News & Events

A Celebration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

The public launch of Indiana University’s Media Preservation Initiative will take place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27, in Wells Library E174. “A Celebration of World Day Audiovisual Heritage” features presentations that highlight IUB’s media holdings with discussions on the planning phase of the initiative.

Presentations will be made by Alan Burdette and Mike Casey from the Archives of Traditional Music; Jon Dunn, director of the Digital Library Program; and Rachael Stoeltje, film archivist for the IU Libraries.   

The Bloomington campus is home to more than half a million audio, video, and film recordings, many of which are historically and culturally significant. In October 2009, IU became the first university to conduct a comprehensive survey of its media holdings, identifying more than 560,000 recordings and reels of motion picture film stored on campus. More than 40 percent of these recordings are unique or rare and include Orson Wells’ Mercury Theatre radio programs; Native American music from the 1890s; IU basketball games from the 1940s; home movies of Hoagy Carmichael; early concerts by world famous performers like Joshua Bell and Janos Starker; original films by D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, and Peter Bogdanovich; and interviews with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Quincy Jones. These recordings and thousands more exist on media formats that are at serious risk for content loss.  

IU has embarked on the media preservation planning initiative to create a solution for the long-term preservation of these valuable holdings as well as plans for greater access to these recordings, many of which are not accessible at present.

For more information, contact Alan Burdette at (812) 855-4679 or by e-mail at aburdett@indiana.edu.