The Prelinger Archives, supported by the Filecoin Foundation, has accelerated digitization efforts, scanning over 3 million feet of film. This includes around 10,000 unique films from their vast collection of home movies and industrial films. Project Manager Adrianne Finelli emphasizes the importance of sensitive language in categorizing content, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ representations. An Indigenous advisory group is also consulted on issues of cultural appropriation. Overall, this initiative showcases the often invisible work of archivists like Kristin Lipska, who brings awareness to historical materials through careful representation.
"A big part of this project, bigger than we anticipated, is thinking about language - how to describe what we're scanning and how to do that in a sensitive way," Finelli says. "We're even more dedicated to that because of what's happening in the country."
Needels uses that home movie of women playing softball, drinking beer and having a slumber party to illustrate the tricky task of categorizing historical material. To a contemporary eye, this footage reads as queer. Is it possible to retroactively flag that reading in an ethical way?"
Digital Asset Manager Kristin Lipska presents what Finelli calls 'a celebration of invisible labor,' a series of outtakes from industrial and sponsored films. Lipska is also the person behind the delightful Instagram account @clapperboardcuties.
We would need like a 10-year project to scan it all, laughs Project Manager Adrianne Finelli. The collection holds over 40,000 home movies alone.
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