Date: Saturday August 17, 2024
Workshop Partner: Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago
Workshop Host: Video Data Bank
Location: School of the Art Institute of Chicago (room details will be provided to registered participants)
Time: 9am – 5pm CT* (tentative)**
Organized in conjunction with the annual conference of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), this one-day workshop centers community building and the preservation of audiovisual collections. It will bring together archivists and community volunteers to support the preservation of the audiovisual collection of the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago (FAHSC). The collection includes over 300 AV archival materials from between 1926 to 1987 that uniquely portray Filipino American life in Chicago. The events of World War II destroyed over 97% of films made in the Philippines, so the home movies made prior to 1944 will be prioritized as they restore cinematic memory across the diaspora. Most of these materials were shot by Nick Viernes, a Filipino migrant farmer and long-time resident of Chicago’s South Side.
The workshop begins with educational presentations addressing the identification of audiovisual formats and their risk factors. Participants then break into groups and work together to inspect and inventory the collection (16mm and 8mm film, VHS, Betamax, compact audio cassettes, microcassettes) . The primary outcome is to train workshop participants on the handling and care of audiovisual collections, to engage local community members in processing and describing their community’s audiovisual assets, and to process a small collection of recordings in preparation for preservation.
* SAA Conference attendees register through this link.
If you are not attending the SAA Conference and are interested in participating, contact communityarchivingworkshop@gmail.com.
Team Leaders: Ashley Dequilla & Moriah Ulinskas.
Team Members: Afsheen Nomai, Bernadette Patino, Felicia Boretzky, Chris Castro, Crystal Rangel, Darlyne Bautista, Kristin MacDonough, Leila Sherbini, Lulu Zilinskas, Natalie Milbrodt, Sara Chapman, Stef Martin, and Tom Colley.