Obscure horror from the bowels of THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS!
September 7, 2016 10:17 AM Subscribe
The Library of Congress needs some help IDing film stills from their collection: LOC's National Audio-Visual Conservation Center recently started posting mystery images from their collection for followers to help identify via their Now See Hear! blog. This week's entry focuses on 20th c. horror and suspense movies.
From their initial post:
While it’s natural that people would associate the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division with, well, film, video, and sound recordings, we have a tremendous amount of associated documentation like scripts, lobby cards, pressbooks, and copyright descriptive material. We also have well more than a million publicity stills, a fraction of which we’ve used to illustrate the weekly “Now Playing at the Packard Campus Theater” posts.
But just as we have unidentified films in the collection, we have plenty of unidentified stills as well. MBRS staff have a pretty good eye for this sort of challenge, so we typically keep a stack of mystery photos on a table and usually the pile gets drawn down fairly quickly. However, there are also a number we can’t nail down so that’s why we’re sharing a lot of them over the coming weeks in hopes that crowdsourcing can do the trick.
Correct answers will be used to improve the cataloging metadata for each image.
From their initial post:
While it’s natural that people would associate the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division with, well, film, video, and sound recordings, we have a tremendous amount of associated documentation like scripts, lobby cards, pressbooks, and copyright descriptive material. We also have well more than a million publicity stills, a fraction of which we’ve used to illustrate the weekly “Now Playing at the Packard Campus Theater” posts.
But just as we have unidentified films in the collection, we have plenty of unidentified stills as well. MBRS staff have a pretty good eye for this sort of challenge, so we typically keep a stack of mystery photos on a table and usually the pile gets drawn down fairly quickly. However, there are also a number we can’t nail down so that’s why we’re sharing a lot of them over the coming weeks in hopes that crowdsourcing can do the trick.
Correct answers will be used to improve the cataloging metadata for each image.
Hey I was actually able to help with one of these, that's cool.
posted by JauntyFedora at 11:52 AM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by JauntyFedora at 11:52 AM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Saw the title and immediately thought of MARC. I've been doing some programming for a library.
posted by Tad Naff at 12:36 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Tad Naff at 12:36 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
sammyo, do you have a link? I wen to D.C. last spring, and would have loved to arrive there with a library card in hand!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:15 PM on September 7, 2016
posted by wenestvedt at 1:15 PM on September 7, 2016
I went to D.C. last spring, and would have loved to arrive there with a library card in hand!
Pre-Register for a Reader Identification Card
You have to go pick it up before hitting the reading rooms, however.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:58 PM on September 7, 2016
Pre-Register for a Reader Identification Card
You have to go pick it up before hitting the reading rooms, however.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:58 PM on September 7, 2016
The whole process took 20 minutes, finding the room took longer but I did not give explicit directions as the hunt was at least half the fun.
There are tunnels that are primarily for workers but until you get to the invisible line with a guard it's pretty open to wander. In the middle of the tunnel to congress there's a guard sitting on a folding chair checking badges, can't cross unless a legit badge. Some other wanderers arrived at the same time from the congressional direction, they were turned back the other way. The hall was fully open to tourists, but just were not allowed to cross the invisible line in the middle of a featureless hallway. It really was quite entertaining, the guard was totally pleasant.
The category of person to hunt down is a staffer with a history interest and angle a tour, I was told about a tour where they went everywhere, the staffer flashed the right badge and they just walked past any guard.
It was different years ago, I remember just walking past an unlabeled gate and climbing all by myself to the top the the library dome, no one noticed or cared. Could not even see a route the last visit.
posted by sammyo at 3:23 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
There are tunnels that are primarily for workers but until you get to the invisible line with a guard it's pretty open to wander. In the middle of the tunnel to congress there's a guard sitting on a folding chair checking badges, can't cross unless a legit badge. Some other wanderers arrived at the same time from the congressional direction, they were turned back the other way. The hall was fully open to tourists, but just were not allowed to cross the invisible line in the middle of a featureless hallway. It really was quite entertaining, the guard was totally pleasant.
The category of person to hunt down is a staffer with a history interest and angle a tour, I was told about a tour where they went everywhere, the staffer flashed the right badge and they just walked past any guard.
It was different years ago, I remember just walking past an unlabeled gate and climbing all by myself to the top the the library dome, no one noticed or cared. Could not even see a route the last visit.
posted by sammyo at 3:23 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
HAVING FUN ISN'T HARD WHEN YOU HAVE A LIBRARY CARD
Also, guess what recently celebrated its 20th anniversary?
posted by BiggerJ at 7:25 PM on September 7, 2016
Also, guess what recently celebrated its 20th anniversary?
posted by BiggerJ at 7:25 PM on September 7, 2016
« Older Copycat Clown Killers? | The hippest internet café of 1995 Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by sammyo at 10:22 AM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]