Ephemeral Fillms

December 13, 2006 10:12 AM

Ephemeral films: You know, those films by Coronet, Jam Handy, Centron, etc, that were shown in classrooms in the 1950s-1980s.... Where can I find scholarly literature / books on them? I'm really struggling on finding sources, and I'm writing a paper comparing them to Noam Chomsky's propaganda model in Manufacturing Consent. Any suggestions? I've got access to scholarly journals through the school library, but I'm uncertain as to what to search for.
posted by fvox13 to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Best answer: Try looking for papers that discuss documentary or ephemera as ethnography.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:38 AM on December 13, 2006

Online try starting with the Prelinger Archive and the Ephemera Films archive. Eventually, you probably will find yourself at the Library of Congress.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 10:41 AM on December 13, 2006

Have you seen Ken Smith's Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films 1945-1970? It's not a scholarly book (although it is a great read), but it might have some references. The LC subject heading is Motion pictures in education -- United States -- History and criticism.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:47 AM on December 13, 2006

Best answer: Rick Prelinger just published a book on sponsord films which are films, some of which were shown in classrooms, that were published by advocacy groups, businesses, trade associations, etc. It's called The Field Guide to Sponsored Films. I have the print copy but you can also download it as a PDF at this link. I'd recommend emailing or calling Rick, he's an incredibly knowledgeable and approachable guy and loves to talk about this stuff. His web site is here, let me know if you need more contact info for him, he's a pal of mine.
posted by jessamyn at 10:58 AM on December 13, 2006

Best answer: Found this via Google Scholar, and I think it's exactly what you're looking for. Besley, Tina. "Social Education and Mental Hygiene: Foucault, disciplinary technologies, and the moral construction of youth" Educational Philosophy and Theory v.34 no.4 (2002) p.419-433.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:19 AM on December 13, 2006

You might also want to ask the AV Geeks.
posted by jtron at 2:23 PM on December 13, 2006

Mental Hygiene.

Well-written, well-researched, informative, amusing. I think this is what you meant.
posted by clockzero at 3:53 PM on December 13, 2006

Change Your Underwear Twice a Week is perhaps not as scholarly as you want, but it's very interesting and beautifully designed.
posted by MadamM at 6:40 PM on December 13, 2006

Best answer: I dropped Rick an email and he said he got your email too, fvox13. This is what he wrote me.

He also wrote me, but this question is good and should be shared. I can't mobilize all the resources here on the side of a dusty highway in Arizona, though, so there may be a small timelag until I can perch at a desk somewhere (probably tomorrow in Connecticut).

I will point him to some of our newly scanned library books. For a sketchy and uncorrected page I made from database scrapes, not really ready for primetime, here is what had been finished as of a week ago, in case you're curious. This number will double to around 3000.

http://www.prelinger.com/titles.html

We have been spending a lot of time on selection, pulling, copyright checks and prep for scanning.

More soon,

Rick
posted by jessamyn at 9:14 PM on December 13, 2006

Response by poster: Wow.... this is almost as good as corresponding with Beethoven or something! Thanks so much!
posted by fvox13 at 10:07 PM on December 13, 2006