Field Guide to Sponsored Films - National Film Preservation ...

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gathering, sifting through, and evaluating information for this publication was a huge
undertaking involving hundreds of individuals and institutions over the course of 18
months. Rick Prelinger tirelessly oversaw the project from start to finish, developing the
research strategy, selecting and documenting films, collecting holdings data, and writing
and indexing the entries. The guide is a testament to his knowledge, enthusiasm, and perseverance.
Assisting Rick in refining the methodology were a team of archivists and scholars:
Dan Streible (New York University), Donald Crafton (University of Notre Dame), Michael
Mashon and Amy Gallick (Library of Congress), Wendy Shay (National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institution), Margaret Compton (University of Georgia),
Abby Smith, and the staff of the National Film Preservation Foundation. As the project
took shape, this group advised on the scope and content. Several experts—Jennifer Horne
(Bryn Mawr College), Steve Lubar (Brown University), Gregory Waller (Indiana University),
and Charles McGovern (College of William and Mary)—critiqued the film selection in
the winter and spring of 2006 and offered invaluable suggestions for improving coverage
and documentation. Additional suggestions were contributed by colleagues attending the
University of South Carolina’s Orphan Film Symposium, which in March 2006 featured
a panel and film screening based on the project.
In summer 2006, Alex Thimons, a Cornell University undergraduate who had helped in
the initial stages of the project the previous summer, returned to fact-check the manuscript
and assist, under the direction of the NFPF staff, in its final preparation. We owe him a
special thanks for his exacting and perceptive research.
Scores of scholars and preservationists generously contributed information relating to their
collections and specialties: Ruta Abolins (University of Georgia), Charles Acland (Concordia
University), Geoff Alexander (Academic Film Archive of North America), Bev Allen
(Bessemer Historical Society), Craig Baldwin (Other Cinema), Snowden Becker (Center
for Home Movies), Charles Benton (Benton Foundation), Larry Bird (National Museum
of American History, Smithsonian Institution), Henry Charles, Michele Christian (Iowa
State University), Liz Coffey (Rhode Island Historical Society), Sid Davis, Melissa Dollman
(UCLA Film and Television Archive), Mary Durkee, Paul Eisloeffel (Nebraska State Historical
Society), Skip Elsheimer (AV Geeks), Bob Finehout, David Marc Fischer, Bill Geerhart
(Conelrad.com), Allan Goodrich (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum),
Charles Grimm, Christine Hennig, Charles Hopkins (UCLA Film and Television Archive),
Jan-Christopher Horak (University of California, Los Angeles), Ann L. Horton-Line (Yale
University), Ken House (Weyerhaeuser Company), Paul Ivester, John Jack, Jeff Joseph
(Sabucat Productions), Gary Kaboly (Pittsburgh Filmmakers), Kim Klausner (University
of California, San Francisco), Christina Kovac (National Archives), Jeff Kreines, Andrew
Lampert (Anthology Film Archives), Steve Leggett (Library of Congress), Erica Levin
(University of California, Berkeley), Arel Lucas (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University),
J. Fred MacDonald (MacDonald and Associates), Steven Mandeville-Gamble (North
Carolina State University), Sarah Ziebell Mann (New York University), Caroline Martel
(Artifact Productions), Karen E. Martin (Nature Society), Eef Masson (Utrecht
University), Barbara Mathe (American Museum of Natural History), Anna McCarthy
(New York University), Joe Morrison (Pittsburgh Filmmakers), Bill Murphy (AVArchives
Services), Bill O’Farrell, Stephen O’Riordan (University of California, San Diego), Stephen
Parr (San Francisco Media Archive), Martin Pernick (University of Michigan), Greg
Pierce (Orgone Archives), Zak Piper (Kartemquin Films), Steve Polta (San Francisco
iv