FROM EPHEMERAL TO LEGITIMATE: AN INQUIRY INTO TELEVISION’S MATERIAL TRACES IN ARCHIVAL SPACES, 1950s -1970s by LAUREN MICHELLE BRATSLAVSKY A DISSERTATION Presented to the School of Journalism and Communication and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2013 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Lauren Michelle Bratslavsky Title: From Ephemeral to Legitimate: An Inquiry into Television’s Material Traces in Archival Spaces, 1950s -1970s This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the School of Journalism and Communication by: Dr. Janet Wasko Chairperson Dr. Carol Stabile Core Member Dr. Julianne Newton Core Member Dr. Daniel Pope Institutional Representative and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research and Innovation; Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2013 ii © 2013 Lauren M. Bratslavsky This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (United States) License. iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Lauren Michelle Bratslavsky Doctor of Philosophy School of Journalism and Communication September 2013 Title: From Ephemeral to Legitimate: An Inquiry into Television’s Material Traces in Archival Spaces, 1950s -1970s The dissertation offers a historical inquiry about how television’s material traces entered archival spaces. Material traces refer to both the moving image products and the assortment of documentation about the processes of television as industrial and creative endeavors. By identifying the development of television-specific archives and collecting areas in the 1950s to the 1970s, the dissertation contributes to television studies, specifically pointing out how television materials were conceived as cultural and historical materials “worthy” of preservation and academic study. Institutions, particularly academic and cultural institutions with archival spaces, conferred television with a status of legitimacy alongside the ascent of television studies in the 1960s and 1970s. Institutions were sites of legitimation, however, television’s entrance into these archival spaces depended on the work of various individuals within academic, archival, and industrial structures who grappled with defining television’s intangible archival values and dealt with material obstacles. In examining several major institutions and the factors at play in archiving television, we can trace how television was valued as worthy of academic study and conceptualized as historical evidence. The following research questions structured this historical inquiry: How did different institutions approach iv television as archivable in the 1950s to the 1970s? Who were the determinators within these institutions, who could conceptualize television as archivable? What were the factors that enabled television’s material traces to enter archival spaces? How did television directly or indirectly enter these archival spaces? Drawing on historical methods, the research primarily examined the archives of the archives, meaning institutional documents that illuminated the archival process and perceptions about television and media. The dissertation focused on five case studies: the Museum of Modern Art, the Mass Communications History Center at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, the UCLA Film and Television Archives, and the Museum of Broadcasting. These case studies represent the various institutional contexts that applied an archival logic to television. Cultural institutions, academic archives, and industry-initiated archives worked as sites to legitimate television, transforming ephemeral broadcast moments into lasting historical and cultural material. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Lauren Michelle Bratslavsky GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Miami University, Oxford, Ohio DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Communication and Society, 2013, University of Oregon Master of Science, Communication and Society, 2009, University of Oregon Bachelor of Philosophy, Interdisciplinary Studies, 2005, Miami University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Television Studies Media History Political Economy of Communication Cultural Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2007-2013 Communications Graduate Intern, Climate Leadership Initiative, University of Oregon, 2008-2010 Americorp VISTA, Youth Media Coordinator, Media Bridges, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2006-2007 Communications Director, Community Development Corporation of Greater Cincinnati, 2005-2006 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Lorry I. Lokey Scholarship, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2012 vi Warren Price Memorial Scholarship, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2011 Columbia Scholarship, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon 2009 - 2012 Kappa Tau Alpha Honor Society, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2010 PUBLICATIONS: Bratslavsky L., and Wasko J. 2012. “What Is Television? An Introduction.” Journal of Communication Inquiry. 36, no. 4: 271-275. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to all the people who have guided me through my doctoral studies. I wish to express sincere appreciation to my adviser, Janet Wasko, for her support and dedication to my graduate work. We have worked together on many occasions and I greatly appreciate her guidance, wit, and leadership. I also would like to thank the members of my committee. Thank you to Carol Stabile for her knowledge and encouragement throughout the process, Julianne Newton for her insights and compassion, and Daniel Pope for his invaluable counsel. I am also grateful to Leslie Steeves for her enduring support and the School of Journalism and Communication, which generously supported my research and development. The University of Oregon Library and Special Collections has been especially integral in fostering my interest in archives. I would have never known where to begin and how to proceed without James Fox, Linda Long, Marilyn Reeves, Bruce Tab, Andrew Bonamici, Thomas Stave, Paul Frantz, and especially Elizabeth Peterson. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and supporting my project. At times, I wish I had gone the route of library science, but you have all reassured me of my scholarly pursuits. And a huge thank you to the library for connecting me with Peg Lynch. It was an honor to meet you, Peg. This dissertation would not be possible without the encouragement and guidance from various people I have met at archives and universities along way. A great big thank you to Michele Hilmes, who enthusiastically bounced ideas about this dissertation from the early stages, provided excellent suggestions, and was integral in my first research trip to Madison, Wisconsin. I am greatly indebted to Inger Stole and Robert McChesney for their hospitality and mentorship during my time in Madison. At the Wisconsin Historical viii Society, I wish to thank Jon Nelson for generously providing me with old office files and Harry Miller for his insights and guidance in the archive, especially in helping me locate the essential administrative files of the Society. I could not have done this study without the support from Mary Huelsbeck at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, who was also very generous in providing me with office files. Tino Balio graciously offered his time and shared his experiences about his time as director at the WCFTR. I wish to thank the very helpful and encouraging Charlotte Brown, the university archivist at UCLA. Dan Einstein at the UCLA Film and Television Archive was a great help in talking about a history of archiving television. Thank you to the kind and helpful staff at the Museum of Modern Art archives as well as Luke Buresch at the Rockefeller Archive Center. I was fortunate to meet with Ron Simon and Jane Klain at the Paley Center for Media, who kindly offered their insights and provided materials. Overall, a big thank you to all of the staff at various archives whom I have contacted for help and relied on to navigate the archival realm. I could not have accomplished any of this without my family and friends. Thank you to my parents, Peter and Sophia, who have always placed the value of knowledge and love above anything else, and my brother, Mark, for his loving words of encouragement. My sincerest gratitude to my accountabilibuddies – Kelley Totten, Katie Rodgers, and Miriam Abelson. I owe an endless stream of gratitude to my friends in the school – new and old, you’ve all been tremendous, whether intellectual sparring in class, blowing off steam in the office or the gym, or enjoying the luxuries of breakfasts and beers. Most of all, thank you to my partner, David, for enduring the brunt of my journey and for always putting life in perspective. ix For David. And television. x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 An Illustrative Case Study: Ethel and Albert .................................................................. 3! The Complexities of Archives and Historical Evidence ................................................. 8! Towards