UCLA Film and Television Archive
In the spring of 2013 I interned at the UCLA Film and Television Archive under the supervision of Todd Weiner and Trisha Lendo. I assisted in processing the Stan Midgley collection. Midgley was a comedic travelogue filmmaker whose career spanned from the 1940s through the 1980s. I worked on the inventory of his completed films and his outtakes, which were both loose and in small 16mm kodachrome boxes. I inspected the reels for damage and content and added this information to their MARC record. Then I rehoused and labeled the cans appropriately. This was my first experience handling film in an archival setting. It is where I practiced and learned skills such as damage repair and proper winding techniques.
Images courtesy of Trisha Lendo.
The Wende Museum
In the summer of 2013 I was a general collections intern at the Wende Museum. Throughout the summer I processed new items that were being added to the collection. This entailed unboxing the item, then adding details to its MIMSY record including a physical description and a transcription of any text on the item. Assisted by translation software, this was a great opportunity to practice and expand my German language skills. Photographs were taken that would later be attached to its catalog record. The object was then labeled with its accession number and assigned a space in one of the archival storage boxes. During this internship I learned the proper handling techniques for a variety of materials including paper items, photographs, ceramics, and plastics.
Academy Film Archive
I interned in the AFA’s Home Movie department in the spring of 2014. In addition to home movies, much of my time was spent on a collection of news stingers shot by Michael Jeskin in 1970s & 80s Los Angeles. Events captured were primarily industrial and residential fires as well as various police actions. I inspected each film and created its initial MAVIS entry. This included its condition, content, year if determinable. I then rehoused and labeled them for their placement in permanent storage. I also gained knowledge that can only be acquired first hand. Much of the collection had suffered water damage which causes a specific odor and adhesion of the emulsion to the wrap of film underneath it.
As a bonus I got to see images from 1949 of snow falling in Glendale.