DEADLINE EXTENDED
*proposals due March 3*
Northeast Historic Film
Summer Symposium
*SUMMER 2025*
-Does your home look like this? There is hope. Join us in July and find your people-
COLLECTORS / COLLECTIONS
Seeking presentation proposals from:
archivists, collectors, academics, makers, and enthusiasts
***
July 17-19 – Northeast Historic Film & The Alamo
Bucksport, ME
*
For 2025, The Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium would like for us all to consider the collection (individual and institutional) of visual media…and visual media about collection. Are you a collector of filmy things? Are you doing scholarly work on a collection and want to share your findings? Is your archive working on an especially exciting collection? Are you an artist making things out of “collections?” Have you made media about a collection or collector? Tales from the field…practical advice…dollars and cents…We are interested in covering this topic as broadly and variously as possible. It’s The Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium. It’s what we do!
…Scholarly papers about specific collections or the philosophy of collection; Show and tell with YOUR collections (visual media, broadly conceived); VHS collection…Obscure formats…projector collectors…TV collectors…home movies; Practical talk: digital and physical storage, cataloging, website design; Nonfiction film/video ABOUT collectors/collections; Movie posters, movie magazines, autographs, publicity stills, lobby cards and other film and media ephemera; Regional TV collections; Bizarre micro-genres: do you love amateur footage of work parties? We are your people; Regional archives; Disaster preparedness; The economics of collection; Estate sales, yard sales, live auctions, Ebay, Etsy; Access; identity/community-specific collections… COME JOIN US! We have Lobster!
PROPOSALS DUE: MARCH. 3, 2025
Please send a 250-500 word abstract outlining your presentation idea and a brief cv via e-mail to:
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The Summer Symposium Program Committee is: Devin Orgeron, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University; Liz Czach, University of Alberta; Dino Everett, University of Southern California; Mark Neumann, Northern Arizona University; Brian Real, University of Kentucky; Kimberly Tarr, NYU Libraries; and Travis Wagner, University of South Carolina.
We are happy to discuss your presentation ideas with you in advance of a formal submission. The Symposium Program Committee will be reviewing proposals as they come in and hopes to have the program finalized by April 1.
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. NHF is located in a 1916 cinema building with purpose-built cold storage and a study center in Bucksport, a town of 5,000 on the coast of Maine (for more info on NHF, please visit:
http://www.oldfilm.org). In the Alamo Theatre on Main Street, NHF houses a 125-seat cinema with DCP, and 2K Blu-ray /DVD projection.
A note about the symposium:
Bucksport is a small town situated along the Penobscot River and Northeast Historic Film & The Alamo Theatre are at its center. Since 1999, the Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium has been a gathering place for academics, archivists, collectors, and enthusiasts interested in discussions of film and visual media that move beyond the confines of our individual professions and foster a true sense of collaboration across disciplines. You will leave the symposium inspired and energized. Some of this has to do with the traditions that have grown up alongside the symposium, including our opening night lobster dinner (vegetarian options as well!). And some of it has to do with the place itself… A small-town archive/movie theatre near the coast of Maine? A conference that sometimes coincides with the town’s parade? An amazing, nearby antique mall called The Big Chicken Barn where many of us collectors have spent too much time (and money)? These unique shared experiences help solidify the relationships that form here. For 2025, we hope to add to this list by holding our opening day activities lakeside so that we might take in some beauty while we get to know each other. It’s a magical place and we want to make sure that everyone (even those of us not building in a few extra travel days to do so) get a sense of what the Northeast has to offer.
Archive + Theatre
First night lake fun, cocktails, dinner at the ALI
Antiques at the Big Chicken Barn
Festival + Parade
Also check out other Entertainment events in Bucksport, Arts events in Bucksport, Theatre events in Bucksport.
