Geographers on Film
{{Short description|Archival series of interviews with geographers}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Geographers on Film.jpg
| producer = Maynard Weston Dow, and
Nancy Freeman Dow
}}
Geographers on Film is an archival collection and series of more than 550 filmed interviews with experts of the geographic scholar community.{{cite web |url=https://studylib.net/doc/8487188/geographers-on-film---plymouth-state-university |title=GEOGRAPHERS ON FILM: 292 CAPSULE COMMENTS: Visual Record and Archival Resource |date=August 27, 2003 |first1=Maynard Weston |last1=Dow |publisher=Plymouth State University|accessdate=December 31, 2022}}{{Cite web |work=Plymouth Magazine|publisher=Plymouth State University |url=https://www.plymouth.edu/magazine/uncategorized/wes-dow-honored-for-geographers-on-film/|title=Wes Dow Honored for Geographers On Film|date=October 20, 2008|quote=GOF productions include 305 film and videotape GOF interviews (149.88 hours) of the thought and reflection of 273 geographers, plus 240 GOF Additional Holdings (137.75 hours), which feature distinctive themes (varying from 10-196 minutes) and embody 130 supplemental geographers expanding the number to 393 geographers incorporated within GOF.}}{{sfn|DeVivo|2014|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oaeDBQAAQBAJ&dq=Geographers+on+Film&pg=PA196 196]}}{{sfn|Boyle|2021|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7IkmEAAAQBAJ&dq=geographers+on+film&pg=PR33 xxxiii, 55, 130, 166, 102, 176]}}{{sfn|Mannix|Burchsted|2015|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qsPVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 123]}}{{sfn|Johnston|Sidaway|2015|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wsA6DAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Geographers+on+Film%22&pg=PA456 XXI, 456, 511]}}{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Geoffrey J. |date=2013-01-01 |title=Maynard Weston Dow (1929–2011) and "Geographers on Film" |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2012.732480 |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1080/00045608.2012.732480 |s2cid=140639530 |issn=0004-5608|url-access=subscription }} This is a 40 year long initiative.{{cite journal |quote=A key intervention here is the “filmgeographies” collective, initiated by Jessica Jacobs and Joseph Palis, that grew out of a regular screening festival for short films held in collaboration with the American Association of Geographers. Other important resources include the “Geographers on film” initiative, underway for over forty years, with the archives co-curated by the AAG and the Library of Congress.|first1=Matthew |last1=Gandy |year=2021 |title=Film as Method in the Geohumanities |journal=GeoHumanities |volume=7 |number=2 |pages=605-624 at 622 |publisher=Taylor & Francis|doi=10.1080/2373566X.2021.1898287 |doi-access=free }}
Production
The series was created as an historical and educational resource by geographer and professor emeritus Maynard Weston Dow (1929 - 2011) of Plymouth State University, and his wife, Nancy Freeman Dow.{{Cite web |title=Geographers on Film Series Tells the Story of the 20th Century in America PR 18-076 |issn=0731-3527 |date=June 18, 2018 |first1=Benny |last1=Seda-Galarza |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-076/geographers-on-film-series-tells-the-story-of-the-20th-century-in-america/2018-06-18/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} The series was supported in part by the American Association of Geographers,{{cite web|url=http://www.aag.org/galleries/meridian-files/200804Meridian.pdf|title=Archiving Accessing Geography's History|date=April 2008|publisher=Association of American Geographers|accessdate=2009-08-02|archive-date=2012-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510221933/http://www.aag.org/galleries/meridian-files/200804Meridian.pdf|url-status=dead}} the National Science Foundation, Plymouth State University, and the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, of Boston. It has been ongoing or 40 years.
Synopsis
The series "highlights leading voices that transformed the discipline of cartography and geography in the 20th century in America."
A prếcis of the collection's point was penned by Maynard Weston Dow:
"August 1970 marked the origin of Geographers on Film (GOF). Participants speak for the record (varying from ten to eighty-nine minutes) that samples of the geographical experience are maintained on video; the ultimate concomitant goal is full transcription. The project resulted from teaching thought and methodology courses; students therein would pore over the writings of cognoscenti to acquire an appreciation for the genesis and development of geography as a field of learning. After considering the advantage of having Aristotle on film it was decided to secure in a permanent medium something of the more fertile minds of modern geography. In the beginning concentration was on elder statespersons, thus coverage spans much of 20th Century geography."
The Library of Congress and the American Association of Geographers hold the films in their collections and have both preserved and digitized them. Initial work for digitization of the films and hosting them on a publicly accessible website was undertaken by a student at Plymouth State College in 1997 as part of her senior project in her Computer Science degree program,[https://turing.plymouth.edu/srprojects/search.php "Plymouth State University CS & IT Senior Projects"] on which she collaborated with Dr. Dow. "Geographers on Film are a collection of recorded interviews conducted with hundreds of geographers from August 1970 until the mid-1980s."{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/geographers-on-film/about-this-collection/|title=About this Collection | Geographers on Film | Digital Collections | Library of Congress|publisher=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} The National Gallery of the Spoken Word at Michigan State University has a copy, at least some of which is available on line. {{efn-ua|"Copies of the GOF collection are deposited in the National Gallery of the Spoken Word (NGSW) at Michigan State University. The Gallery facilitates worldwide utilization of GOF via digitization of the series by providing Internet access to the audio and selected video images. The NGSWis an expansive repository of aural resources, a NSF-funded online fully searchable database of significant spoken word collections."}}
As a complement to Geographers on Film, "sixteen thematic video presentations have evolved" which include compilations from the larger oeuvre.
''25 Archival Gems''
Short clips from 25 of the interviews are available as a 35-minute, streaming video via the AAG website and YouTube.[http://www.aag.org/cs/projects_and_programs/geographers_on_film/25_archival_ "25 Archival Gems from the first 25 years of Geographers on Film,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117164130/http://www.aag.org/cs/projects_and_programs/geographers_on_film/25_archival_ |date=2015-01-17 }} AAG website. Accessed: January 16, 2015. Geographers featured in this video include, in order of appearance:[http://www.aag.org/galleries/default-file/25GemsInterviews.pdf "Geographers on Film: 25 Archival Gems" (listing)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226134407/http://www.aag.org/galleries/default-file/25GemsInterviews.pdf |date=2010-12-26 }}, AAG website. Accessed: January 17, 2015.
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
- Carl O. Sauer
- John B. Leighly
- Jan O. M. Broek
- J. E. Spencer
- Fred B. Kniffen
- Clyde F. Kohn
- Richard Hartshorne
- Geoffrey J. Martin
- Preston E. James
- F. Webster McBryde
- Fred Lukermann
- Marvin W. Mikesell
- Melvin G. Marcus
- Hildegard Binder Johnson
- Arthur H. Robinson
- David G. Basile
- Edward B. Espenshade
- Wilbur Zelinsky
- Gilbert F. White
- Chauncy D. Harris
- Edward L. Ullman
- Homer Aschmann
- Jean Gottmann
- Richard J. Chorley
- Thomas Walter Freeman
{{div col end}}
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}
=Citations=
{{reflist|30em}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7IkmEAAAQBAJ&dq=geographers+on+film&pg=PR33 |pages=xxxiii, 55, 130, 166, 102, 176 |title=Human Geography: An Essential Introduction |first1=Mark |last1=Boyle |isbn=9781119374725 |date=March 29, 2021 |type=ebook |publisher=Wiley |language=English}}
- {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaeDBQAAQBAJ&dq=Geographers+on+Film&pg=PA196 |title=Leadership in American Academic Geography: The Twentieth Century |first1=Michael S. |last1=DeVivo |isbn=9780739199138 |date=November 14, 2014 |type=ebook |publisher=Lexington Books |language=English |page=196}}
- {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsA6DAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Geographers+on+Film%22&pg=PA456 |pages=XXI, 456, 511 |title=Geography and Geographers: Anglo-American Human Geography Since 1945 |first1=Ron |last1=Johnston |first2=James D. |last2=Sidaway |isbn=9781134065875 |date=December 22, 2015 |type=ebook |publisher=Taylor & Francis |language=English}}
- {{Cite book |last1=Mannix |first1=Mary K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qsPVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 |title=Guide to Reference in Genealogy and Biography |last2=Burchsted |first2=Fred |date=January 14, 2015 |publisher=American Library Association |page=123 |isbn=978-0-8389-1295-9 |language=en}}
External links
- [http://www.aag.org/cs/gof Association of American Geographers website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150306040109/http://www.aag.org/cs/gof |date=2015-03-06 }}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtumCOM73a4 "25 Archival Gems of the First 25 Years of Geographers on Film,"] YouTube.com
{{Geography topics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geographers On Film}}
Category:American Association of Geographers
Category:Biographical films about writers
Category:Film archives in the United States