The Summer of the Archive

A few weeks ago, the chair of my department asked me to come into his office, the Dean wanted my input on a project. In the last few years the dean and others in the arts community have started the Embarrass Valley Film Festival. Each festival is centered around a particular artist who grew up or went to school in the local area. Last year the festival featured Burl Ives, a musician and actor of many political contradictions. Since then, the dean had secured quite a bit of money to produce a documentary trailer for a historical, PBS-like documentary on Burl Ives, in the efforts to raise more money for a larger project. The dean then asks/inquires, “…and we need your help.” Coincidently, no one in the room (besides me) had ever been a part of a documentary production process.

Now, I am no dummy, so I know that when the Dean asks for your help, there is not a lot of choice in the matter. My first question was…”Who is Burl Ives? Why do a documentary on this cat?” Now, this was an interesting moment for me because I have never been part of a project where I was hired for my skills and not driven by passion for the topic. This was…maybe…a luxury I had not fully been conscious of before this moment.

To make things trickier, all the money needs to be encumbered (i.e. needs to be spent) by the end of July. Which means, I am headin’ to Washington DC to spend some special time at the library of congress. Its kind of exciting, after spending time at archives in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago…I feel like I am wrapping up the summer at the mother of all archives. The size and scope of the LOC is a bit intimidating but I feel like I am about to walk into Willy Wonka’s candy store. Its almost worth the guilt generated from the writing I am not getting done while I am traveling.

I am also hoping to do some work on the activist documentary book while I am in DC. The city is home to the Center for Social Media and a few other organizations I am interested in interviewing. Again, more discovery, less writing…the pressure of producing really sucks.