| FREEZE FRAME | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Volume 3, Number 5 4th Quarter 2001 |
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| Message from the Director | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was warned by a National Weather Service person that we would have a long cold winter this year. It is indeed cold, however, as I look out my window at our seasonal visitor with his brilliant sparkles adorning our trees, houses (and yuk! ) driveways, I find I welcome the coziness of his arctic magic draping our land in winter. This winter is an especially exciting time for us because we are in the process of writing a "scope of work" plan and a budget of $1,000,000 to activate the $500,000 Save America's Treasures grant we've recently received. Why a budget of one million? It's a matching grant, which means we have to find another half million from other sources. When $20,000 is donated, it will immediately release another $20,000 from the federal grant, doubling the gift to $40,000. What a wonderful incentive for folks who want to support AMIPA. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Save America's Treasures is administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and funded by the Department of the Interior through the National Park Service. The $500,000 is dedicated funds for a three-year inventory and assessment of Alaskan audio/video collections, to find and count collections, evaluate their physical condition, and identify the most important material in preparation for the next stage of the project, preservation. These materials are housed in state and federal agencies, educational institutions, broadcast stations, and private and commercial production facilities across Alaska. It's a huge task. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It seems almost every week, a new collection walks through our doors. Sometimes professionally produced, most often they are small gauge collections (8mm, Super 8mm and 16mm film). More and more archives around the world are recognizing the important historical value of these small films. Today I received a call about whether we would accept old footage from Barrow and another film that was shot during the statehood celebration in Anchorage. What a delight. Whenever possible, we ask for the stories and for identification of the people and events in the films. Piece by piece we are retrieving Alaska's history . From the conversation I had with one gentleman today, it is a very colorful history filled with unique characters that make you smile and, as I did today, howl with laughter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our own history is pretty short. Born in 1992, by 1998 AMIPA had really begun to come into its own. That first grant from the municipality enabled us to hire, part-time, myself and one other person. In 2001, on the strength of our strategic plan, we hired more staff: Janelle Cowan, our Office Manager, Peter Sheffer, our Assistant Archivist, and most recently, Ben Ellis, our contract Development Specialist. We had taken on a project the previous year, working with John Stewart, then the director of the Alaska State Archives, to save Alaska's 55,000 hours of legislative and governmental recordings housed there. We knew we would have to take AMIPA to the next level in order to complete this project, while continuing to serve the needs of Anchorage and the state. We went forward on faith and hard work. Encouraged by Lee Gorsuch, Chancellor of UAA, we wrote the proposal for the Save America's Treasures grant and sent it to Senator Stevens. Sure enough, from off in the distance, under a cloud of spraying snow came the Senator on his great white charger with the appropriation (it wasn't quite as dramatic as that, but you get the picture!). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matching this grant is another challenge for us, but we know we can do it with the help of our city, state and you, our members and supporters. We like to think we are helping you save our state's heritage as much as you are helping us. It simply has to be a team effort. We will also be able to use the money from the grant as leverage with major foundations and granting agencies both in and outside the state. We're kicking it up another notch, and 2002 is going to be a spectacular year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With thoughts of the Barrow collection in mind, and still smiling about the incoming statehood film collection, my eyes are once again drawn to the brilliance of the landscape- a reminder of what a great and beautiful state we live in, the colorful cast of characters who have built it, and how important our work is, saving our cultural and historical heritage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Happy Holidays. Francine Lastufka Taylor Executive Director |
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Annual Membership Meeting features "Greatland History Bus" Tour |
The annual membership meeting was held on September 29th, introducing the membership to
its new slate of Directors as well as presenting AMIPA's plans for the coming year. The meeting
was highlighted by the first-ever appearance of the "Greatland History Bus", sponsored by Holland America Tours. An educational outreach
project designed to take the rider back through Anchorage history, the "Greatland History Bus" utilizes film clips presented
on the motorcoach video and sound system while traveling past historic sites around the town.
Created by Francine Lastufka Taylor and Mike Jipping, the
tour began at the archive and proceeded to Ship Creek and
around Anchorage's important early locations. Cameron
and Martin McKay, sons of member John McKay enjoyed
the trip. "I really thought the clips were interesting, and
it's a good idea to have people watch where they lived
for a hundred years. It would be a really awesome field
trip" said Cameron. Chimes in Martin "It's a really cool
way to look back on history, because you can look back
on what was there and what is there now." |
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The Frank Whaley Collection arrives |
The first shipment of Frank
Whaley's films have arrived
and begun to be processed
at AMIPA. Frank Whaley was
a well-known State Senator
(Fairbanks), gold miner, bush
pilot and filmmaker who was
also a co-organizer in 1961
of what would become the World Eskimo-Indian
Olympics. His collection comes to us from his son Lon
Whaley in San Diego, CA. |
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Recent Donations: |
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Tech Report, by Bob Curtis-Johnson |
In July, preservation expert Jim Wheeler of Tape Restoration
Services and I traveled to Juneau to assess the legislative
audio and video tape collection housed in the Alaska State Archives
as a part of our Multi-year Legislative Media Preservation Project. With
the help of then-State Archivist John Stewart, we methodically inspected
the collection, which consists mainly of 1/4" audio reels, looking for
signs of distress and creating a database of information on a sampling of
the collection. The good news is that the collection is in very reasonable
shape, with little to no sticking apparent, though humidity was twice the
recommended level, a fact of life in Juneau's climate but one which calls
out for the state to upgrade the environmental conditions in the storage
facility. Thanks to the generally good condition of the materials observed,
we have recommended as a preservation strategy that digital copies of the
tapes be made, and the data stored on hard drives in a second location, creating
the backup copy required for preservation purposes. The original analog tapes
would be retained in the State Archives. Broader access goals can be realized by
manipulating the digitized audio files, enabling either public or limited access
from computers via networks or the internet. Cost is a significant factor in the
access eventually created. It remains to be determined what level of access is
desired for this collection. The next phase of the project is to select a digital
audio file robust enough for preservation needs and run a pilot program to determine
cost and time estimates for completing this important work on a collection of
significant historical value to the state. See you next time. |
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AMIPA's newest staff member: | Assistant Archivist Peter Sheffer
Two years ago a practicum student came to us from Alaska Pacific University,
interested in creating a senior project, and was introduced to the world of
moving image archiving. Today, Peter Sheffer is the most recent addition to
AMIPA's growing roster of full-time staff. Trained under Dwight Swanson and
Bob Curtis-Johnson, Peter is processing film collections and transferring
film and video to video on a daily basis as our Assistant Archivist. Peter
holds a Bachelor degree from APU with a concentration in Film Studies, and
as a young filmmaker is now completing his feature-length digital
movie, Bedlam by the Moonlight. |
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AMIPA Members |
Meet AMIPA. |
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The following people and organizations elect the Board of Directors and make our association possible.
Please join us and help preserve Alaska's Moving Image Heritage. |
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Platinum Level ($5,000 & above): |
Alaska Broadcasters Association
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Gold Level ($2,500 - $4,999): |
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Silver Level ($1,000 - $2,499): |
Alaska Humanities Forum
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Academy Level ($500 - $999): |
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
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Benefactor ($250 - $499): |
Barnard Gottstein
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Donor ($100 - $249): |
Laura Bliss Spaan & Mike Spaan
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Family ($50 - $99): |
Candace Beery
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Individual ($35 - $49): |
William Bacon III
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Student/Senior ($20 - $34): |
Daisy Lee Bitter
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If your name has been inadvertantly left off this list, we apologize. Please call 907-279-8433 and we'll make it right. |
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Three Cheers for our Volunteers! |
August 9th was the date for AMIPA's first annual Volunteer Appreciation event, and food was the
order of the day. Those in attendance were treated to Chef Bob's barbecue burgers or bratwurst,
and Francine's amazing array of homemade salads and condiments while listening to Celtic tunes
performed by three talented members of the band "Evergreen." The volunteers were introduced
and honored, and received an amusing "AMIPA Volunteer Preservation Kit" prepared by Janelle
Cowan and Peter Sheffer. If you are a volunteer who was unable to attend and haven't picked up
your kit by now, please stop by the office to receive your Preservation Kit and hear a chorus of
"thank you's!" from us. | |