By UIUC RBML Staff
Title: Perry Miller Adato papers and films, ca. 1968-1982
ID: 01/01/MSS00001
Creator: Adato, Perry Miller (1920-2018)
Extent: 457.5 Cubic Feet
Languages: English [eng], Spanish;Castilian [spa], French [fre]
Perry Miller Adato (1920-2018, b. Yonkers, New York) was a prolific documentarian, whose work as a film researcher, distributor, producer, and director spanned roughly seven decades, beginning in the 1940s through the 2010s. Best known for her WNET/Thirteen documentaries exploring the interior lives of influential artists, poets, and writers of the 20th century, Adato's accomplishments have earned her numerous accolades. Notable achievements include an Emmy award for her directorial debut, Dylan Thomas - The World I Breathe in 1968 and a Most Outstanding Achievement in Documentary award in 1978 from the Director's Guild of America for Georgia O'Keeffe (1977). Adato was also the first woman in the history of the Director's Guild to win this prestigious designation. She has also been cited as a major influence on the stylistic development of American documentary cinema. Her unique style choices to use narration and reenactment to propel the film narrative would go on to define contemporary documentary filmmaking practices that are canonized today by documentarians such as Kens Burns, who cites Adato as one of the major influences of his work.
Adato's tireless career as a producer and director continued into her 90s, leaving behind dynamic artifacts that give us an intimate look at 20th-century legends such as Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Carl Sandburg, Georgia O'Keeffe, and the Eames among many others. The Perry Miller Adato collection at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was acquired in 1985 by the Illinois History and Lincolns Collection curator, John Hoffman, at a time when the repository was merged with the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The IHLC had collaborated with Adato extensively on her documentary, Carl Sandburg: Echoes and Silences (1982), assisting her with locating source material and research advisors. In the early 1980s, Hoffman and Adato agreed to transfer her documentary production assets to the Rare Book and Manuscript Library from New York City. The collection (457.5 cubic feet) covers her work as a director and producer from 1970 to 1982. The collection contains original film production elements such as 16mm and 35mm film, production-related documents such as story boards, 35mm slides, stills, extensive research material, NEH grant proposals, scripts, broadcast master tapes, and correspondence with documentary subjects such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Paloma Picasso.
Access Restrictions: Open to researchers. Select folders are restricted. These folders are marked as "Restricted" in the folder title.
Use Restrictions:
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The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.
Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would damage materials or involve violation of copyright law.
Related Materials: Audiovisual Inventory List - Current as of 5/26/2022. For more information please see https://uofi.box.com/s/5ui7e1vh6paqeg358k9tcx2l7spsmk7u.
Processing Information: https://wiki.cites.uiuc.edu/wiki/display/librare/Home
Finding Aid Revision History:
In April 2022, the original finding aid was retired after a 2 year reprocessing effort by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library and Media Preservation Unit. The legacy finding aid has been left online for reference purposes only.
After an item-level media preserveration assessement of all film elements was completed during the 2020-2022 school year, the finding aid in its existing form was published. Work was completed by Ari Negovsch (Media Preservation Graduate Assistant), Siobhan McKissic (Archival and Literary Manuscript Specialist, RBML), Josh Harris (Media Preservation Coordinator), and Cristina Kuhn (Media Preservation & Digital Reformatting Project Manager).
Manuscripts were generated either in tandem with specific productions or as research materials for Adato's work as a director/producer for WNET. Each manuscript box was shipped to UIUC during 1982-1984, together with corresonding audiovisual materials. When analyzing the collection, it's important to consider the context in which they were created, as well as the phase of production that they were created in (pre-production, production, or post-production).
Subseries are as follows:
Sub-series 1: Picasso: A Painter's Diary, 1980
Sub-series 2: Carl Sandburg: Echoes and Silences, 1982
Sub-series 3: Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me, 1970
Sub-series 4: Georgia O'Keeffe, 1977
Sub-series 5: An Eames Celebration - Several Worlds of Charles and Ray Eames, 1973
Sub-series 6: Dylan Thomas - The World I Breathe, 1968
Sub-series 7: Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts, 1986
Sub-series 8: Mary Cassatt - Impressionist From Philadelphia, 1978
Sub-series 9: Frankenthaler - Toward a New Climate, 1978
Sub-series 10: The Originals: Women in Art, 1979
Sub-series 11: The Great Radio Comedians, 1972
Sub-series 12: 10th Anniversary Celebration of Great Performances, 1982
Sub-series 13: Early WNET Projects
Sub-series 14: Dateline 13
Sub-series 15: Business Records
Sub-series 16: Personal Papers
Sub-series 17: Art Programs
Sub-series 18: Film Programs
Sub-series 19: Rehoused Documents from Film Cans
Sub-series 20: Original Housing
Sub-series 21: Original Cores
Box 30 was consolidated and contains the following original finding aid names:
Item 34-01: Box S-1 stills of Barcelona (34 slides)
Item 34-02: Box S-2 stills of Horta (29 slides)
Item 34-03: Box S-3 stills of Barcelona (34 slides)
Item 34-04: Box S-4 stills of Barcelona (35 slides)
Item 34-05: Box S-5 stills of Barcelona (35 slides)
Item 34-06: Box S-6 stills of Horta (31 slides)
Item 34-07: Box S-7 stills of Spain-bullfight (35 slides)
Item 34-08: Box S-8 stills of Horta (6 slides)
Item 34-09: Box F-1 stills of South of France (34 slides)
Item 34-10: Box F-2 stills of South of France (22 slides)
Item 34-11: Box F-3 stills of Vauvenargues (54 slides)
Item 34-12: Box F-4 stills of South of France (29 slides)
Item 34-13: Box F-5 stills of South of France (36 slides)
Item 34-14: Box F-6 stills of South of France (36 slides)
Item 34-15: Box F-7 stills of La Californie (37 slides)
Item 34-16: Box Fogg slides (5 slides)
Item 34-17: Lieberman Slides shot Dec. 1979
Box 17 contains items from original finding aid name:
Sub-series 5:Stills
Item 10-04: HE 1-12, 24-50, 50-64, 65-69, 70x-99, 101-216, 300-315, 400-409, 410-413, 414-416, 417-420A
Item 10-05: 421-424, 425-428, 429-437, 438-442, 501-509, 511-555, 600-615, 700-710, 711-720, 721-763
Item 10-06: 900-909, 910-919, 920-929, 930-939, 940-949, 950-959, 960-969, 970-979, 980-989, 990-999
Item 11-01: 1000-1009, 1010-1020, 2000-2015, FL1-10, FL11-20, FL21-40, Z1-23, FL2005 etc.
Item 11-02: Act I, II, 802, 850, 5859-1910 Wild gert, N G Stills
Item 11-03: B1-B9, B10-B19, B20-B29, B30-B39, B40-B45, Prism Shots FL30, 609A, 609B, 607, 2015
Item 11-04: X1-X5b, X6-X10B, X11-X15, X16-X20, X21-X24, X25-X31, X32-X37, X38-X43A, X44-49A, X50-X52
Item 11-05: Y1-Y5, Y6-Y15, Y16-Y25, Y26-32
Item 11-06: Stills not used (loose in folder)
Folder titles reflect original program title. This is an antiquated term understood as derogatory today to describe Black and African-American people.
Includes pamphlets, news clippings, catalogs, magazines, and brochures. Catalogs include: Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai Birth Publications 1963-1964, Negro History Bulletin January 1966, National Urban League's Selected Bibliography on the Negro June 1951, and The City by Stephen C. Rose.
Folder titles reflect original program title. This is an antiquated term understood as derogatory today to describe Black and African-American people.
Research includes listings in French of Black filmmakers working internationally, art exhibition catalogs (catalogs published by the Harmon Foundation including Exhbition of the Work of Negro Artists at Art Center 1931, Contemporary Negro Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art 1939, 1945 National Survey of Contemporary American Artists "Negro Artist Comes of Age", and pamphlet for Sam J. Ntiro's solo show).
Folder titles reflect original program title. This is an antiquated term understood as derogatory today to describe Black and African-American people.
Contains flyers, pamphlets, posters, and catalogs for film made by Black filmmakers or starring Black actors in the United States and internationally.
Folder titles reflect original program title. This is an antiquated term understood as derogatory today to describe Black and African-American people.
Contains a pamphlet called "Influences on Dance Today: Demonstration, performance, films, slides, and commentary presented by Dance Films and The New York Public Library, November 8 - December 6, 1965".
1,239 Total Items
1 1" Videotape
131 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
1,052 16mm
11 35mm
26 Quadruplex Videotape
18 Umatic
832 Total Items
75 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
723 16mm
5 35mm
29 Audio Cassettes
1,000 Total Items
66 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
928 16mm
6 35mm
390 Total Items
1 1/4" Reel to Reel Tape
388 16mm
1 35mm
165 Total Items
84 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
81 16mm
4 Total Items
1 1/4" Reel to Reel Tape
1 16mm
2 Flexi Disc
305 Total Items
42 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
263 16mm
309 Total Items
4 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
303 16mm
2 35mm
83 Total Items
81 16mm
2 35mm
60 Total Items
60 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes
Includes items for:
Business Records: 1 1/4" Reel to Reel Tape
Dateline 13: 1 1/4" Reel to Reel Tape
Other WNET/Thirteen Projects: 6 1/4" Reel to Reel Tapes, 231 16mm, 2 35mm Film, 1 Audio Cassette, 42 Umatic
World In Action: 2 16mm