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FW: Record Office Adventures in Media-Land



The following tale comes from the Archives-NRA list in the UK. It is
forwarded with permission and I think that the information is quite
informative and cautionary.

Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Manager, Records Management Group
Woodside Summit Group Inc
Midlothian, Virginia
Office: 804-744-1247 x23
Fax: 804-744-4947
mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Jackson, Bruce [mailto:Bruce.Jackson@ED.LANCSCC.GOV.UK]
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 8:42 AM
To: ARCHIVES-NRA@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Record Office Adventures in Media-Land


I thought that list members like to share this little tale from media land.
You see, the little people like us can stand up for our rights, and actually
get somewhere!

If anyone wants to know more, contact Jan Hargreaves here at Lancashire
Record Office: Jan.Hargreaves@ed.lancscc.gov.uk

Bruce Jackson
Lancashire Record Office
Record Office Adventures in Media-Land

Other record offices may be encouraged to know that standing up for your
rights with the media who use your resources does pay off. We were recently
visited by a film crew making a two part documentary on the lives of
Georgian women. It was not the best media visit we have ever had.

It started badly, with incorrect information being given as to what they
actually wanted. Cue Record Office staff running round like headless
chickens to find the correct material. Next came the attempts to disguise
completely the location. To fit in with the general style of the programme,
the crew wanted a mock 18th century library, complete with old oak tables
and non-metal bookshelves. Unfortunately they were filming in a 1970s record
office with metal shelves in the background and a wood veneered table. The
archivist declined the cameraman's offer to disguise the bookshelves with
gaffer tape, but a compromise was reached with the table. A black sheet
covered it up.

The academic historian commissioned to present the programme then proceeded
to (mis)use the documents as though they were her own personal property, and
each request by the archivist to treat the documents with more care and
respect was met with raised eyebrows and ill-concealed smirks among the film
crew. To be fair, though, when the assistant director started sucking on a
carton of juice, she did promise not to dribble anywhere.
Bearing in mind the above attempts to deny the presenter had been anywhere
near the Record Office, the programme was watched for signs of
acknowledgement of our apparently inadequate existence. Not a thing. Not
even a credit at the end of the programme, even though we had said this was
a requirement of using the material. Photographs in the press advertising
the programme quite clearly showed the presenter seated in the Record Office
lecture room with the documents. The caption? "Presenter X in a library with
old diaries".

The programme was linked to an educational website. So, we weren't on the
programme credits, surely they would have included us on the website link?
Wrong. Despite the programme having relied quite heavily on the original
manuscript material held at the Record Office, any student wishing to
investigate the documents further would have been hard pressed to find out
where they were. They could find any number of stately homes and tourist
attractions to visit, but not the address of the Record Office or the
reference for the collection the documents came from. Which begs the
question, are these supposedly educational programmes really intended to
educate, or merely to entertain?

A politely worded email was sent to the programme makers, pointing out the
shortcomings of their credits with the view that, even if they ignored us
completely, we at least felt better for letting off some steam. Amazingly,
they did not ignore us completely. They actually emailed us back, deeply
apologetic for any anger they had caused and stating their gratitude that we
had allowed them to film the documents. They had also added a credit to the
website giving the location of the documents and providing a link to the
Record Office website. They further promised that when the programme is
repeated later in the summer, the Record Office would be credited along with
the other institutions they had visited.

The two main lessons we have learned from this experience are that a) you
need to be totally clear what your expectations are of the film crew,
including a contractual obligation that you are credited on the final
programme (we now have a policy on the use of archives by the media which
includes a signed contract) and b) if the end result is not what you would
hope, it is always worth pointing it out. Even media demi-gods can admit
that they are wrong sometimes.

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