Archival Film and Video at CU Boulder Libraries: Digital Collections

Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell (1866-1948), professor of zoology at the University of Colorado, was known internationally for his work in zoology, botany, ecology, and paleontology. He is best known for his work on bees. This digital collection focuses on his field work at the Florissant Fossil Beds in Teller County, Colorado, where Cockerell excavated collected thousands of specimens, nearly 2,000 of which are now held by the University of Colorado Boulder Museum of Natural History. Included in this digital collection are Cockerell’s research notes, letters from his colleagues, and lantern slide images of Florissant specimens. Motion picture films include educational pictures on plant, animal species, and insect species - produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Eastman Classroom Films, and other sources - as well as travelogues and images of indigenous people. Some reels contain original footage created by or featuring Theodore D.A., Wilmatte Porter Cockerell, and other researchers. Note: Navigate to the end of the collection for video files.

Internationally celebrated solar astronomer and professor of Astro-Geophysics, Walter Orr Roberts (1915-1990), was a principal figure in many scientific developments in Colorado. Superintendent of the High Altitude Observatory in Climax, Colorado from 1940 to 1957, Roberts served as director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder from its founding in 1960 until 1968. This curated collection of material from the Walter Orr Roberts Papers reflects the major research and everyday operation of the High Altitude Observatory, the founding of NCAR, and the design and construction of the first solar coronograph telescope in the Western Hemisphere, among other topics. Note: Navigate to the end of the collection for video files.

Matthew Fox (b. 1940-) is a theologian, priest, author, and activist whose theology endorsed Creation Spirituality. This collection consists of audiovisual materials from the Matthew Fox Papers. These materials primarily include recorded talks and events featuring Matthew Fox, but also consist of music, interviews, memorials, radio shows, and films relevant to the collection and Matthew Fox’s work.

This collection contains media material from the papers of Rabbi Leah Novick, a notable spiritual leader whose pioneering research and teachings on the Shekhinah, the “Divine Feminine” has been instrumental to incorporating the feminine into contemporary Jewish liturgy and ceremonial rituals. As one of the oldest female rabbis in the country, and ordained by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of Jewish Renewal, she has been a driving force in the movement for over four decades speaking, writing, and leading meditation and guided visualization workshops. These moving image and audio recordings cover topics such as angels, Chanukah, Easter-Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and the Divine Feminine among other topics.

The Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi Collection highlights the activities and interdisciplinary knowledge of the founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement. The physical archive from which the digital collection is derived contains 5,000 manuscript pages, 500 audio cassettes, 500 photographs, 50 VHS tapes, and 25 posters and advertisements covering subjects as diverse as Jewish mysticism, Hasidism, spiritual eldering, interreligious dialogue, psychology of religion and paradigm shift.

Materials consist of video and audio cassette interview tapes, interview transcripts, and slides concerning the Colorado Coal Project. The Coal Project was initiated in 1974 by two University of Colorado graduate students, Eric Margolis and Ron McMahan, who conducted interviews with former Colorado coal miners. The project was made possible by funding from the Colorado Humanities Program and the National Endowment for the Humanities. A three volume video was produced from the raw data telling the story of coal mining in Colorado from the northern fields to the southern fields.

This collection contains motion picture film and video recordings created and collected by the National Farmers Union (1950s-1990s) and by Green Thumb Inc. (1970s-1990s), a program sponsored by the National Farmers Union (NFU) to promote employment opportunities for older workers, often in rural areas. The collection includes public service announcements and promotional videos about NFU and Green Thumb programs, recordings of NFU conventions and political speeches, and other films and videos on issues of interest to global and domestic farmers and farm owners.

This collection contains media material from the papers of Ann Roy, an American artist, activist, poet, feminist, and student of liberation theology who lived in Mexico from 1958 until her death in 2006. The moving image film and audio recordings reflect Roy's experiences living in Tepoztlán, Morelos, a center for international spiritual seekers offering mystic adventurism and hallucinatory experiences. There she worked with the astrologer John Starr Cooke and the feminist Margaret Fiedler. The collection includes filmed fantasy Super-8s of her young friends - who were exploring identity and magic, often under the influence of LSD and psilocybin mushrooms - as well as recordings from Roy's time teaching courses at the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC), founded by the former Catholic monsignor Ivan Illich, in Cuernavaca.

Clifford P. Westermeier (1910-1968) and Therese S. Westermeier (1902-1986), both former professors at the University of Colorado Boulder, were prolific collectors on the topics of cowboys, rodeo history, and the American West. This collection contains photographs, photo-postcards, and original motion picture film related to rodeo history, with particular emphasis on women in rodeo and the Rocky Mountain region. Some material comes from the personal collections of trick riders and rodeo performers Jim Eskew, Florence Randolph, Leonard Stroud, and Mayme Saunders Stroud, which had been obtained by the Westermeiers in the course of their research. NOTE: Navigate to the end of the collection for video files

The Ira Current Collection contains material from amateur photographer and motion picture filmmaker Ira Current. CU Boulder alumnus Ira Current (1910-2009) was a chemist for the Agfa Ansco Company, where he was head of the Industrial Photo Division and tested many products produced by the company. Upon retirement he began teaching photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He is the author of three photography books and co-author of another, he holds five patents in photographic technology, and he was the long-time president of the Binghamton Camera Club, an amateur film and photography society in Binghamton, New York. The motion picture films in this collection including amateur narrative films, Agfa Ansco company films, and extensive home movies, including Colorado travel films

This collection contains silent 16mm travel films created and collected by Boulder-based businessman Leroy H. Miller, ca. 1920s-1930s. Miller traveled throughout the United States, South America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, often aboard planned cruises. His films were later screened with accompanying lectures to various social clubs and organizations in the Boulder area. NOTE: Reels in this collection include both original footage by Leroy H. Miller and footage acquired by Miller from other sources, all from the perspective of American or European travelers. In the 1930s, intertitles were added to the original footage, providing identification, background information, and commentary, sometimes including derogatory or potentially offensive language. The language used and opinions shared in these films do not reflect the current preferred terminology of individuals of marginalized identities, or the values and norms of the CU Boulder Archives.

Peter Garcia Ossorio (1926-2007) was an American psychologist best known for his development of the field of Descriptive Psychology. Ossorio taught at CU Boulder from 1961-1991 and was also involved in robotics, astrophysics, and artificial intelligence research. Digital collections include audio and video lectures, interviews, and other events

This collection provides access to individual moving image film and video material from diverse Rare and Distinctive Collections, including educational films, advocacy videos, scientific research footage, home movies, and scientific research footage.