Graphical version

Goldsmiths College, University of London

ROSSELL, Deac (b 1944)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 2603 ROSSELL

Held at: Goldsmiths College, University of London

Title: ROSSELL, Deac (b 1944)

Date(s): 1970-1994

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: c. 30 linear metres

Name of creator(s): Rossell | Deac | b 1944 | Lecturer in European Studies

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Deac Rossell is Lecturer in European Studies in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the former Head of Programme Planning at the National Film Theatre, London, and was National Special Projects Officer for the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, California. He has worked at the UCLA Film and Television Achive, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and at the Boston Phoenix and Boston Globe. He has taught at Tufts University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the European Film School in Ebeltoft, Denmark. The author of books on the invention of moving pictures, the chronophotographer Ottomar Anschütz, and the magic lantern, he is an active contributor to journals, encyclopaedias and conferences on photography, early cinema and pre-cinematic topics, with work published in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

A substantial collection on cinema compiled by Deac Rossell, consisting of a collection of published books, pamphlets and ephemera and a collection of manuscripts. The print collection is wholly international in scope, containing predominantly post-1950 material, including many reference works, on the history of motion pictures. The collection has both diversity and depth. There are significant holdings on several topics, including animated films, documentary, studio histories, British cinema, Asian cinemas, Indian cinema, Arab cinema and black films and filmmaking of all types including African-American cinema and African national cinemas. Within these thematic groups, the few English-language histories or director studies are mostly present, sometimes backed up with substantial works in other languages; a feature of most of these themes are monographs on individual filmmakers from small publishers and/or unusual sources. There is also a group of film festival catalogues from the 1980s and 1990s, where there are often significant essays on national cinemas or current productions which have never been published in book form - such as the excellent writing on Hong Kong films and filmmakers from the elaborate catalogues published by the film festival in that city. Extensive filmographies can be found in the collection of directories and festival programmes from around the world. There are more than 850 books in total and around 1,000 pamphlets and programmes. There is a collection of posters included and also 10 manuscripts, including that of Deac Rossell’s work 'Living pictures: origins of the movies', 1996.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material:

Various, mainly English.

System of arrangement:

Broadly arranged thematically. The pamphlets are arranged by country or region.

Conditions governing access:

Open for consultation.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copying policy is available in the library.

Finding aids:

Cataloguing of the books is in progress. A list of the posters is available in the library. Other materials are unlisted.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Has not been appraised.

Accruals:

Further accruals are possible.

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated to the Library in 2008 by Deac Rossell.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

Has parts ROSSELL/PO (posters) and ROSSELL/PA (manuscripts)

Publication note:

Deac Rossell (1998), Living pictures: origins of the movies Albany : State University of New York Press

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Description by Jacqueline Cooke, Research Support Librarian

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Film making | Cinema
Cultural heritage

Personal names
Rossell | Deac | b 1944 | Lecturer in European Studies

Corporate names

Places