Moving Beyond the Item: DACS as a companion standard for moving images and sound recordings

1. Moving Beyond the Item:DACS as a companion standard for moving images and sound recordings Andrea Leigh SAA Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas Session 504, More than Just Passing Acquaintances: DACS and Companion Standards August 15, 2009

2. Describing moving image and sound recordings • Assumption is that the item in hand constitutes a work that has been published/distributed in multiple copies • Traditionally described at the item level following rules for bibliographic description (AACR2R) • Description dependent on transcription from a chief source

3. Describing the content of the resource Excerpt: Nation’s capital gets a lesson in tolerance moving image released soundtrack version Places People Newsreel News of the Day, vol. 10, issue 259 Topics

4. Title: • News of the day. [Vol. 10, no. 259--excerpt]. Nation’s capital gets a lesson in tolerance. • Publication/Distribution: • United States : A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release, [1939-04-10] • Version: • [Released sound track version] • Credits: • John B. Kennedy [commentator] • [Cameramen, Rossi-Green-Upton-Rickman-McKeon] • Notes: • Footage shot on April 9, 1939 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

5. Summary: • "Nation’s most impressive Easter demonstration: 75,000 mass before Lincoln Memorial to hear Marian Anderson, colored contralto, make her capital debut at the Great Emancipator shrine. Refusal of the D.A.R. to let her use their hall, and a countrywide controversy with this great gathering as the climax. The singer was invited by Secretary of the Interior Ickes, who attends with Secretary of the Treasury Mogenthau. Spectators include Supreme Court Justice Black, New York Senator Robert Wagner, and a host of notables, here to listen to the voice acclaimed by many as the finest in a century"--Voice over. Includes various shots of the crowd showing the Washington Monument and reflecting pool, Anderson with the statue of Lincoln behind, a closeup of Anderson waving from the stage, and medium shots of Ickes (seated with Mr. and Mrs. Henry Morgenthau), Wagner, and Black. Closes with various shots of Anderson singing "America," intercut with shots of the crowd and the Lincoln statue.

6. Access points established for creators and distributors Distributor Performer Cameramen Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993 Rossi, Leo Green, Roddy Upton, Kenneth Rickman, Teddy McKeon, James

7. Access points for topics and genres • Topics: • Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993 • Ickes, Harold L. (Harold LeClair), 1874-1952 • Morganthau, Henry, 1891-1967 • Black, Hugo LaFayette, 1886-1971 • Wagner, Robert Ferdinand, 1877-1953 • Concerts --Washington (D.C.) • African Americans --Civil rights --Washington (D.C.) • African American women singers. • Lincoln Memorial (Washington, D.C.) • Genres • Newsreels • Short films

8. Moving images and recorded sound often record events • Public and private performances • Natural disasters (Hurricane Katrina) • Historical events (9/11, Hindenburg disaster, Kennedy assassination, etc.) • Birthdays, holidays, parades, or other celebrations • Auditions, rehearsals or behind-the-scenes footage associated with a known work • Natural and ambient sounds • Conversations and interviews • Artists’ video series • Edited compilations, rough or pre-broadcast edits, raw footage, outtakes, etc.

9. “Formal titles” ? • DACS 2.3 suggests that archivists “use professional judgment to determine when it is appropriate to supply a title rather than transcribing a label on a container that may be misleading” • An evening with Carrie Fisher, Charles Playhouse, Boston, March 29, 2003 • Spoken word event, formal title on accompanying program • Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination • How the home movie has come to be known • Ambient sounds of a rock music festival, circa 1990 • Supplied title • DACS 2.3 suggests using AACR2 to record formal titles

10. 1939 Easter Sunday Concert at the Lincoln Memorial • Newsreel stories and raw footage • NBC radio broadcast • Photographs • Personal papers • Marian Anderson • Eleanor Roosevelt • Archival records • Dept. of Interior • NARA • NAACP • D.A.R.?

11. Creator: Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993 Title: Marian Anderson papers, circa 1900-1993 (bulk 1926-1980) Extent: 495 boxes + 3 map case drawers Abstract: The Papers comprise correspondence; business records and contracts; manuscript and typescript biographical materials; Anderson's notes, journals, calendars, and financial documents; programs and publicity materials; awards and honorary degrees; clippings; scrapbooks; memorabilia; and some materials belonging to her sisters Alyse Anderson and Ethel De Preist, her mother Anna D. Anderson, and her husband, Orpheus H. Fisher. • Series: Correspondence • Series: Programs and publicity • Printed programs from performances • 1916-December 1935 • January 1936-April 9, 1939 • Etc. • Series: Memorabilia Program for the Lincoln Memorial concert

12. SeparationList

13. Keep materials together Besides the archival principles of provenance and original order, a general principle in DACS is that the rules of description apply to all archival materials regardless of form or medium; in essence, no records are excluded from the description (Principle 5)

14. Creator: Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993 Title: Marian Anderson Papers, circa 1900-1993 (bulk 1926-1980) • Series: Correspondence • Series: Programs and Publicity • Series:Performances • Subseries: Lincoln Memorial Concert, Washington, D.C., April 9, 1939 • NBC Radio Broadcast • Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial • Hearst Metrotone Newsreel Coverage • Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial--unedited footage • News of the day. Vol. 10, no. 259--excerpt. Nation’s capital gets a lesson in tolerance • Series: Memorabilia

15. Event as a separate collection Title: Marian Anderson Sings at Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., April 9, 1939 • Series: Programs and Publicity • Series: Photographs • Series: NBC Radio Broadcast • Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial • Series: Hearst Metrotone Newsreel Coverage • Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial--unedited footage • News of the day. Vol. 10, no. 259--excerpt. Nation’s capital gets a lesson in tolerance Related Materials: Marian Anderson Papers available at Annenberg Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania

16. Some questions • How much of the event should be re-created in the finding aid? • Correspondence? • All the material available in preparation for the event? • Programs? • Newspaper accounts? • Photographs? • At what point does re-creating an event break with the principle of provenance and original order? • UCLA’s event re-creation of Marian Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial concert • How practical is it to describe and arrange material based on events in an era of “more product, less processing?”

17. Next Steps • DACS for Archival Sound Recordings subcommittee (ARSC) • Formed in 2008 to prepare online guidelines on the application of DACS to the description of archival sound recordings • Addressing the need for the establishment of guidelines for unpublished sound recordings • AACR2R Chapter 6 are rules grounded in bibliographic tradition • Marsha Maguire, chair; mmag@loc.gov • No formal subcommittee established in AMIA

18. Thank you! Andrea Leigh Moving Image Processing Unit Head Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Library of Congress 202-707-0852 alei@loc.gov