ### C. Embassy of South Vietnam Collection                            |
|                                                                       |
| The consequences of war have provided yet another interesting         |
| collection of motion pictures to M/B/RS. Shortly after the collapse   |
| of the South Vietnamese government in late April 1975, its embassy in |
| Washington, D.C. was closed and emptied; some of its contents found a |
| new home in LC. Among the hastily packed and transferred materials    |
| were 527 reels of 16mm film.                                          |
|                                                                       |
| These films have been inventoried and partially cataloged. The        |
| inventory reveals a variety of documentaries, some in English and in  |
| multiple copies (presumably for distribution in the U.S.); and more   |
| than 400 reels of newsreels, probably all in Vietnamese. Production   |
| dates probably range from the late 1950s to the mid- 1960s. Subject   |
| matter ranges from general human interest to \"hard\" war propaganda. |
|                                                                       |
| Viewing access to this collection is limited to the films for which   |
| M/B/RS has reference prints or video viewing copies. The in-house     |
| inventory of all titles in alphabetical order provides access to this |
| collection.                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| ### D. Gatewood W. Dunston Collection                                 |
|                                                                       |
| The Dunston Collection is both illustrative of the many named         |
| collections in M/B/RS (small in size and comprised of theatrical      |
| features from the 1910s-20s) and atypical in its method of            |
| acquisition and thematic focus (i.e., it has a focus). Dunston was    |
| devoted to collecting material relating to the popular cowboy star    |
| William S. Hart. In 1957 he left his paper materials (scripts,        |
| scrapbooks, photographs and correspondence) to LC and the films to    |
| the Smithsonian Institution, which transferred them to LC in that     |
| same year. Of the approximately 40 titles (in nitrate), about half    |
| are 28mm; only a few of these \"non-standard\" reels have been        |
| converted to standard-gauge acetate and the rest remain unviewable.   |
| One particularly interesting item is a sound prologue Hart made for   |
| the 1939 release reissue of \"Tumbleweeds\" (1925).                   |
|                                                                       |
| Researchers should be aware that there are non-Hart films in the      |
| Dunston Collection and Hart films scattered among other collections.  |
| The point is that film archives are grateful to individual collectors |
| (such as Dunston) for saving most of what survives of American films  |
| made in the silent period; but taking a collection-name approach to   |
| M/B/RS catalogs will not be very helpful for most research projects.  |
| Title cards are filed in the Film and Television Catalog.             |
|                                                                       |
| ### E. Edison Laboratory Collection                                   |
|                                                                       |
| This small collection should not be confused with the many Edison     |
| Company films in the Paper Print Collection (so many, in fact, that   |
| some researchers refer to it as an Edison collection) and in several  |
| other collections. The Edison Laboratory Collection is the result of  |
| a 1965 cooperative agreement with the National Park Service, in which |
| LC reproduced on safety film (mostly 16mm) the motion pictures found  |
| at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, N.J., shortly after its      |
| designation as a national historic site.                              |
|                                                                       |
| The project preserved some of the Edison Company\'s early releases,   |
| promotional films for various Edison industries, and some Kinetophone |
| productions (Edison\'s film-and-sound experiments; LC lacks the sound |
| elements). An elderly Thomas Edison is also featured in several sound |
| newsreel outtakes from the late 1920s. Reference prints and negatives |
| are available for most of the 75 reels in the collection. Obtaining   |
| permission to copy the newsreels can be a problem, because many are   |
| unidentified as to source.                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Title cards have not been integrated into the Film and Television     |
| Catalog, but reference staff can lead the researcher to a nearby      |
| working file for cards listing holdings. (The researcher may also     |
| profit from browsing further in this drawer).                         |
|                                                                       |
| ### F. Harmon Foundation Collection                                   |
|                                                                       |
| This small but interesting collection of early educational films is   |
| one of the few in M/B/RS to contain actuality footage from the late   |
| 1920s to the 1940s. The Harmon Foundation first produced films        |
| beginning in 1926 for use in church worship and later turned its      |
| attention to films on peoples of other lands for church mission       |
| study. Attracting the interest of educators, these films became the   |
| nucleus of a distribution library, to which the Harmon Foundation     |
| added new films in its other areas of interest, such as \"Negro       |
| Art,\" but always focusing on youth, constructive achievement and     |
| world understanding.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| Users of the Harmon Collection should be aware of a counterpart       |
| Harmon Collection at the National Archives and Records                |
| Administration. Legend has it (the files provide no explanation as to |
| why or how) that Harmon\'s library was divided between LC and NARA:   |
| prints in LC and negatives in NARA. However, experience has shown     |
| that this is not always the case. There definitely are only prints at |
| LC, but lists of titles have never been compared. Title cards are     |
| filed in the Film and Television Catalog; the Dictionary Catalog also |
| has individual subject entries and a full set of title cards filed    |
| under Harmon Foundation.                                              |
|                                                                       |
| ### G. Margaret Mead Collection                                       |
|                                                                       |
| A sizable collection of 16mm films shot by Margaret Mead and Gregory  |
| Bateson as part of their anthropological field work has been in the   |
| possession of M/B/RS since the mid-eighties. Most of the footage is   |
| unedited, positive camera originals in small rolls or assembled on    |
| larger reels of varying lengths. There are some negatives and very    |
| few reference prints. During the 1940s and 1950s many of the          |
| originals were screened and even edited for teaching, lecture and     |
| study purposes. Using Mead\'s field notes and photographs (held by    |
| LC\'s Manuscript and Prints and Photographs divisions respectively),  |
| the processing staff must sort through many tiny pieces to make the   |
| puzzle whole.                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| Additionally, within the Mead Collection is footage associated with   |
| African-American writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston.            |
| Originally, only eight 16mm rolls of footage taken in Florida between |
| 1927 and 1929 were identified as Hurston material. In 1995, M/B/RS    |
| staff verified that seven 16mm rolls taken in South Carolina in April |
| and May 1940 are also Hurston films. Though Hurston\'s exact role in  |
| the production of these films is not known, the footage documents an  |
| African-American church in Beaufort, S.C. which Hurston wrote about   |
| extensively. There are reference prints available for viewing for all |
| of the Hurston films in the Mead Collection, and video copies of the  |
| original eight rolls.                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| Cards in the Film and Television Catalog (and separate inventories)   |
| log originals, duplicate negatives and reference prints. Permission   |
| to duplicate films in this collection must be obtained from Margaret  |
| Mead\'s heirs.                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| ### H. Public Archives of Canada/Dawson City Collection               |
|                                                                       |
| This collection of early theatrical films, known more familiarly as   |
| the Dawson Collection, is most notable for its source: a Yukon        |
| swimming pool. During the summer of 1978, amid restoration of Dawson  |
| City (a gold rush era boom town in the Yukon Territory) workmen       |
| unearthed a cache of 35mm nitrate film. At the end of the             |
| distribution chain, some 500 reels had accumulated there, and in 1929 |
| were dumped as fill in a swimming pool that had come to the end of    |
| its usefulness. The region\'s deep and abiding cold (still today the  |
| only known retardant of nitrate deterioration) contributed to a high  |
| survival rate of the buried treasure, although water damage took its  |
| toll, especially from the top layer. Quick, improvised action on the  |
| part of the Public Archives of Canada (now National Archives of       |
| Canada, Moving Image and Sound Archives), with the cooperation of the |
| Library of Congress and the American Film Institute, was necessary in |
| order to salvage the survivors. See Sam Kula\'s \"There\'s Film in    |
| Them Thar Hills!\" (*American Film*, July/August 1979) for an action- |
| packed account of the discovery and rescue. LC has the U.S.           |
| productions, some 190 reels, and all have been preserved and          |
| cataloged.                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Although a number of important, and rare, early films (including      |
| \"Polly of the Circus\" \[1917\], with Mae Marsh and \"Bliss\"        |
| \[1917\], with Harold Lloyd) were unearthed in Dawson City, many      |
| survive only as incomplete copies. There are features, shorts,        |
| several serials and some news films. Title cards are filed in the     |
| Film and Television Catalog, and copies of these cards have been      |
| collected for a subject file in the Reading Room.                     |
|                                                                       |
| *Go to:*                                                              |
|                                                                       |
| -   Top of Page                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| -   Motion Picture & Television Home Page                             |
|                                                                       |
| -   Research & Reference Home Page                                    |
|                                                                       |
| -   Library of Congress Home Page                                     |
|                                                                       |
| -   Ask a Librarian                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| ![](media/image2.png){width="0.9479166666666666in"                    |
| height="0.4791666666666667in"}**Library of Congress**                 |
|                                                                       |
| (04/24/2002)                                                          |
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| height="0.375in"}                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| # Television in the Library of Congress                               |
|                                                                       |
| Jump to: Introduction \| [Character and Development of the            |
| Collection](http://lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/#char) \|     |
| [Television                                                           |
| Collections](http://lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/#tele) \|    |
| [Catalogs](http://lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/#cata)         |
|                                                                       |
| ## Introduction                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Having collected and preserved motion pictures in various forms since |
| 1894, the Library of Congress began collecting films made for         |
| television in 1949 with the addition of a HOPALONG CASSIDY feature.   |
| Because of such early acquisitions, the Library is the largest        |
| television archive in the United States, and continues to increase    |
| its television holdings today, adding them to the large general       |
| collection of moving image materials on film and all manner of        |
| magnetic media under the stewardship of the Motion Picture,           |
| Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (M/B/RS).                    |
|                                                                       |
| ## Character and Development of the Collection                        |
|                                                                       |
| The programs comprising the Library\'s television archive are an      |
| eclectic group; they offer a broad but uneven view of television      |
| broadcasting history. One may wonder why there are so few episodes of |
| certain popular early situation comedies while there is a full run of |
| another. To demystify this puzzling disproportion of programs, we can |
| look at some factors which-alone and in combination with each         |
| other-have dictated the development of this collection.               |
|                                                                       |
| ### Technology                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| One of the obstacles to acquisition of early television programming   |
| was a technological one. Most early television was live, so unless    |
| kinescope recordings (kines, pronounced \"kinnies\") were made from   |
| the image on the screen, no physical record of the production         |
| existed. Although the image they reveal is fuzzy and distorted, kines |
| preserve not only the production, but also a spontaneity only found   |
| in the live productions of early television. Kinescopes are scarce    |
| and desirable.                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| ### Copyright                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| Another explanation is bound up with the Library\'s practice-since    |
| 1870-of developing its collections by selectively retaining deposit   |
| copies of materials registered at the Library for copyright           |
| protection. Many producers of early television programs did not seek  |
| to register their programs, seeing little long-term commercial value  |
| for their product, or deciding that cumulative costs of registering   |
| whole series were too high. And the owners who did wish to obtain     |
| copyright protection for early television transmissions encountered   |
| the legal concepts of \"fixation\" and \"publication.\" As had been   |
| previously established with film, performances by broadcasting did    |
| not per se constitute publication; publication came at a later point, |
| when the material had been fixed and offered for sale, lease or       |
| rental.                                                               |
|                                                                       |
| Of particular importance to the Library\'s collection was, beginning  |
| in the late 1970s, the belated copyright registration of many older   |
| TV series, including the numerous non-network filmed entertainment    |
| series of Ziv Television Productions. An example is I LED 3 LIVES     |
| (1953-1956), which, because it reflected American political attitudes |
| of the Cold War, was retained \"in toto\" (117 episodes) by the       |
| Library when it was registered for copyright in 1979.                 |
|                                                                       |
| So, a complex mix of copyright-related issues, interacting with other |
| factors, account in large part for the sporadic development of the    |
| television collection in the Library. Continuing this trend, in the   |
| last ten years the collection has benefited from the release of a     |
| wide variety of early television programs on video, many of which     |
| have been deposited for copyright.                                    |
|                                                                       |
| ### Acquisition Practices                                             |
|                                                                       |
| A third major factor in the development of the collection was an      |
| attitude held by Library of Congress acquisitions officers toward     |
| television programming. The Library simply underestimated the social  |
| and historical significance of the full range of television           |
| programming. There was no appreciation of television\'s future        |
| research value. So, before the mid-1960s, few TV programs were        |
| acquired for the Library\'s collections. Of those registered for      |
| copyright during these years, the Library chose only an occasional    |
| sample of entertainment series-e.g., one episode of *The              |
| Honeymooners*-and the so-called \"quality\" programs. (Presumably,    |
| scripts and other documents would substitute for the filmed shows     |
| themselves.) Further, until the mid-1960s the Library chose not to    |
| buy and rarely to solicit gifts of television programs not available  |
| through copyright.                                                    |
|                                                                       |
| In 1966, the job of deciding which TV copyright deposits would be     |
| retained in the Library changed hands; it became the responsibility   |
| of the then Motion Picture Section reference staff, which fielded     |
| Library users\' requests for television programs. Responding to the   |
| broadening range of research needs, TV acquisition expanded. In       |
| contrast with earlier exclusivity, the post-1966 copyright selection  |
| practices included keeping all network documentaries and              |
| telefeatures, and a healthy sampling of entertainment series and      |
| other types of programming. For example, of television\'s             |
| longest-running prime-time series with continuing characters-GUNSMOKE |
| (1955-75)-the Library retained only one copyrighted episode in 1963,  |
| six in 1969, and twenty-one in 1973. And so, despite the paucity of   |
| funds allotted by the Library for TV purchases and the infrequent     |
| solicitations of gifts of uncopyrighted television programs, the      |
| collection began the maturation process which continues today.        |
|                                                                       |
| ## Television Collections                                             |
|                                                                       |
| Following are some important television collections in M/B/RS         |
| acquired other than via copyright deposit.                            |
|                                                                       |
| ### A. NBC Television Collection                                      |
|                                                                       |
| The NBC Television Collection was acquired by LC in July 1986. This   |
| is an historic collection 18,000 television programs broadcast,       |
| preserved and for the most part produced by NBC. With programs dating |
| from the beginning of network television in the United States (1948)  |
| through 1977, the NBC Television Collection includes not only         |
| performances by major actors and musical talents, but also numerous   |
| events featuring significant individuals in public affairs. This      |
| acquisition significantly increases M/B/RS\'s holdings of television  |
| not acquired via copyright deposit: programs from the late 1940s and  |
| early 1950s and genres such as sports, game shows, children\'s        |
| programs and daytime television. It should be noted that this         |
| acquisition does not include NBC\'s news archives (which contains raw |
| footage shot for news broadcast) nor any post-1977 material.          |
|                                                                       |
| Kinescopes comprise the majority of the NBC Television Collection.    |
| M/B/RS holds mostly picture negatives with separate sound tracks.     |
| Viewing copies are presently available for only a few titles.         |
| Researchers with enough lead time may request that video viewing      |
| copies be produced for in-house use only. Request for purchase or     |
| reuse of material in the NBC Collection must be made directly to NBC. |
|                                                                       |
| ### B. NET \[National Educational Television\] Programs               |
|                                                                       |
| NET programs held by LC probably total over 10,000 titles and date    |
| from 1955-69. NET became PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in 1969,   |
| and a few PBS programs from the early 1970s are included in this      |
| group of NET programs.                                                |
|                                                                       |
| Because the \"collection\'s\" segments were acquired at different     |
| times and from different sources, strictly speaking, they are not a   |
| single collection. But each represents a facet of the large body of   |
| work generated for NET.                                               |
|                                                                       |
| The first segment-16mm prints of some 550 titles-came directly from   |
| the original distribution center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1965-1967.   |
| The programs are instructional or educational, including, for         |
| example, the series TOURISTEN-DEUTSCH (14 programs teaching           |
| elementary conversational German, produced in 1957 by WTTW, Chicago); |
| THE NATURE OF COMMUNISM (60 lectures co-produced by Vanderbilt and    |
| Notre Dame Universities in 1964); and TWO CENTURIES OF SYMPHONY (20   |
| programs teaching music appreciation, produced by WGBH, Boston, in    |
| 1960).                                                                |
|                                                                       |
| The much larger second and third segments were received in the late   |
| 1970s-mid 1980s and consist of preprint elements (16mm negatives,     |
| sound tracks, etc.) for some 10,000 programs. There is overlap with   |
| the first segment, as well as other similar series: THE BASIC ISSUES  |
| OF MAN (12 programs, Georgia Center for Continuing Education, early   |
| 1960s), and SEARCH FOR AMERICA (series on American institutions and   |
| problems, Washington University). The broadening interests of         |
| educational television are also reflected in such series as CASALS    |
| MASTER CLASS, international acquisitions such as CIVILIZATION, and    |
| programs documenting the social revolution of the 1950s and 1960s     |
| such as ESCAPE FROM THE CAGE (on mental illness), HISTORY OF THE      |
| NEGRO, JAZZ MEETS THE CLASSICS, and NET JOURNAL.                      |
|                                                                       |
| Finally, with the 1993 conclusion of a major agreement with PBS, the  |
| remaining PBS holdings of NET material, which came to PBS from WNET   |
| in 1980, have been donated to the Library. There are nearly 8500      |
| master films and videotapes. They probably largely overlap with       |
| previous acquisitions but are essential, because they are the best    |
| remaining, complete copies.                                           |
|                                                                       |
| ### C. PBS \[Public Broadcasting Service\] Collection                 |
|                                                                       |
| The Library will continue to acquire a broad range of public          |
| television through PBS\'s gift of programs to which its distribution  |
| rights have expired. It is one of the largest of M/B/RS\'s television |
| acquisitions\--some 30,000 master videotapes were available for       |
| transfer at the time of the agreement and will be preserved by the    |
| Library of Congress.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| LEONTYNE PRICE AT THE WHITE HOUSE, 3-2-1 CONTACT, and James Burke\'s  |
| THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED are just a few examples from the full    |
| range of cultural and informative programming PBS has made available  |
| in this country since 1969. PBS will continue to transfer additional  |
| programs annually.                                                    |
|                                                                       |
| It should be noted that the Library also collects public television   |
| programs through its other acquisitions activities. Copyright         |
| deposits (1950s to the present) and off-air recordings (dating from   |
| the late 1970s to today) include a wide selection of current          |
| programs, which are available to researchers as viewing copies. These |
| also include some programs aired by public television stations but    |
| not necessarily distributed by PBS.                                   |
|                                                                       |
| ### D. Television News                                                |
|                                                                       |
| The only example of \"early\" television news in M/B/RS is a          |
| non-copyright deposit television news series, DOUGLAS EDWARDS WITH    |
| THE NEWS (CBS) (40 issues, 26 Sep-11 Nov 1960), comprised primarily   |
| of coverage of the Kennedy-Nixon presidential election campaign. The  |
| Division holds nearly complete weeknight broascasts of ABC EVENING    |
| NEWS (1977-1992) and numerous issues of NIGHTLINE (beginning in       |
| 1987); nearly all CBS news programs (1975-1993); an extensive         |
| collection of MACNEIL-LEHRER NEWSHOUR; but there are no NBC EVENING   |
| NEWS deposits. In the early 1990s, as ABC and CBS stopped depositing  |
| their evening news broadcasts, the Division began acquiring master    |
| copies of ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news broadcasts from Vanderbuilt  |
| Television News Archives. Master videos acquired from Vanderbuilt are |
| not available for viewing at the Library of Congress.                 |
|                                                                       |
| ## Catalogs                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| In 1989, M/B/RS published *Three Decades of Television: a Catalog of  |
| Television Programs Acquired by the Library of Congress, 1949- 79*    |
| compiled by Sarah Rouse and Katherine Loughney. The now out-of-print  |
| catalog is a complete list of holdings up to the end of 1979,         |
| excluding commercials and news programs. The nearly 20,000 entries    |
| provide synopses of fiction and nonfiction programs, genre and broad  |
| subject terms, cast and production credits, and copyright and         |
| telecast information. However, in the intervening decade, this        |
| catalog has come to represent only a fragment of M/B/RS television    |
| holdings, both of shows produced before and after 1979.               |
|                                                                       |
| Additional cataloging for television programs can be found in the     |
| Motion Picture and Television Reading Room as well as on the Library  |
| of Congress\'s computer catalog.                                      |
|                                                                       |
| This document is a synthesis of excerpts from two publications:       |
|                                                                       |
| *Three Decades of Television: a Catalog of Television Programs        |
| Acquired by the Library of Congress, 1949-1979*, compiled by Sarah    |
| Rouse and Katherine Loughney. Washington, DC: Library of Congress,    |
| 1989.                                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| *Footage 89: North American Film & Video Sources*, New York:          |
| Prelinger Associates, 1989.                                           |
|                                                                       |
| *Go to:*                                                              |
|                                                                       |
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|                                                                       |
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|                                                                       |
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|                                                                       |
| ![](media/image2.png){width="0.9479166666666666in"                    |
| height="0.4791666666666667in"}**Library of Congress**                 |
|                                                                       |
| (04/24/2002)                                                          |
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