Aerofilm Archives

BRIGHT LIGHTS FILM JOURNAL REVIEW!

2010-02-13T16:23:00Z

BRIGHT LIGHTS FILM JOURNAL WRITES A REVIEW OF AMERICA'S FILM VAULT THAT IS A MUST READ! CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE FULL REVIEW

BATTLEFILM SECOND EDITION NOW AVAILABLE

2010-02-13T16:21:00Z

For those who enjoyed the first edition--this new version includes even more films that I have 'discovered' within the NARA!

FILM VAULT WINS!

2009-09-16T13:22:00Z

AMERICA'S FILM VAULT WINS SILVER MEDAL FOR REFERENCE WORK FROM THE MILITARY WRITERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA!

PROJECTED HISTORY VOLUME 2 NOW AVAILABLE

2009-09-08T01:13:00Z

NOW AVAILABLE!!

America's Film Vault Nominated!

2009-09-08T01:10:00Z

Film Vault has been nominated by MWSA for an award in the reference book category!

New Article!

2009-08-28T03:22:00Z

Check out my article: Taking Stock of the National Archives: Finding Footage in America's Film Vault! Click on the image above to read the entire article.

Military Writers Society of America Reviews Film Vault

2009-07-02T12:04:00Z

An indispensible reference tool for the serious film researcher!

Try doing a search for a specific film housed in the US National Archives using the Archive’s online database: the ARC – Archival Research Catalog (found on archives.gov). You might find what you’re looking for; but you won’t find things so thoughtfully organized and cross-referenced as you will in Philip Stewart’s new book, America’s Film Vault.

In the book’s introduction, the novice film researcher, producer, or student will benefit from Stewart's overview of the Archives’ holdings, the different sources of those holdings, how they’re organized, and a short-but-fascinating look into the history of each basic category of film: civilian, military, and donated.

However, this book is not just for the beginner. Expanding on the 1972 reference work of two Archives employees (which has not been updated since that time), America’s Film Vault also belongs on the bookshelf of the seasoned veteran. The book’s handy and useful layout, which includes a thorough subject and title index, will facilitate the search/research/exploration of the experienced Archive sleuth as well.

Perhaps best of all, Stewart’s organization by resource group (RG) holdings, might just facilitate that unexpected discovery that takes one in a whole new direction!

Thumb through this book or spend a few minutes on Phil Stewart's website. The reader can't help but notice that this third installment in his "Historic Footage Project" is--as the author admits--a labor of love. It's also a tremendously helpful and easy-to-use guide map to the film treasures waiting to be found and enjoyed in our nation's National Archives.

Review by John Cathcart, MWSA Reviewer (June 2009)

War Wings Review

2009-06-21T02:46:00Z

NEW REVIEW FOR WAR WINGS!

Air Power History Reviews War Wings

2009-06-09T11:13:00Z

I wasn't sure quite what to expect when I volunteered to do a review of this book. Actually, I was harking back to boyhood memories of Dawn Patrol with Errol Flynn and David Niven. However, this book is a marvelous piece of work about a very different version of World War I in the air. The Films are not Hollywood writers' imaginings of air combat and dashing aviators' adventures in French bars and bistros when not on duty. All the films listed are black and white documentary films made during or just after World War I. Many were produced by the Army Signal Corps which was tasked to record the American war effort. Some were produced by the French or German military services during the same time period. The films referenced are located in the National Archives and Records Administration facility in College Park, Maryland.
The author breaks down the films by category. First are the "A" list films--those that are primarily aviation oriented. Second is the "B" list--those films that deal primarily with other aspects of the military effort but contain some aviation material. within the "A" list, Stewart further breaks down the films by major categories: Training, Construction of Aircraft, Overseas Movement, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France, Other Combatants, and Post Armistice activities. Within these groupings he lists each film and provides the researcher with the film's name, which organization produced it, the number of reels and overall length in minutes, and catalog numbers. He then proceeds to break each reel down in sequence subsequently listing the activity displayed and providing the researcher a clue as to whether the shots are long or medium range shots or close ups.
I emphasize the word "researcher" because this book is not one for the ordinary Air Power History reader interested in aviation activities. Rather, the book provides specific pointers to serious researchers to help them locate relevant motion picture material about U.S. military and naval aviation activities during the First World War. It reminds us that we fought that war in the air with French, British, and Italian aircraft. Only American-built DH-4s saw combat and they were license-produced to the original British de Havilland design and specifications. They were powered by American designed and built "Liberty" engines.
The appendices are quite good. Appendix No. 2 is a useful chronology of U.S. military aviation during the war. Appendix No. 3 is a reproduction of Brig. Gen. William Mitchell's article "The American Air Service in the World war," originally published in August, 1919.

Review written by: Capt. John F. O'Connell, USN (Ret.) for Air Power History/Summer 2009

Press Release

2009-05-29T12:58:00Z

Some of History's Best Kept Secrets are Buried Deep Within America's Film Vault

Film-sleuth Phillip W. Stewart is at it again! This unassuming investigator of the befuddled and bewildered has penetrated the mystery surrounding the scope and location of thousands of historic documentary motion pictures preserved in the National Archives. After years of digging, probing, and analyzing the evidence, he has produced a 300-page report, AMERICA'S FILM VAULT: A Reference Guide to the Motion Pictures Held by the U.S. National Archives.

Crestview, FL (PRWEB) May 27, 2009 -- With the publication of this valuable information, Mr. Stewart, a detective of sprocket-holed celluloid, reveals a treasure trove of over 360,000 film reels documenting the 20th Century of American history. AMERICA'S FILM VAULT exposes 349 Government and Donated records that have motion pictures buried within them, discloses how these vintage films are organized and where to find them, uncovers and specifically identifies more than 1,460 film titles and provides topical references to thousands more, and sums it up with a comprehensive 2,130 item subject index that sheds light on the vast variety of subjects and titles of these extraordinary films.

Since relatively few Americans know that these historically significant films exist and even fewer know how to find them, the goal of Mr. Stewart's investigative work was to uncover and highlight this National treasure. It is also his goal to provide educators, historians, genealogists, and students of film a guide to find them.

"…a convenient overview of National Archives and Records Administration's motion picture holdings, one difficult to obtain from any other source," says William T. Murphy, former Chief of the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch of the National Archives.

So, if you're ready to play detective, to take a crack at the combination, to investigate the catacombs of the National Archives, you'll need a guide…and this is it! You'll find this book an indispensable reference to the thousands of motion picture titles in AMERICA'S FILM VAULT.

AMERICA'S FILM VAULT: A Reference Guide to the Motion Pictures Held by the U.S. National Archives (ISBN 978-0-9793243-0-7, $39.95, trade paper, pms press, 2009) is the third book in The Historic Footage Project. More information is available at the author's website at http://www.pwstewart.com/. All of Mr. Stewart's books are available from Amazon.com.

Review/America's Film Vault

2009-05-01T00:51:00Z

GREAT FIRST REVIEW OF AMERICA'S FILM VAULT

Hi all-

Got my copy of it yesterday and wanted to share it with you. The book was reviewed by Ron Standerfer for Reader Views. Here it is....

=======================

Whatever happened to all those news reels we used to watch in the movie theaters when we were kids? Or those training films they made us watch when we were drafted or enlisted in the military? How about those carefully crafted films depicting life in America during the Twentieth Century; some dating back to early 1900s? I’m sure many of us would like to see them again just to see what life was like in those days. The good news is that many of those films are alive and well, tucked safely away in the care of the federal government. The bad news is that finding a specific film can be a difficult and frustrating task. Until now.

In one fell swoop, “America’s Film Vault: A Reference Guide to the Motion Pictures Held by the U.S. National Archives,” by award-winning author and film-sleuth Phillip W. Stewart has leveled the playing field for historians, film buffs, and curiosity seekers. How significant is his new book? Consider this: for the first time ever, the whereabouts of over 360,000 film reels that document a century of American and world history have been assembled in book form. As a matter of fact, it is safe to say that some of the best kept history secrets are buried deep within Stewart’s book.

Considering the scope of “America’s Film Vault” I expected the review copy to arrive on a hand truck bearing a book somewhere in size between the Manhattan telephone directory and the oldfashion dictionaries that sit perched on large walnut stands in the libraries. To my surprise, it was quite modest in size; about 280 pages. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for it in sheer volume of information it contains between the covers.

Finding a specific title amongst the 360,000 or so films listed is relatively simple. For ease of search, the book is divided into five sections: Civilian Films; Military Films, Donated Films, Title Index, and Subject Index. Each film section begins with an overview which provides general information concerning what type of films the searcher can expect to find there. Of the three film sections I found the Donated Film section to be the most fascinating, mainly because it contains a treasure trove of newsreels. The subjects of these newsreels vary from the mundane to stories of epic proportions. Here’s an example of the former that was filmed by Universal Newspaper Newsreel: “Runaway Train Plunges Down Mountain: New Castle, PA - 210,000 tons of coal spilled, 32 cars wrecked, but nobody is hurt. Some of the derailed cars hung on the edge of a steep embankment.”
Can’t you just picture this?

So far “American Film Vault” has been warmly received by those in the know. For example, according to William T. Murphy, former Chief of the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch of the National Archives, “America’s Film Vault” is, “...a convenient overview of National Archives and Records Administration's motion picture holdings, one difficult to obtain from any other source.”

“American Film Vault” is the third book Phillip Stewart has written as part of The Historic Footage Project. You can learn more about this project by visiting his website. Meanwhile, I am prepared to accept the challenge he laid down on the cover of his book; namely, “If you’re ready to play detective, take a crack at the combination, and investigate the bowels of the vault, you need a guide map...and this is it! Discover “reel” treasures with “America’s Film Vault.” I can’t wait to get started.

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If your interested, “America’s Film Vault” is available at Amazon.com.
More soon
Phil

America's Film Vault

2009-03-16T01:33:00Z

William T. Murphy

2009-03-16T01:19:00Z

As the co-author of the original guide to the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) motion pictures, I take some pride in noting its durability, but no one can dispute the need for a timely revision. Since 1972, the audiovisual records and collections have dramatically increased in size and complexity. For example, in early 1970's there are few films about the war in Vietnam, and now NARA has thousands of reels transferred by the Department of Defense. Morever, since NARA's on-line database, Archives Research Catalog (ARC), can never be comprehensive or up to date due to backlogs, new acquisitions, and chronic shortages of cataloging staff, only publications like this one can give the best overview. Finally, for those of us who may still be a little partial to research in 0ld-fashion libraries, this publication offers the opportunity to browse and thus find unexpected subjects that spark the imagination and serve as the basis for new research projects.

In this new publication, Phil stewart provides a convenient overview of NARA's motion picture holdings, one difficult to obtain from any other source. Only NARA's Guide to Federal Records, availalbe on its website, offers this kind of detailed information, but the motion picture entries as well as those for other audiovisual materials are dispersed and buried at the end of long entries describing office files and other textual records.

This does not mean that motion picture records should be viewed in isolation or taken out of context. After all, the films themselves tell only part of the story. On the contrary, these images represent essential records of our national history possessing a unique audiovisual dimension of information that the written or printed word can never replace. And yet, as many researchers realize, documents and files give these iflms context and meaning that help us understand their historical value today. In the ideal world of research and scholarship, researchers should have all relevant documents accessible to them regardless of format. Databases, like NARA's ARC, make cross-media searches possible. Autovisual researchers, though, the most likely group to benefit from this publication, often do not have the luxury of time to work with textual records due to production deadlines or other constraints.

Finally, in the ideal world all archival films will be individually cataloged, facilitating title and subject searches. NARA is nowhere near that level of description and probably will never be in view of other priorites for preservation and access. In the meantime, interim guides like this one serve a very useful purpose.
William T. Murphy

Bill Murphy retired from the NARA after a long career in the management of audiovisual archives. Subsequently, he established AVArchives Services, which provides consulting services for libraries, archives, and musueums and for documentary producers. He has written books on documentary films on the preservation of American television.

Reviewer's Choice!

2008-12-14T01:11:00Z

Projected History: A Catalog of the U.S. National Stories Released by Universal Newsreel Volume One 1929-1930 lists over 1275 nationally released newsreel titles, covering the first two years of what was once known as the Universal Newspaper Newsreel. The reference to each individual news story is no more than a title and one or a handful of sentences encapsulating the story, such as "Runaway Train Plunges Down Mountain: New Castle, PA - 210,000 tons of coal spilled, 32 cars wrecked, but nobody is hurt. Some of the derailed cars hung on the edge of a steep embankment." A solid archive of history's highlights, compiled into an easy-to-use resource for quick reference, and enhanced with an exhaustive title index.

James A. Cox
The Midwest Book Review

Film & History Magazine

2008-12-13T23:23:00Z

..."Mr. Stewart has performed a valuable service to researchers, filmmakers, and writers wishing to examine the visual images of World War I. BATTLEFILM includes additional information and has become the basic research tool for people working on the portrayal of the United States armed services in World War I. He must be praised for providing such a valuable catalogue..."

Larry Suid
Film & History

Over The Front

2008-12-13T23:03:00Z

It is unlikely that a large number of World War I aviation enthusiasts collect copies of documentary film footage held in various archives -- right now, that is. But with rapid technological advances that situation could change when archives determine that revenue can be generated by making available reasonably-priced, digitized copies of unedited footage. Affordable, Do-It-Yourself documentaries could become a serious leisure time and/or scholarly interest. An example (if it is still available on-line when you read this) is the clip: http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/522.cfm

This footage is very nicely described in the narrative for Reel No. 1 (Activities of the 94th Aero Squadron) on page 68 of WAR WINGS: Films of the First Air War. Indeed, over more than 20 years the author viewed and catalogued the 2,553 motion picture scenes of World War I aviation activities held by the U.S. National ARchives and Records Administration (NARA). That footage is now held at the new Archives II facility in College Park, MD and, in addition to U.S. Army and Navy films, also includes British, French and German footage.

Almost 50 years ago, the late Colonel G.B. Jarrett, USA (Ret.), who established the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen, MD, offered 8mm copies of various World War I and World War II films held by the NARA, which were snapped up by history buffs at the time. Now, thanks to Phillip Stewart's landmark book pertaining to World War I films, with scene-by-scene descriptions of the action shown, those old films have taken on a new meaning. Going beyond the original NARA narratives, stewart has indentified people, aircraft and other points not noted in the original film captions.

Just as Col. Jarrett "liberated" these NARA film treasures and made them publicly available at affordable prices in the late 1950's, the footage may well enjoy renewed life in the digital age. In addition to being an outstanding guide, the new book WAR WINGS: Films of the First Air War reinforces the historical value of these early films and is highly recommended.

Peter Kilduff
Over the Front Magazine

Treasure Trove Re-Discovered

2008-11-09T02:04:00Z

Click on the image above to read the entire press release

Editor's Choice!

2008-11-09T02:01:00Z

Click on the image above to read the entire press release!

War Wings Wins!

2008-11-09T01:59:00Z

War Wings Wins Two Awards!

Film researcher Phillip W. Stewart's book WAR WINGS was selected as an Award Finalist in both the Military History and Film/TV/Radio categories of the National Best Books 2008 Awards.

Live Interview!

2008-11-09T01:54:00Z

Live Interview