Bill Einreinhofer China Archive, 1910-2024

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Summary

Creators:
Einreinhofer, William M., 1952-
Abstract:
The Bill Einreinhofer China Archive comprises 1,174 digital video, image, audio, and text files that Einreinhofer used to produce a series of public television documentaries covering modern China and Japan from 1910 to 2024. The collection includes the finished television programs, as well as unedited interviews and historic and scenic footage that were used in the documentaries. The collection also holds transcripts, footage logs, research material, and documentary overviews. Einreinhofer organized the collection into twelve digital folders, which correspond to this finding aid's twelve series. Eight of the series correspond to specific television programs that Einreinhofer produced: China Now (1997); So Very Far From Home (2006); Beyond Beijing (2008); Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began (2018); Century Masters (2019); Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid (2022); China: Frame by Frame (2023); and Valor and Memory (2024). The last four series contain thematically grouped source material that Einreinhofer collected during the production of the documentaries: "Wartime Newsreels & Propaganda Films" (38 files), "Japanese Wartime Feature Films" (17 files), "Post-War Japan" (8 files), and "NARA [U.S. National Archives and Records Administration] general footage" (136 files). See the series-level records for further details.
Extent:
2.86 Terabytes 1174 digital files organized in 127 digital folders and 0.38 Linear Feet 2 external hard drives stored in 1 box
Language:
English , Chinese , Japanese .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or Item name], Bill Einreinhofer China Archive, Collection no. 3380, East Asian Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Bill Einreinhofer China Archive comprises 1,174 digital video, image, audio, and text files that Einreinhofer used to produce a series of public television documentaries covering modern China and Japan from 1910 to 2024. The collection includes the finished television programs, as well as unedited interviews and historic and scenic footage that were used in the documentaries. The collection also holds transcripts, footage logs, research material, and documentary overviews. Einreinhofer organized the collection into twelve digital folders, which correspond to this finding aid's twelve series. Eight of the series correspond to specific television programs that Einreinhofer produced: China Now (1997); So Very Far From Home (2006); Beyond Beijing (2008); Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began (2018); Century Masters (2019); Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid (2022); China: Frame by Frame (2023); and Valor and Memory (2024). The last four series contain thematically grouped source material that Einreinhofer collected during the production of the documentaries: "Wartime Newsreels & Propaganda Films" (38 files), "Japanese Wartime Feature Films" (17 files), "Post-War Japan" (8 files), and "NARA [U.S. National Archives and Records Administration] general footage" (136 files). See the series-level records for further details.

The collection is unique in that it spans modern Chinese history from the early 20th century through the second decade of the 21st century. And while it includes footage of pivotal historical events, it also captures everyday life among both the privileged and powerful, as well as ordinary Chinese families. The Archive is the product of more than three decades of research, and incorporates images of China at the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the "Warlord" period, the "War of Resistance," the Chinese Civil War, the early years of Reform and Opening, and the growth of an increasingly important consumption-driven economy.

Biographical / historical:

Bill Einreinhofer is an Emmy Award winning documentary producer/director. For more than 30 years he has been creating films and stories in and about China. This includes China: Frame by Frame, a retrospective on what he saw, learned and witnessed over the course of three decades; Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid; and Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began. All were broadcast nationally on Public Television. He was Senior Director and Host for the international version of Century Masters, a 15-episode Chinese cultural history series, as well as Series Producer of Beyond Beijing, a four-part documentary series, broadcast in 43 countries and seen by 250+ million viewers, tied to 2008 Summer Olympics. He has developed and produced programming for ABC, CBS, Discovery, HBO, and PBS, including Spacewalkers: The Ultimate High-Wire Act, which was seen worldwide on Discovery. He conceived and was Executive Producer of People in Motion, the first primetime documentary series in U.S. television history to deal with disability and technology. He produced/shot/wrote/edited/voiced Five Points of Life, a multipart web-doc that followed a team of nine amateur cyclists on an 1,800-mile international journey. He has also participated in co-productions with leading international broadcasters including the ABC (Australia), Globo (Brazil), NHK (Japan), SMG (China), SVT (Sweden) and ZDF (Germany). He holds a Masters degree in Communications Arts from the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and a Bachelor's degree in History from Saint Peter's University (Jersey City, NJ). He is Chair Emeritus of the Broadcast Journalism department at the New York Film Academy.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Bill Einreinhofer, March 2023 and December 2024.
Processing information:

The files from the Bill Einreinhofer China Archive were uploaded to the USC Libraries' digital asset management systems in April of 2023 and February of 2025.

Bill Einreinhofer authored the series-level descriptive notes summarizing each documentary. Bill Einreinhofer also requested that the USC Libraries title the collection "Bill Einreinhofer China Archive."

Physical / technical requirements:

The digital files in this collection were delivered to USC on two external hard drives. The files are still saved on the hard drives in addition to the copies uploaded to the USC Libraries' digital asset management systems.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The majority of the digital files in this collection are publicly accessible via the USC Digital Library. Each folder- and file-level record in this finding aid includes a link to the corresponding USC Digital Library asset. However, the files relating to the China Now (1997) documentary series, along with some of the interviews taken during the production of Valor and Memory (2024), are available for individual research purposes only and cannot be published via the USC Digital Library. Please contact the East Asian Library at eal@usc.edu for more information regarding access to the China Now files and the Valor and Memory restricted interviews. Access to the external hard drives, on which the files were delivered to USC, is also restricted.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from items in the collection must be submitted in writing to the Department of the East Asian Library at eal@usc.edu. The collection was donated to the USC Libraries under an agreement stipulating that the donor's production company, Paradox Communications, would retain the rights to license and commercially exploit the footage in the collection until the company ceases operations, at which point all rights will transfer to the University of Southern California. At the time of the collection's donation, the donor claimed all rights, title, and interest to all assets in the collection, with the exceptions of the access-restricted items described in the finding aid's Conditions Governing Access note.

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or Item name], Bill Einreinhofer China Archive, Collection no. 3380, East Asian Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
East Asian Library
Doheny Memorial Library, 1st floor
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1825, US
Contact:
(213) 740-1772
Website