One of the most comprehensive industrial film company collections now lives in Delaware.
And in this week’s Arts Playlist, Hagley curator Kevin Martin joins Delaware Public Media’s Kelli Steele discuss the Cinecraft Productions collection.
Hagley Museum in Wilmington now owns one of the most comprehensive collections of industrial films.
The Cinecraft Productions collection is Hagley’s largest ever motion picture acquisition and includes films not held by any other library or archive.
“What we acquired from them was the film portion of their collection," said Hagley curator Kevin Martin. "So this is about 6,000 cans of 16mm film, it probably contains about 1,500 unique shows and programs that they did. So the films cover a period - from the - roughly the 1940’s into the 1970’s.”
Martin says those films range from 30-minute to hour-long programs shown in classrooms, auditoriums, churches and even board meetings.
It also includes TV commercials from 1949 and scripts used to produce those commercials.
Martin says the collection also includes films like “The Romance of Iron and Steel” (1938) and “Milestones of Motoring” (1954).
He notes that many celebrities appeared in these productions, including Merv Griffin, Tim Conway and Danny Kaye.
Martin says Hagley is processing the collection, which was donated over a year ago by Cinecraft board chair Neil McCormick and president and CFO Maria Keckan.
To explore a portion of the Cinecraft Collection and to learn more, click here.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
