Archival approaches – Robert Kolker (Monday 15 July 2019)

Robert P. Kolker is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Maryland. He has written numerous articles and monographs on Kubrick including A Cinema of Loneliness (2011), The Extraordinary Image: Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and the Reimagining of Cinema (2016) and, most recently, Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of His Final Film (2019), co-authored with Nathan Abrams. [1]

Robert P. Kolker can be contacted via email: rkolker@umd.edu.

Photo of Robert P. Kolker delivering his presentation. Photo taken by Karen Ritzenhoff. 

Presentation:

Robert Kolker presented on archival approaches, specifically the use of the Stanley Kubrick Archive at UCA, London. The Archive was opened in 2007. It contains an astonishing amount of material about Kubrick’s life and the production of his films, collected by Kubrick himself. Robert’s presentation considered both the scholarly use of the Archive in the last decade and the future of archival approaches. [2]

Archival Approaches - by Robert Kolker

“The Kubrick Archives have changed more than what we know about the life and work of Stanley Kubrick; they have created a crisis in scholarship.

“We now have a growing collection of information—from major items like scripts and shooting schedules; some faxes and letters; communications with studio heads; daily logs; editing decision sheets; distribution information; to some minor elements like cast calls, and so on. We have photographs and other physical artifacts. The Archives are like an expanding organism that threatens to engulf Kubrick scholars. Not only with the sheer volume of information, but with the demand that we attend to that information. And the way that information is doled out.

“An archive is only as good as the information we want to get from it. A researcher is only as good as what they know and what is needed for the task at hand. In other words, there is always a strong element of chance when doing archival research: will I find what I need? Will I be surprised and find what I didn’t know I needed? How will that impact my research plan? How many alleys do I allow myself to travel; how many are blind?

“What if I have no access to any alleys? Here, I think, are the biggest, most pertinent questions about the existence of the Archives. For whom are they available? What is the researcher who has no access to do? If I can’t get to London on a regular basis, how do I do my work? If I don’t or cannot access the Archives, am I somehow relegated to the ranks of yesterday’s scholars whose work on Kubrick is unworthy of attention because it may be missing some pertinent archival information?

“Finally—and this hits close to home—does the existence of the Archives allow a place for textual analysis. In other words, may I analyze a Kubrick film on the basis of the film itself and my own critical insight? Must the critical/analytical act be informed by archival material or else be labeled lacking? If the best thing that can be said about an essay or book about Kubrick is that the writer made use of the archives, the worst thing might be that she didn’t.

So these, to my mind, are the major questions at hand:

·       Who owns the archives?

·       What have we gained by the existence of the Kubrick Archives?

·       What has been put at risk by their existence?

·       Are archival and textual studies at odds?

·       Can one exist without the other?

·       Is there a future for textual studies leaving the archives alone?”

Panel:

The panel discussion in the afternoon focused on methodological approaches to the Stanley Kubrick Archive and issues of access.

Like any archive, the Stanley Kubrick Archive has omissions and gaps. Its size should not be mistaken for a complete picture. One way of validating interpretations of the archive is by cross-referencing them with other sources.

In particular, we can triangulate the Stanley Kubrick Archive with oral histories. We need to find these memories of Kubrick and the production of his films before they are lost.

The group identified two methods they use for working with the Archive. Some members use a ‘detective’ approach: going through the Stanley Kubrick Archive and putting together a narrative based on their findings. Others go into the Stanley Kubrick Archive with pre-determined questions and use it to validate their hypotheses. Both methods have their advantages and potential pitfalls.

The group also discussed textual versus empirical approaches, and the need to find a balance between them.

The discussion then moved to the issues of ethics and access raised by Robert Kolker in his presentation that morning. Using the Stanley Kubrick Archive requires both physical access and time. We need to share this resource or risk making Kubrick studies exclusionary by definition. Exclusion is an important ethical issue. It affects not only scholars abroad but also those who lack access for other reasons such as: childcare or disability.

The group proposed global collaborations to connect Kubrick scholars. Scholars who have time and access to London could collaborate with those who do not. The group raised the idea of a Kubrick Scholars Network Database. This would show who is researching what areas and create a more formalized network between us.

The panel then considered alternative means of access, for example digitization.

Finally, the group discussed archival research beyond the Stanley Kubrick Archive. The Stanley Kubrick Archive has received a great deal of attention, but we need to consider alternative archives, including internet archives. This might help with some geographical issues of access, because scholars with access to other archives (for example in the US) could collaborate with those near London.

The workshop explored many of these ideas further on Tuesday, which focused on the Stanley Kubrick Archive. 

Photo of Robert P. Kolker in discussion. Photo taken by Karen Ritzenhoff. 

Bibliography: 

1. “Robert P. Kolker: University of Maryland.” Academia.edu, https://umd.academia.edu/RobertPKolker.

2. Kolker, Robert P. “Archival Approaches .” Archival approaches . 15 July 2019, Leiden.

Presentation by: Robert P. Kolker.

Panel discussion by: Daisy Baxter.

Images, Captions, Bio & Bibliography: Miguel Mira