the Joris Ivens archives;
Introduction to the inventory

As is shown from the course of his life Joris Ivens traversed and filmed the twentieth century world. At a very early stage he realized that his work might be of importance, not only in the current struggle against injustice and oppression and for a better society, but also for later generations. To that purpose he kept a lot of material concerning his life and work with the idea that it might be useful for younger documentarists and researchers.

During his entire career as a filmmaker Joris Ivens kept the papers that are produced when making a film. Since 1964 there has been mention of the so-called Joris Ivens Archives, put together by Joris Ivens himself with the very active co-operation of Jan de Vaal, the then director of the Netherlands Film Museum, and Tineke de Vaal. These archives were continually extended because Ivens continued to make films. From all corners of the world he sent material to Jan de Vaal to be deposited in the archives and Jan and Tineke de Vaal personally saw to it that the archives were ever extended.

In accordance with Joris Ivens' desire to deposit his archives with an independent institution the European Foundation Joris Ivens was established in 1990, a year after his death, with the purpose to manage, inventory and open up the Joris Ivens Archives. Till 1995 the Joris Ivens Archives were deposited with the Netherlands Film Museum. After the Foundation had moved into office premises with filing space the transfer took place in two stages. The first part of the Joris Ivens Archives was transferred in January 1995 and in 1996 followed the second part. After a reorganisation and the removal of the Foundation to Nijmegen in 1997 all the archives of the European Foundation Joris Ivens and consequently the Joris Ivens Archives are deposited with the Municipal Archives of Nijmegen, where they can also be consulted.

When the Joris Ivens Archives were still housed with the Netherlands Film Museum several attempts have been made to make an inventory of the archives, but they were cancelled. The system behind these attempts could not be traced anymore. In all, that means the part of the archives that was transferred to the Foundation in 1995 together with the part that had been kept by the State Archives Flevoland till September 1996, 64 boxes with records, 18 poster cases and some more separate posters, a suitcase and a camera with accessories had to be inventoried. Beside with reference to the photographs, which had been stored in covers by subject (but not yet described) the disorder of the records made a completely new inventory necessary. For this purpose Frank van der Made drew up a plan serving as guideline.

After a first observation with regard to the amount and the physical condition of the material a distinction was made between the various collections (records, photographs, newspaper clippings, books, etc.) according to archival principles and nails were removed from the collection and it was cleared out as much as possible. In a next stage an inventory was made of the collections and electronic files were made with the help of askSam software. The inventory of the records took place on the basis of lists of inclusion made by the Netherlands Film Museum before the transfer of the archives. The descriptions used in those lists often appeared incomplete and sometimes even incorrect. A cover with records had to be regularly divided because four or five or even more subjects had been put together under one heading. Sometimes records had been wrongly stored with the incorrect subject. This underlined once more the necessity of a thorough inventory of the Joris Ivens Archives.

The inventory presented here concerns the archival material of the Joris Ivens Archives, deposited with the European Foundation Joris Ivens. Separate inventories will be made of the other collections (photographs, newspaper clippings, posters, objects) as these collections need another description. With reference to the present inventory some more detailed lists will be made, which will be added at a later date.

The organisation of the records and their specification took place according to the principles applicable to archives, taking into account the specific terms used in film productions (such as "synopsis", "shotlist", "scenario", etc.). It is obvious for a filmmaker to organise his work on the basis of the various film projects. Since this is often the first criterion visitors want to use to consult the archives we did not deviate from this. Apart from the film projects there are, however, a large number of other subjects requiring a separate classification.

A first distinction has been made between 'documents of a general nature', 'documents concerning specific subjects' and 'documents unrelated to the archives'. Among the 'documents of a general nature' we find notebooks, diaries, correspondence and general notes. The 'documents concerning specific subjects' are divided into the sections 'private matters', 'employment and additional jobs' and the section 'career as filmmaker', which, as could be expected, occupies the major part of the inventory. The section 'documents unrelated to the archives' deals with documents that for a somewhat unclear reason found themselves in the Joris Ivens Archives and could not be taken up in another section. The main sections are again divided into sub-categories that should enlarge the accessibility and arrangement of the archives. The section 'career as filmmaker' has the most extensive division into (sub)categories, among which the category by film title.

The titles of the main and sub categories are generally self-evident. The numbering of the category 'film projects' needs some explanation. After the number of the main category (2.3.02) the category number of every film project has another four digits: the first two refer to the last two digits of the year in which the film was first performed. The last two digits indicate whether it was the first film of that year, or, if that is the question, a later one. The film titles refer to the original title of the film.

The inventory numbers are noted in the margin. Within the sections the records have been chronologically arranged. Every description begins where possible in the editorial form, if necessary preceded by the development stage, followed by a description of its contents. If the year is unclear of one or more records the indication "n.d." (no date) is given. The final form is positioned against the right hand side margin.