|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Imperial War Museum Film and Video Archive - The Collection
|
|
Second World War - Footage from the Second World War constitutes the largest collection of material in the archive. During the Second World War film footage was recorded by British and allied cameras on all of the fighting fronts, including Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The land conflicts were better covered on film than Naval and Air force footage although, the archive does hold fascinating footage of coastal battles from warships as well as air attacks and bombing raids on various fronts. The backbone of the collection is the uncut record footage filmed by combat cameramen. Other material includes official and private records of life in wartime, including training films, records of equipment trials, propaganda, documentaries, fiction films, newsreels and amateur footage. Material from non-British sources from the Second World War include a large number of Soviet newsreels, German propaganda films, American feature and documentary films. The history of the holocaust is a crucial element of the Second World War collection and the archive holds important documentary footage on the atrocities. The Imperial War Museum's major Holocaust Exhibition also contains extensive collections of photographs, documents, newspapers, artefacts, and posters as well as film offering stark evidence of this period in history.
|
Women in war-time - In the First and Second World Wars, women were called upon to support the war effort by working in the services, in industry, on the land, by playing a supporting role for the men at war and for their families and by making economies in the home. The role of women in war-time is strongly represented on film in the archive's collection, predominantly through documentary, propaganda and newsreel film. In both wars, women were encouraged through the medium of film to enter new spheres of work previously dominated by men, for example in heavy industries such as ammunition factories and in the Women’s Land Army. The archive holds film material from both wars which illustrate or promote the role of women in the services such as the Women’s Royal Auxilliary Corps, the Women’s Royal Naval Service and the Women’s Royal Air Force. Women were also called upon to support the war effort in the home through good housekeeping and diet and by encouraging positive attitudes towards the war effort or the evacuation of children.
|
The home front - Many films in the archive's collection illustrate aspects of every day life during war-time and the effect of war in Britain. The collection includes images of in war-time on the home front as projected by government information and propaganda films, corporate material, newsreels and amateur film collections. Subjects include family life and activities, school life, the home guard, youth groups such as the boy scouts and the sea cadets, footage of the Blitz bombings around the country, films of industrial and agricultural production for the war effort, government propaganda on food and nutrition, and documentary films on the British transport network.
|
Post Second World War material - The archive holds a number of collections of film and video material relating to post-Second World War developments, reconstruction and social reform. Films from the immediate post-war period include documentaries on Neuremberg War Crimes trials, rebuilding defeated European nations, as well as post-war regeneration and reconstruction in Britain. The archive also holds collections of film and video material relating to post-Second World War conflicts, including material from the Cold War years in the 1950s to 1980s, the Korean War in 1951-52, and the Suez crisis in 1956. Highlights include the former library of NATO documenting the diplomatic and military history of the Cold War from 1948 to 1989.
|
Recent material - The archive has growing collections relating to more recent conflicts. These include ITN and other material relating to the Falklands War in 1982, and 1990-91 Gulf War material from official and private sources. The most recent material in the archive dates from the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. The archive holds a substantial and important collection of video footage from UNTV based in Zagreb between 1993 and 1996. The UNTV unit operated within the United Nation's peace keeping mandate and produced weekly programmes for local state television stations in the former Yugoslavia. Many of their recordings include documentaries and news items as well as interviews and diary style recordings of the experiences of the people of war torn Bosnia.
New and contemporary film and video material is now coming to the archive covering other conflicts. However, there is often a time lag for getting hold of officially produced film and video material from sources such as the British Government and armed forces. The archive does, however, hold copies of several major television history programmes and series' which have focused on 20th century war and conflict. In addition to its film and television broadcast material, the archive has recorded all off-air television news and documentary programmes broadcast on UK terrestrial television on the Gulf War and other recent conflicts.
|
The Imperial War Museum Film and Video Archive collection includes amateur film, fiction, documentaries, propaganda, corporate films, instructional and training films, newsreels, government films and films from military sources, from both the UK and abroad. Over half of the archive's collection consists of unedited rushes from combat newsreel and television crews . This material needs special consideration and skills to work with the unedited material as it is not pre-packaged and is not already formulated into easily digestible chunks but this collection forms a vast and largely untapped but hugely valuable resource for researchers.
Army, Navy and Air Force films - The archive holds the collections of the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU), the Royal Airforce Film Production Unit (RAFFPU), and films of the Royal Navy, from the Second World War. The AFPU sent cameramen to the front to film the army in action and covered action in the Middle East, North West Africa, the Normandy landings and the campaign in North West Europe. The unit also filmed the liberation of Belsen, the aftermath of the defeat of Germany and other conflicts towards the end of the Second World War. The Royal Air Force Film Production Unit during the Second World War filmed RAF activity in the air and on the ground as well as filming for research and aircraft tests, making documentary films, training films and an RAF newsreel series shooting material across the war fronts. The archive also holds a range of films from the Royal Navy Film Unit as well as newsreel films taken aboard ships. In addition, the archive holds training films for the services including material on military health such as on VD, how to survive in the jungle, and taking malaria pills. For the army and air force collections the archive also holds substantial collections of the cameramen's 'dope sheets' in which they recorded notes on the day's filming and which are therefore a valuable companion resource to the films themselves.
Government campaigns and propaganda - Official Government
films make up the majority of the Imperial War Museum Film and Video Archive
collection of edited film from the Second World War. Much of this material
originates from the Ministry of Information (MOI) during the Second World
War and the Central Office of Information (COI) in the post-war period.
The Ministry of Information made and commissioned documentary films, training
and information films, as well as some dramatised and animation films.
The archive also holds files on many of these films which include related
documentation such as scripts, music sheets and correspondence. British
propaganda and information films from the First and Second World Wars
cover a huge variety of subjects ranging from covering issues of military
conflict as well as propaganda aimed at social development. Such films
include items on explaining the rationing system, encouraging good nutrition,
advocating the cultivation of land for the war effort, dealing with evacuation,
warning against the folly of 'loose talk', films stressing the importance
of the British way of life, and films aimed at generating contempt for
the enemy. The COI collection includes films commissioned in Britain and
the Commonwealth as well as foreign films collected by the COI. Post-war
films in the collection cover subjects such as civil defence, recruitment
campaigns, training and pagents. The archive also holds smaller collections
of official film from the Foreign Office, the Home Office, the War Office
and Ministry of Defence. As well as official UK Government films, the
archive also holds many propaganda films from all sides of conflict during
the Second World War as well as during other periods of international
tension. These include for example, Italian and German propaganda criticising
Britain in the Second World War, and an Egyptian film made during the
Suez crisis in 1956.
|
Newsreels and local topicals – The archive holds some collections of newsreel and local topical footage from various sources including the UK government, First and Second World War France ('Annales de la Guerre', 'France Actualités') and Second World War Russia ('Soviet Newsreel') and India ('Indian Movietone News' & 'Indian News Parade') as well as post-war newsreels made by Britain and America for screening in Germany ('Welt im Film'). British Official Newsreels in the collection include First World War newsreel 'Topical Budget' releases, Second World War series’ sponsored by the Ministry of Supply entitled ‘Warwork News’ and the Ministry of Information series entitled ‘Worker and Warfront’. The latter two newsreel series' were made for screening in factories and emphasised the importance of factory production for the war effort. Other newsreels in the collection include some produced by the British government for Middle East and Mediterranean consumption entitled 'War Pictorial News'. The archive also offers research access to collections of British commercial newsreels from the First and Second World Wars, including British Paramount News, Pathé News, Universal News, British Movietone News, and Gaumont British News.
|
Foreign films – The archive holds several collections of non British films from the First and Second World Wars. These include films on the contribution of Commonwealth countries to the war effort, such as films on the service men from India, the West Indies, Africa, New Zealand and Australia amongst others. The archive holds collections of films made by allied and occupied countries including documentaries, propaganda and newsreels from countries such as Russia, France and the USA. Highlights of material from America include a series of American documentary films produced by Frank Capra entitled ‘Why We Fight’ with the aim of explaining to Americans the reasons for entering the war in Europe. The archive also holds collections of documentary, propaganda and newsreel films from 'enemy' countries such as Germany, Japan and Italy under Mussolini.
|
Amateur films - The archive holds a small but significant collection of amateur films made by service personnel and by civilians in pre-war, wartime and post-war periods. Amateur films often cover scenes and events from a very different perspective to more 'official' films and often capture elements of our history not to be found elsewhere. The archive's amateur collection includes films made by off duty British and Indian service men stationed overseas before the Second World War, civilians travelling abroad in the pre-war period, British amateur film-makers during war-time, and video material from more recent conflicts such as the Falklands and Gulf Wars. One notable collection of amateur films were made by Rosie Newman in the Second World War. As a woman from a wealthy society back ground, she often filmed in places that cameras wouldn't normally have been allowed. Other material includes amateur material from fireman Arthur Green who filmed in London during and after the Second World War including the Festival of Britain celebrations.
|
The archive's collection includes many notable names of directors, film-makers and contributors that worked on film material during war-time, many of which have been mentioned above. These include for example,
|
In relation to the film material, the archive holds significant collections of original camera-men’s dope sheets from the Second World War which provide details of what they were filming, the censor’s remarks and other contemporary details which form a valuable resource for historians examining the film collections. Oral history sound recordings of the views and experiences of war-time camera men are also held in the Museum's Sound Archive. Alongside these resources, the Film and Video Archive holds production information, scripts, actors’ contracts and other documentation for major war-time film productions. The Imperial War Museum, of which the film and video archive is a part, has significant collections of all kinds of war-time items including artefacts, books, documents and records, photographs, posters, and sound recordings. Directly related items in the museum collections include, for example, movie posters, production stills, cine camera exhibits and other materials, all of which provide complementary resources for film research.
|
