Through the Loupe: Rick Prelinger

Through the Loupe: Rick Prelinger

This is the
fifth in a series of ongoing blog posts
from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives’ Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative (AVMPI), spotlighting the labor of Smithsonian media collections staff across the Institution, and the first to feature a past Smithsonian worker. Among several current professional roles, former Smithsonian contract audiovisual consultant Rick Prelinger runs the non-profit
Prelinger Library
in San Francisco with his partner Megan.
AVMPI Co-Presents: Radio Preservation Task Force
On April 30
th
, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives’ pan-institutional
Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative
(AVMPI) co-presented the fourth day of the
Radio Preservation Task Force
(RPTF) conference with the Library of Congress. The theme of the 2023 conference was “
A Century of Broadcasting: Preservation and Renewal
,” and Day Four’s proceedings were titled “
Sunday at the Smithsonian
,” comprising a radio/sound art performance, presentations by Smithsonian staff about SI radio collections, and a conference-capping ‘Listening Party’ that shared archival radio clips from a dozen international archives. A brochure of the program, designed by AVMPI’s Video Preservation Specialist and go-to graphic designer, Brianna Toth, can be accessed
here
.
Included in the day’s array of radio-related and Smithsonian-proud programming was a ‘response’ conversation between sound performers Anna Friz and Jeff Kolar with audiovisual archivist, and recent Emeritus Professor of Film and Digital Media at the
University of California – Santa Cruz
, Rick Prelinger. For over 40 years the self-described “library experimenter” Prelinger (
@footage
) has been a visionary figure in the field of film archiving and information science. The
Prelinger Library
he founded with his partner Megan in 2004 should be at the top of your list of places to visit when in San Francisco. Prelinger’s career has spanned working as a typesetter, running his own stock footage licensing company, working as an archivist at The Comedy Channel and HBO, serving as a board member and contributor to the legendary Brooklyn magazine
Stay Free!
, making films and footage performances, and teaching at several universities. I have been fortunate to know Rick personally since the late 2000s, previously encountering and obsessing over his commercially-released VHS compilations of incredible ephemeral films and television commercials when I worked at Chicago’s
Facets Video
in 1999. However, there was one professional role of Prelinger’s I was unaware of and, during the RPTF’s April 30
th
morning on-stage sound check, Rick disclosed it: he once worked for the Smithsonian (!?).
Rick Prelinger (at left) with this blog post’s author (at right).
Smithsonian Institution – Office of Telecommunications
Frankly, I had a hard time fully concentrating on the remainder of the day’s activities after Rick recalled a paid gig working for the Smithsonian’s Office of…