Collections
For more information on the collection listed below, please contact
academic services at the Harvard Film
Archive.
The Visual and Environmental Studies Collection
The VES collection contains 16mm student thesis films and class projects produced at Harvard. In the course of their undergraduate film study, Harvard film concentrators produce 16mm projects in animation, fiction, and non-fiction. A number of Harvard film students, Mira Nair and Darren Aronofsky among them, have gone on to careers in the American film industry.
The VES collection contains 16mm student thesis films and class projects produced at Harvard. In the course of their undergraduate film study, Harvard film concentrators produce 16mm projects in animation, fiction, and non-fiction. A number of Harvard film students, Mira Nair and Darren Aronofsky among them, have gone on to careers in the American film industry.
American and European Fiction and Non-Fiction
American and European fiction and non-fiction from the 19th through 21st centuries. The collection includes films by Bergman, Bertolucci, Cukor, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Fellini, Ford, Franju, Godard, Griffith, Hawks, Hitchcock, Jarman, Keaton, Lang, Lubitsch, Makavejev, and more.
American and European fiction and non-fiction from the 19th through 21st centuries. The collection includes films by Bergman, Bertolucci, Cukor, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Fellini, Ford, Franju, Godard, Griffith, Hawks, Hitchcock, Jarman, Keaton, Lang, Lubitsch, Makavejev, and more.
American and European Experimental Film Collection
American and European experimental films by Baillie, Brakhage, Broughton, Conner, Deren, Kuchar, Kubelka, Ray, Tambellini, and Whitney.
American and European experimental films by Baillie, Brakhage, Broughton, Conner, Deren, Kuchar, Kubelka, Ray, Tambellini, and Whitney.
The Peter Ungerleider Film/Photography Collection
The Peter Ungerleider Collection contains the complete works of the filmmaker, photographer, and videographer Peter Ungerleider (1947–1997), including outtakes, multiple versions of films, and videos that preceded the final master edits, as well as original negatives and audio recordings. An artist working outside the conventions of mainstream cinema, Peter Ungerleider produced an elegant body of work that stretched the language of film, emphasizing formal invention over narrative content. From 1978 through the early 1990s, he dispensed with film itself, devising instead what he came to refer to as his "photoplays"—projected slide-and-sound compositions, with images crafted on a printing machine of his own making.
The collection includes multiple edited versions, plus outtakes, of the Super 8 film Eldridge Cleaver, which was built around an interview Ungerleider filmed of Cleaver (the 1960s Black Panther activist and fugitive) in Algeria. It also includes the unfinished piece Keelboat Talk and Manners, is based on a text by Mark Twain and exists in several different video versions.
The Peter Ungerleider Collection contains the complete works of the filmmaker, photographer, and videographer Peter Ungerleider (1947–1997), including outtakes, multiple versions of films, and videos that preceded the final master edits, as well as original negatives and audio recordings. An artist working outside the conventions of mainstream cinema, Peter Ungerleider produced an elegant body of work that stretched the language of film, emphasizing formal invention over narrative content. From 1978 through the early 1990s, he dispensed with film itself, devising instead what he came to refer to as his "photoplays"—projected slide-and-sound compositions, with images crafted on a printing machine of his own making.
The collection includes multiple edited versions, plus outtakes, of the Super 8 film Eldridge Cleaver, which was built around an interview Ungerleider filmed of Cleaver (the 1960s Black Panther activist and fugitive) in Algeria. It also includes the unfinished piece Keelboat Talk and Manners, is based on a text by Mark Twain and exists in several different video versions.
The German Film Collection
Started in 2002, the HFA German Film Collection is one of the largest collections of contemporary German cinema in North America, consisting of more than 300 35mm films and videos. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern in Munich, a cultural organization that finances German feature films and television, masterminded the initiative, in collaboration with German distributors, producers, and directors.
Production companies that have donated to this collection include: Avista Film, Bavaria Film International, Claussen and Wöbke, Constantin Film, Egoli Tossell Film, Kinowelt Filmproduktion, MTM, Odeon Film, Olga Film, Prokino, TeamWorX, Wüste Filmproduktion, X Filme, X Verleih, Zero Film.
The HFA German Film Collection is now searchable online via the Germanic Research Web (GRW) site. See also GRW's dedicated film studies page.
Started in 2002, the HFA German Film Collection is one of the largest collections of contemporary German cinema in North America, consisting of more than 300 35mm films and videos. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern in Munich, a cultural organization that finances German feature films and television, masterminded the initiative, in collaboration with German distributors, producers, and directors.
Production companies that have donated to this collection include: Avista Film, Bavaria Film International, Claussen and Wöbke, Constantin Film, Egoli Tossell Film, Kinowelt Filmproduktion, MTM, Odeon Film, Olga Film, Prokino, TeamWorX, Wüste Filmproduktion, X Filme, X Verleih, Zero Film.
The HFA German Film Collection is now searchable online via the Germanic Research Web (GRW) site. See also GRW's dedicated film studies page.
The Dick Fontaine Collection
This collection includes prints and outtakes by Dick Fontaine, the first filmmaker to introduce the techniques of Direct Cinema to British Television. Included are films Fontaine produced with the Beatles, John Cage, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, and Johnny Rotten, as well as I Heard it through the Grapevine, a look back at the founders of the American civil rights movement, for which Fontaine collaborated with Pat Hartley and James Baldwin.
This collection includes prints and outtakes by Dick Fontaine, the first filmmaker to introduce the techniques of Direct Cinema to British Television. Included are films Fontaine produced with the Beatles, John Cage, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, and Johnny Rotten, as well as I Heard it through the Grapevine, a look back at the founders of the American civil rights movement, for which Fontaine collaborated with Pat Hartley and James Baldwin.
The Carrie Wagner Collection
Carrie Wagner did not consider herself a filmmaker, but she did record on film her travels during the 1940s and 50s. The 70 reels of 16 mm color Kodachrome film in this collection contain footage shot in apartheid South Africa; scenes of German cities immediately after World War II; footage of Madeira, Algiers, Malta, and Rhodes in 1950; footage of Israel, Turkey, Corsica, Japan, and Ceylon in 1952; and footage of Gibraltar, London, and Italy in 1960.
Carrie Wagner did not consider herself a filmmaker, but she did record on film her travels during the 1940s and 50s. The 70 reels of 16 mm color Kodachrome film in this collection contain footage shot in apartheid South Africa; scenes of German cities immediately after World War II; footage of Madeira, Algiers, Malta, and Rhodes in 1950; footage of Israel, Turkey, Corsica, Japan, and Ceylon in 1952; and footage of Gibraltar, London, and Italy in 1960.
Fort Devens Collection
In 2005 the Harvard Film Archive acquired a collection of films from Fort Devens, the now defunct army base near Harvard, Massachusetts. The films are overtly and unabashedly propagandistic, made by the U.S. government in order to train soldiers for the challenges of war. They offer an overview of the official federal position on war, reconstruction, and nation building in the mid-20th century, from Pearl Harbor to Saigon. Films produced during WWII feature everything from USO performances by Judy Garland, to air battles shot in brilliant Kodachrome, to training films on how to break an opponent's leg in hand-to-hand combat.
In 2005 the Harvard Film Archive acquired a collection of films from Fort Devens, the now defunct army base near Harvard, Massachusetts. The films are overtly and unabashedly propagandistic, made by the U.S. government in order to train soldiers for the challenges of war. They offer an overview of the official federal position on war, reconstruction, and nation building in the mid-20th century, from Pearl Harbor to Saigon. Films produced during WWII feature everything from USO performances by Judy Garland, to air battles shot in brilliant Kodachrome, to training films on how to break an opponent's leg in hand-to-hand combat.
Episodic Series
Episodic series owned by the HFA include 84 episodes of the Little Rascals series on 16mm and 74 episodes of the Rifleman television series on 16mm.
Episodic series owned by the HFA include 84 episodes of the Little Rascals series on 16mm and 74 episodes of the Rifleman television series on 16mm.
The Grove Press Film Collection
Grove Press, founded in 1951, was noteworthy for publishing such classics as D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. It is perhaps less well-known that Grove Press supported and distributed a diverse selection of independently made films—works, including such banned films as I Am Curious (Yellow) by Vilgot Sjöman and Titicut Follies by Frederick Wiseman, that challenged the political, sexual, and cultural mores of American society in their times. When Grove Press disbanded its film holdings, it donated both prints and original materials to the HFA.
Grove Press, founded in 1951, was noteworthy for publishing such classics as D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. It is perhaps less well-known that Grove Press supported and distributed a diverse selection of independently made films—works, including such banned films as I Am Curious (Yellow) by Vilgot Sjöman and Titicut Follies by Frederick Wiseman, that challenged the political, sexual, and cultural mores of American society in their times. When Grove Press disbanded its film holdings, it donated both prints and original materials to the HFA.
Morse Media
A circulating collection of films on VHS and DVD housed on Level A of Lamont Library. For assistance, please contact Morse Media.
A circulating collection of films on VHS and DVD housed on Level A of Lamont Library. For assistance, please contact Morse Media.
Sever Hall - Film Studies Video Library
Located on the fourth floor of Sever Hall, the new VES Film Studies Library contains approximately 4900 non-circulating DVDs & VHS acquired by Film Studies faculty for their courses. Video copies of films in the Harvard Film Archive can also be found. A catalog of the library's holdings is available onsite only.
Located on the fourth floor of Sever Hall, the new VES Film Studies Library contains approximately 4900 non-circulating DVDs & VHS acquired by Film Studies faculty for their courses. Video copies of films in the Harvard Film Archive can also be found. A catalog of the library's holdings is available onsite only.
