John Raines |
John
now specializes in preservation and remastering of analog media at his
studio in Oakland, Calif. -- and since 2009, he has devoted his
volunteer time and skills to identifying, preserving and making digital
conversions of the analog recordings at the Historical Society. He
recently took a few minutes away from the boxes of open-reel video he's
currently working on to give History Happens a peek into this little-known part of the archives.
What's the range of historic audio and video recordings have you discovered in the archives?
We
have material ranging from phono records and amateur film from the
1940s to professional videocassettes from the 1990s, and on to CDs and
DVDs. Casual recordings, hobbyist efforts, a lot of raw footage from pro
and semi-pro productions. Some of the recordings are very personal in
nature while others cover landmark events such as the Gay Games. I have
encountered eight moving picture formats and six audio formats.
Have you made any particularly surprising finds?
Celebrities
do turn up from time to time: Harvey Milk talking about the Castro
Street Fair in 1976, raw takes of Sylvester recording a music video,
Carol Channing putting together an AIDS PSA, Wayland Flowers and Madame
on a gay cruise in 1987. We have the entire collection of raw footage
for a documentary on the late African American filmmaker Marlon Riggs.
We also have home movies of drag shows in North Beach in the 1950s and
early 1960s, as well as coverage of the first International Ms. Leather
contest in 1987. Some of the coolest material comes from the 1970s: a
radio ad for a gay bathhouse, as well as documentaries on Gay Freedom
Day and the early Metropolitan Community Church.
What is the Historical Society doing to make its audio and video holdings more widely available?
Two complete audio collections comprising about 300 hours of material can be searched and downloaded via the Gayback Machine
on the Historical Society website. Video is more challenging to
distribute due to much higher storage and bandwidth requirements. But
every second of everything I've converted can be searched and previewed
in the reading room at the archives -- and arrangements can be made for
digital copies.
Why is it important to preserve these kinds of materials?
Firstly
because audiovisual media do not have the longevity of paper. Much of
our magnetic tape already requires special treatment before it can be
played, and in a few more years, it may not be salvageable at all.
Secondly our media have the unique property of bringing history to life
in sound and moving pictures. This kind of impact is very useful for
researchers working on film, TV, radio and multimedia projects -- and is
vital to bringing our museum displays and special presentations to
life.
Reprinted with permission from the February 2012 issue of History Happens; copyright © 2012 GLBT Historical Society (San Francisco). For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.
Reprinted with permission from the February 2012 issue of History Happens; copyright © 2012 GLBT Historical Society (San Francisco). For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.