William O’Farrell Fellowship Awarded

Bucksport, Maine – Northeast Historic Film (NHF) is pleased to announce the first award of the William O’Farrell Fellowship to Caitlin McGrath, Ph.D. candidate in Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. The William O'Farrell Fellowship is awarded to an individual engaged in research toward a publication, production, or presentation based on moving image history and culture, particularly amateur and nontheatrical film. The award honors the legacy of Canadian film archivist William S. O’Farrell, an advocate for amateur and nontheatrical film collections. O’Farrell was a valued supporter of NHF and an unparalleled mentor and friend.

The selection committee was delighted with the strong field of applicants and the range of their proposals. The Fellowship provides a stipend of $1,500 to support research at NHF, a regional moving image archives established in 1986.

McGrath, who expects to receive her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in June 2010, will pursue research relating to amateur film taken at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair. Her previous research has focused on how films helped establish the Fair’s theme of “The World of Tomorrow.”

Her current study, to be undertaken at the archives in Bucksport, Maine, this summer, will focus on amateur film records of the New York World’s Fair, studying what the creators found most striking and worth recording on film. She will, in one instance, compare coverage from the Fair in 1939 and in 1940. She writes, “In my previous research into the fair, I examined how the fair changed between its two seasons. The first season, when the theme was “The World of Tomorrow,” was followed by an extensive transformation of the fairgrounds in the wake of the eruption of World War II. After this transformation, the fair’s theme became “For Peace and Freedom.” These two reels [from the Samuel Horovitz Collection] may reflect this shift – did they film things that had changed? Is this change what motivated their return trip?”

The 2011 William O’Farrell Fellowship competition will be announced in the fall, with applications accepted through mid-January 2011. For more information, contact Barbara Manning, NHF Business Manager, at barb@oldfilm.org.

-About Northeast Historic Film-

Northeast Historic Film, an independent nonprofit organization, was founded in 1986 to preserve and make available moving images of interest to the people of northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts). We hold ten million feet of film in 8mm, Super 8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm, 28mm, and 35mm and 8,000 analog and digital video recordings that do not duplicate the film holdings. For a more detailed description of the collections and related materials, click here.

NHF is located in a 1916 cinema building with newly constructed cold storage and a study center, where the organization hosts an annual Summer Symposium and runs a community cinema.

The William O’Farrell Fellowship was established in 2009 to honor an important individual who contributed in significant ways to the history of NHF. Bill O’Farrell (1954-2008) worked as Chief, Moving Image and Audio Conservation of the Archives of Canada. He was a valued Advisor to NHF, providing intellectual and practical support to the archives for many years.

 

William O'Farrell