Amusement Parks & Family Entertainment Amusement Parks

Fragments of a Faith Forgotten:
Unearthing the Harry Smith Archives
A still from Harry Smith’s Early Abstractions, a highly
respected avante garde series of animated films. Photo
courtesy of Harry Smith Archives.
The Harry Smith Archives is
a private, not for profit
501c3 organization dedicated
to the preservation, restoration,
and presentation of the
works of American polymath Harry
Everett Smith (1923-1991). The
Harry Smith Archives is housed at
Anthology Film Archives, in New
York City’s Lower East Side, where
Smith’s films have been held for
many years, having been selected
by film scholars for inclusion in the
Archive’s “Essential Cinema” collection
of the major works of film art
in the early 1970s.
Best known to cinephiles
for his experimental films incorporating
ingenious original techniques
of collage animation and
painting directly onto film, Smith
also distinguished himself in many
other fields. In addition to being
one of the most original and cre-
ative of filmmakers,
he was a painter,
well-known musicologist,anthropologist,
linguist, and
magician, who during
his lifetime
amassed a unique
myriad of collections
related to all these
fields.
The Harry Smith collection
consists of
items that were in
his possession at the
time of his death. Archivist Bill Morgan
cataloged his final belongings.
The collection consists of
books (mainly of an anthropological
nature), records, audio recordings,
tarot and playing cards, popup
books, gourds and
realia. (See American
Magus for excerpts
from Bill Morgan’s
interesting catalog of
this collection.)
As a consequence
of his bohemian
lifestyle, Smith lost,
sold, wantonly
destroyed and traded
several lifetimes worth
of collections. Moving
from unpaid hotel bills
at the Chelsea Hotel to
any number of men’s
rooming houses on
the Bowery to Allen
by Rani Singh
Ginsberg’s apartment, Smith’s possessions
took on a life of their
own. Smith packed up and left
under dark of night many times
during his short 67 years, leaving
behind boxes marked with a simple
black-and-white sticker: “Property
of Harry Smith.”
As a consequence of his
bohemian lifestyle, Smith
lost, sold, wantonly
destroyed and traded several
lifetimes worth of
collections.
Uncovering Smith’s life and
collections has been a form of
urban archeology. There are many
layers to be teased apart. One ref-
Harry Smith. Photo © Allen Ginsberg, courtesy of Fahey-
Klein Gallery
ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE December 1998 61