'HET ARCHIEF' and our Archives

A new building
On last September 21 the new building of the Municipal Archives Nijmegen was officially and festively opened. A new location and a new name: Het Archief. In the new building our Foundation has found a first-rate place to work. Here Huub Jansen will spend a lot of time make the inventory of our collections. The new ultra-modern depot is much bigger than the depot in the Arsenaal, the former archival building. The Foundation has now more space to house the ever-growing collections. When it was opened our Foundation exhibited several treasures from the Joris Ivens Archives.
Hans Wegner Collection
The new building is an inspiring environment to proceed with the work at full speed. And the first result has been achieved: Huub Jansen has listed the archival pieces of the Hans Wegner Collection. When this newsletter appears the inventory of the collection will have been published as well. There is still a lot of archival work waiting to be done. Thousands of photographs and clippings must still be listed. This fall we have started to digitalize our collections and to put them on microfilm. This process will take several years, but in the end the complete archives can be digitally consulted. Doing so will kill two birds with one stone: using the most modern technology the photographs and documents have been duplicated with a view to long-lasting conservation. Besides the archives will be more easily available because with the help of a computer all documents can be consulted on the screen. This also helps conservation as the original documents and photographs will not have to be consulted so often any more.

Office
In May, Bram Relouw, a graduate from the course Film and Performing Arts of the University of Nijmegen, took the place of Annemiek Nobel, who went on a world trip. Annemiek, thank you for all your good care and effort. Bram Relouw will be occupied with the educational website and do secretarial work.

Filmmuseum
Board members of the Foundation and the new director of the Film Museum, Rien Hagen, will meet on November 30. The purpose of the meeting is to end the problem of the archives which has been going on for years once and for all. Signing several agreements will confirm that the Film Museum does not have any claim of ownership on documents from the Joris Ivens Archives and that the ownership of the interviews with and about Ivens has been laid down. Several agreements of future co-operation will be signed as well. The Film Museum is one of thirteen partners in the Filmography Research Network, which the Foundation has established. The Film Museum will participate in the DVD project with Ivens classics.

New prints
New prints will be made of 12-14 Ivens films. The Foundation has ordered to make new duplicates with English Subtitling for the retrospective tour in the United States and Canada. Among other a new version will be prepared of ...A VALPARAISO, which up till now was shown with a length of 23 or 28 minutes. The original length however was 37 minutes en this one will be shown during this tour. The Film museum will make new copies of 8 - 10 well known films of Ivens to distribute in Holland.

Bibliography
Annemiek Nobel has compiled an extensive bibliography with more than 750 titles of literature on Joris Ivens. It can be found on the website of the Foundation. It mentions monographies, dissertations, books, articles, autobiographies, catalogues, and inventory lists. The bibliography already appeared to be very useful for researchers.

Back to Contents Newsletter 7, 2002