Early Stanford Films Bring University’s History to Life
At Stanford’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in 1941, its third president, Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, delivered the keynote address in the Quad. In those fateful days only two months before the United States entered World War II, Wilbur optimistically said of Stanford: “Its future is assured. Its capacity to meet change is almost unlimited.” Herbert Hoover, a member of the “Pioneer Class” of 1895 that was the first to study at Stanford for four years, recalled the University’s grand opening ceremony in 1891 as the first time in his life that he had listened to great speakers on public questions. The two were well acquainted; Lyman had joined President Hoover’s administration as U.S. Secretary of the Interior in 1929 while remaining President of Stanford.
The speeches were captured on a reel of 16mm color print film with variable area optical sound. According to Michael Angeletti, moving image digitization specialist at the Stanford Media Preservation Laboratory, the film likely uses Eastman Kodak’s “monopack” Kodachrome color system introduced in 1935 for sub-professional markets. This film is one of more than three hundred relating to Stanford history shelved in Stanford Libraries’ high-density secure storage facility, which provides an optimal climate and humidity-controlled environment for at-risk materials.
Samples of the historic films are now preserved in the Stanford Digital Repository and viewable online through a collaboration among specialists at University Archives in Green Library, the Stanford Media Preservation Lab in Redwood City, and Movette Film Transfer in San Francisco. The digitization project aims to raise awareness of unique audiovisual resources in Special Collections & University Archives. “These films provide a wonderful lens into many significant moments in Stanford and California history,” explained Josh Schneider, Stanford’s University Archivist. “They also present fantastic new research opportunities for our students and faculty.”
One of the films, “Light as a Feather,” includes color scenes from the 1961 construction of the 70-ton, 150-foot Stanford Dish telescope in the Stanford hills. Built as a collaboration between Stanford Research Institute (now the independent SRI International) and the United States government, over the course of the last six decades the Dish has provided information on the local solar system and Soviet radar installations, and also supported several Voyager missions. Still actively used today to support research, the Dish is a visible landmark on Stanford’s campus, and a popular stop on a 3.5 mile recreational trail into the foothills.
Several films of track and field competitions held at Stanford reveal the progression of college athletics, including visible equipment changes to support and reflect record-breaking athletic performances. In a 1937 meet, two University of Southern California vaulters, using the bamboo poles that had been standard since the early 1900s, cleared 14 feet, 8.5 inches. They shared first place at the meet and set a new world record, earning them the nickname of the “Heavenly Twins.” Soon afterwards, both cleared 14 feet, 11 inches at another meet but did not get a chance to become the first to clear 15 feet, because the standards supporting the bar could not be raised that high. At the 1952 Big Meet, vaulters can be seen with the aluminum and steel poles developed in the 1940s. The modern, more flexible resin and fiberglass pole was not invented until the 1970s.
The film collection (SC1032) contains motion picture films produced by or pertaining to Stanford, including fundraising presentations, productions for prospective students, lectures, interviews, physical education instruction, profiles of academic departments or programs including overseas studies, construction and building dedications, political events of the 1960s, and other topics. The 33 recordings now online include clips from an outdoor performance in 1937 of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; a 1976 history of Stanford’s Children’s Hospital (the precursor of the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and the successor to the Stanford Children’s Convalescent Home); the 1959 construction of Stanford Medical Center; 1961 footage of Stanford in Italy, Group 2, including footage of Villa San Paolo, the original campus in Florence; and coverage of Stanford Sierra Camp at Fallen Leaf Lodge near South Lake Tahoe.
A full listing of films digitized so far can be found in SearchWorks.
The Stanford University Archives, part of Stanford’s Department of Special Collections & University Archives, collects, preserves, administers, and provides access to materials in any format that document the history of the university. If you would like to share materials or collaborate, or if you have any questions about using the collections, please contact universityarchives@stanford.edu.