The Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles is presenting "An Evening With The Prelinger Archives" on January 31, 2009 at 7:30 pm. The Prelingers are very cool archivists of industrial films and "invisible literature."
Beginning in the 1980s, archivist Rick Prelinger traveled around the U.S. in a van, visiting local schools, public libraries and private collectors, and accumulated perhaps the country's largest collection of "ephemeral" works – industrial and sponsored films, home movies, educational films and commercials, and more. Over the years his Prelinger Archives has amassed a cult following, part of which is due to the magnetic personality of Prelinger himself, who finds ways to contextualize the films in his collection that are evocative and inspiring. Tonight we offer one such evocative presentation from Prelinger, who will discuss the life and work of Jamison "Jam" Handy, who produced almost 7,000 sponsored industrial and commercial films during his lifetime, including the "Roads to Romance" series promoting tourism by car, the "American Look" series on 1950s design and architecture, and many more. Select Jam Handy films from the archive will be screened after the presentation.
Here's RU Sirius' article about the Prelinger Library for MAKE.
An Evening With The Prelinger Archives
