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Collection Summary | |
Creator: |
International Arts Society Cinema Club |
Collection Name: | International Arts Society Cinema Club Records |
Inclusive Dates: | 1953-2007 |
Physical Description: | 3 Linear Feet |
Abstract: | The International Arts Society Cinema Club Records are comprised of financial, planning, and program files, programs, tickets, intermittent membership rolls, and newspaper clippings about the organization for the full span of its existence, 1953-2007. The International Arts Society was founded in 1953 at the University of Arizona in Tucson to “present mature cinema for the enjoyment and edification of University faculty, staff, and students.” |
Collection Number: | MS 522 |
Language: | Materials in English |
Repository: |
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections University of Arizona PO Box 210055 Tucson, AZ 85721-0055 Phone: 520-621-6423 Fax: 520-621-9733 URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/ |
Arthur T. Grant, Robert Hammond, and Frank Hoskins formed the International Arts Society in 1953 to bring foreign cinema to the University of Arizona campus community. Hoskins was Professor of English and left the University in 1954. Hammond was Professor of French, and left the University in 1967. Grant was Educational Research Analyst for the University through the 1960s. Charles Scruggs joined the University of Arizona Department of English in 1967, and became director of the International Arts Society in 1971, seeing it through to its end in 2007.
In the days before personal media, cinema clubs were formed to present foreign, experimental, and avant-garde cinema to enthusiasts. Cinema clubs were often found on college campuses, where audiences were receptive to non-Hollywood film, and where foreign language students would be able to hear spoken language as well as to engage with cultural productions from around the world. From the founding of the earliest cinema club at Smith College in the 1920s through the rise of consumer-grade video, cinema clubs exposed college audiences to cinema as an art form and a window on world cultures. At many colleges in the U.S. after World War II, the cinema club introduced the community to the work of Ingmar Bergman, the French New Wave, Eastern European and Middle Eastern directors, and the national cinemas of India, Mexico, Russia/USSR, to name but a few.
At the University of Arizona, IAS members could see 10 films during the school year, shown on Fridays at 4.40 and 7.15 p.m. for an initial subscription price of three dollars per academic year. Students in foreign language courses were given free admission to the early screening. Over the years, the offerings expanded to weekly screenings, up to 14 per semester, still for less than $10 per year. Most films were shown on 16mm in the Main Auditorium (now Centennial Hall), and after 1971 in the Modern Languages auditorium, with a few on 35mm and in Cinemascope in Gallagher Theater in the Student Union. After a hiatus 1990 to 1999, the IAS returned in 2000 and finally disbanded in 2007.
In its first phase, from 1953-1969, founder A.T. Grant saw the series as an important cultural aspect of a growing university with an international community of students and scholars; late in his tenure the organization began giving small grants from its profits to support student filmmaking projects in hopes of cultivating a film program in the Fine Arts curriculum. The IAS also contributed funds to the sound system upgrade in the Main Auditorium (now Centennial Hall). In the one year during which the Student Union Activities Board (SUAB) ran the series, 1969-70, the records reflect an attitude of maintaining status quo. The 35-year tenure of English Professor Charles Scruggs included more experimental and documentary films, psychedelic program art, revival programs of Hollywood silent films, and a 1982 visit to campus of director Billy Wilder during a four-day symposium on his work. The series went on hiatus 1990-1999, and resumed from Fall 1999 to Spring 2007.
The International Arts Society Cinema Club Records contains yearly records (1953-2007) of the film series, along with film ordering and rental records, intermittent membership records and program notes on each film screened. Correspondence with IAS members and with film distribution companies also appears in annual folders. Supporting files contain programs from other college cinema clubs, film notes organized alphabetically by title, and two folders of organizational history.
There are no restrictions on this collection.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
International Arts Society Cinema Club Record (MS 522). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.
Series 1: History and Yearly Programming Files, 1953-2007 | |||||||||||
This series is arranged chronologically. It contains annual film series brochure-calendars, viewing notes for films presented, rental records, membership lists, and correspondence with IAS members, film distributors, and other advisors to campus cinema clubs around the country. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
1 | 1 | IAS History 1953-1966 | |||||||||
1 | 2 | IAS History – Programs 1953-1966 | |||||||||
1 | 3 | Other Film Society Programs 1953-1966 | |||||||||
1 | 4 | Business Records 1962-1963 | |||||||||
1 | 5 | Program Notes 1963-1964 | |||||||||
1 | 6 | Business Records 1964-1965 | |||||||||
1 | 7 | Program Notes 1964-1965 | |||||||||
1 | 8 | Business Records 1964-1965 | |||||||||
1 | 9 | Program Notes 1965-1966 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
2 | 1 | Business Records 1966-1967 | |||||||||
2 | 2 | Program Notes 1966-1967 | |||||||||
2 | 3 | Business Records 1967-1968 | |||||||||
2 | 4 | Program Notes 1967-1968 | |||||||||
2 | 5 | Business Records 1968-1969 | |||||||||
2 | 6 | Program Notes 1968-1969 | |||||||||
2 | 7 | Program and Records 1969-1970 | |||||||||
2 | 8 | Program and Records 1970-1971 | |||||||||
2 | 9 | Program and Records 1971-1972 | |||||||||
2 | 10 | Program and Records 1972-1973 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
3 | 1 | Program Notes 1973-1974 | |||||||||
3 | 2 | Program Notes 1974-1975 | |||||||||
3 | 3 | Program Notes 1975-1976 | |||||||||
3 | 4 | Program Notes 1976-1977 | |||||||||
3 | 5 | Program Notes 1977-1978 | |||||||||
3 | 6 | Program Notes 1978-1979 | |||||||||
3 | 7 | Program Notes 1979-1980 | |||||||||
3 | 8 | Program Notes 1980-1981 | |||||||||
3 | 9 | HIstory and Research Files 1972-1981 | |||||||||
3 | 10 | Program Notes 1981-1982 | |||||||||
3 | 11 | Program Notes and Billy Wilder Film Festival, October 1982 1982-1983 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
4 | 1 | Program Notes and Film Research Files 1983-1984 | |||||||||
4 | 3 | Program Notes 1985-1986 | |||||||||
4 | 4 | Program Notes and Film Research Files 1986-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 5 | Program Notes 1987-1988 | |||||||||
4 | 6 | Program Notes and Business Records 1988-1989 | |||||||||
4 | 7 | Program Notes and Business Records 1989-1990 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
5 | 1 | Program Notes 1999-2000 | |||||||||
5 | 2 | Program Notes 2000-2001 | |||||||||
5 | 3 | Program Notes 2001-2002 | |||||||||
5 | 4 | Program Notes 2002-2003 | |||||||||
5 | 5 | Program Notes 2003-2004 | |||||||||
5 | 6 | Program Notes 2004-2005 | |||||||||
5 | 7 | Program Notes 2005-2006 | |||||||||
5 | 8 | Program Notes 2006-2007 |
Series 2: Film Research Files, 1953-1990 | |||||||||||
This series is arranged alphabetically by film title. It contains reviews, summaries, and viewing notes from a variety of campus cinema clubs, including Dartmouth, Yale, University of Hawaii, University of California at Santa Barbara, as well as film societies in New York, San Francisco, and other U.S. cities. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
5 | 9 | Films, A 1953-1990 | |||||||||
5 | 10 | Films, B 1953-1990 | |||||||||
5 | 11 | Films, C 1953-1990 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
6 | 1 | Films, D 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 2 | Films, E 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 3 | Films, G 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 4 | Films, H 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 5 | Films, I, J 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 6 | Films, K 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 7 | Films, L 1953-1990 | |||||||||
6 | 8 | Films, M 1953-1990 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
7 | 1 | Films, N 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 2 | Films, O 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 3 | Films, P, Q 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 4 | Films, R 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 5 | Films, S 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 6 | Films, T 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 7 | Films, U, V 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 8 | Films, W 1953-1990 | |||||||||
7 | 9 | Films, X, Y, Z 1953-1990 |