Tom Luddy program notes, correspondence, and related Pacific Film Archive material, 1972-1980

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Summary

Creators:
Luddy, Tom and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Extent:
3 cartons 3.75 linear feet; 165 folders
Language:
English and Collection materials are in English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Tom Luddy program notes, correspondence, and related Pacific Film Archive material, 1972-1980. [PFA--MSS--004]. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of correspondence, internal memoranda and notes generated in the course of Luddy's work at the Pacific Film Archive. The earliest material begins with Luddy's first official position at PFA as program director in 1972, and continues through his appointment as archive director and curator in 1975, ending with his resignation in 1980, when he left to pursue a film producing career.

Coverage is primarily over the period 1975-1980. The majority of the material covers the day-to-day logistics of scheduling programs. The cycle Luddy used to accomplish this became increasingly well defined over time. He would develop ideas, often by scanning reviews, initiate correspondence with holders of rights, contact directors to propose a personal appearance, negotiate rental, honoraria and transport, schedule the series, and finally print the calendar and introduce the event.

At any particular time, Luddy would be working on a small number of large-scale projects in conjunction with programmers at other institutions, most notably the Museum of Modern Art in New York. These projects, which typically centered on films of a national cinema never or rarely seen in the United States, often involved travel to, and negotiation with, the national film archives of those countries. Notable examples of this are the Indian and Soviet Film series presented in 1974. In between these large projects, Luddy would program series rented from other institutions, retrospectives of known directors, other short series and single showings. A great deal of interesting anecdotal material was generated in the course of his daily correspondence, often as an aside in a letter dealing with PFA business. Some examples of this include letters describing the funeral of Henri Langlois, events that happened during personal appearances at the PFA (Howard Hawks, Kenji Mizoguchi, and others) and day-to-day events in the lives of Luddy's associates (Sterling Hayden, Agnes Varda, Francois Truffaut).

In addition to film programming, a significant proportion of the material deals with benefit screenings Luddy organized on behalf of the PFA, most notably for Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now and Werner Herzog's Nosferatu. There is also some material relating to the acquisition or copying of prints for the PFA collection.

Biographical / historical:

Tom Luddy became the Pacific Film Archive's second director following Sheldon Renan's departure in 1975. Luddy graduated from the University of California at Berkeley where he obtained a B.A. and during his time as a student he operated several film societies. Upon graduation, Luddy began his career by distributing international films at Brandon Films in New York City. In 1972, he returned to Berkeley where he served as program director at the PFA, before becoming archive director and curator in 1975. Luddy remained in this position until 1980, when he left to join Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios as director of special projects.

Arrangement:

The material is arranged in four series:

Series 1, Film programming

Series 2, Film collection

Series 3, Film festivals and conferences

Series 4, Correspondence

Some folder titles reflect the date of the program event rather than creation dates.

Accruals:

It appears that this 3-carton collection is quite complete as it is. It contains all of the Tom Luddy papers that have been stored at the PFA since his departure in 1980.

Physical location:
UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Film Library and Study Center
Physical description:
Some of the documents were originally printed on tracing paper and are torn or heavily creased. These documents have been photocopied.
Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

Property rights reside with the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Head of the BAMPFA Film Library and Study Center.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Tom Luddy program notes, correspondence, and related Pacific Film Archive material, 1972-1980. [PFA--MSS--004]. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
2120 Oxford Street
#2250
Berkeley, CA 94720-2250, US
Contact:
(510) 642-1437
bampfafilmlibrary@berkeley.edu
Website