San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive
David Monongye
| 
Ron Dellums
|  Marlon Brando |
Maya Angelou |
About
Established in 1982 by curator Helene Whitson, this is a unique moving image collection that chronicles sixty landmark years of social history and cultural revolution in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over 4000 hours of local newsfilm, documentaries and other video programs have been donated to the J. Paul Leonard Library by broadcasting organizations, production companies and private individuals, to be preserved as an academic resource.
The TV Archive is an officially registered, non-profit institutional member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA).
Our mission is to help enable two of the Library's key strategic goals:
- "Preserving cultural heritage though our unique primary source materials."
- "Promoting, supporting and encouraging the transfer and sharing of intellectual and creative resources locally, regionally and internationally."
Access to the collection and our search databases is by prior appointment only. Please contact the resident film archivist Alex Cherian with all research and general enquiries:
San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive, Room 524, 835 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Tel: 415-817-4261 e-mail: acherian@sfsu.edu
View footage in DIVA
A long-term, project has begun to digitally remaster and make available online all of the TV Archive's film & video material. The footage is being hosted on a searchable collections page within SF State's digital virtual information archive (DIVA).
This is a work in progress, with new material being added on a regular basis. Please note that selected clips may be unavailable to view whilst they are being updated. All related inquiries should be directed to the film archivist.
View footage in DIVAUsing the Collections
Most of our archival footage is preserved on unedited outtakes and trims from local 16mm newsfilm, which have remained unseen since they were originally shot by camera crews. Researchers may only view this and other film and video material on pre-ordered screener copies due to long-term preservation issues. There will be no access granted to original film and video elements for viewing purposes.
The sound and picture quality of archival film and video gradually deteriorates over time. Users have the option of selecting footage to be digitally restored for their projects, to compensate for this process.
See our Access Service PDF for full details of how researchers, media production companies and others may gain access to and use material from our collection. Read selected reviews by researchers, producers and film makers.
Faculty, staff and students of San Francisco State University may access material from the collection free of charge (subject to the archive’s prior commitments and preservation considerations). Read selected reviews by SFSU faculty, staff and students.
KQED Collection
The KQED collection (Channel 9, PBS affiliate) consists of approximately 550 hours of local 16mm newsfilm shot between 1966-1980, as well as 275 hours of selected documentaries (1962-1983) and 250 hours of other programs on 3/4" U-matic videotape. Copyright is held by NCPB/KQED.
View footage from the KQED news collection:
Huerta & Chavez in Sacramento, 4/10/66
American Indians on Alcatraz, 11/24/69
Logging Protest & Public Hearing, 4/14/77
View footage from the KQED documentary collection:
Take this Hammer, 1963
Losing Just the Same, 1966KPIX Collection
The KPIX collection (Channel 5, CBS affiliate) consists of approximately 2750 hours of local 16mm newsfilm shot between 1948-1980, as well as 200 hours of selected documentaries (1960-1980) and 400 hours of other programs on 3/4" U-matic and Betacam SP videotape. Copyright is held by CBS-5/KPIX TV.
View footage from the KPIX news collection:
KPIX Retrospective, 1948-52
Woody Allen Film Shoot, 7/4/68
Your Black Muslim Bakery, 5/29/71
Dirty Harry Movie Premiere, 5/7/71
View footage from the KPIX documentary collection:
One Nation Indivisible, Part I (1968) KTVU Collection
The KTVU collection (Channel 2, FOX affiliate) consists of approximately 65 hours of local 16mm newsfilm shot between 1961-1969. Copyright is held by Cox Enterprises Inc./KTVU.
View footage from the KTVU news collection:
Muhammed Ali Press Conference, c1965
Big Brother & the Holding Company, c1968
Apollo 11 Splashdown Day in Union Square, 7/23/69Local Emmy Award Winners
This collection consists of approximately 300 hours of local Emmy Award winning programs (1974-2005) donated to the TV Archive by the Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). Access to Emmy footage is available on a limited basis and will depend upon the condition of original 3/4" U-matic and Betacam SP videotape formats on which it was recorded. Copyright is held by the individual station/production company which produced each award-winner.
View footage from the Local Emmy awards collection:
People’s 5: Gay Power, 11/24/79
Women firefighters in San Francisco, 4/25/84
Above the Bay, 1989
Cesar Chavez Memorial, 1993Willie L. Brown, Jr. Collection
The Willie L. Brown, Jr. collection consists of approximately 1500 news stories, press conferences, documentaries and other moving image material that relates to the political career of SF State alumnus Willie Brown as California State Assemblyman, Speaker and Mayor of San Francisco between 1972-2004.
The footage is preserved on numerous video formats and was donated to the university as part of an initiative to establish the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Leadership Center. Copyright is held by various television stations and production companies.
It should be noted that we have other archival footage featuring Willie Brown in our local newsfilm collection, that covers the period from 1961-1979.
View footage from the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Collection:
The Speaker Speaks Out, 8/22/81
People Are Talking, 1986
Willie Brown Documentary, 3/19/93Dorothy Goldner Collection
The Dorothy Goldner Collection consists of 1 hour of color/silent Kodachrome film, featuring the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island (1939-40). The footage was recently color corrected and remastered by Monaco Digital Film Labs of San Francisco. Copyright is held by San Francisco State University.
This material was produced by the donor’s husband Orville C. Goldner (1906-1985), who was one of several art-technical directors at the Exposition. In 1954 he became the first director of the Audio Visual Center at SF State College. Goldner had worked in Hollywood between 1926-35 as a designer and technician, receiving a screen credit as visual effects technician on RKO’s 1933 classic King Kong.
When donating this material to the J. Paul Leonard Library in 1990, Dorothy T. Goldner (1906-2005) stated:
“I believe that this property has significant intrinsic historical, research and educational value and I am concerned that this important body of material be preserved and kept intact as a collection and made available to interested parties for scholarly and historical use.”
View footage from the Dorothy Goldner Collection:
Pavilions, parades & soap box derby at Golden Gate Exposition, 1939/40
Art in Action exhibition, 1939/40
Boating Pond, Hall of Flowers & Night Scenes at Exposition, 1939/40
Transport & exhibitions at Golden Gate Exposition, 1939/40Videowest Collection
Videowest was a San Francisco community of volunteers, collaborating to produce "television for the rest of us." This independent studio created a new genre of video journalism widely acclaimed as a "worldview from the rock generation,” inviting viewers to help produce hundreds of TV magazine shows and music videos for young adults, from 1978 to 1984.
A total of 84 selected shows were donated to the TV Archive by Videowest founder Fabrice Florin in 1982 for preservation, on ¾” U-matic videotape masters. Copyright to all the interviews and original feature items is held by Videowest.
Videowest's creative trademark was a fast-paced montage of interviews, comedy, music and news around weekly themes like "Beauty" or "Television" (see sample clips below). Over the years, Videowest featured hundreds of popular artists like Ray Bradbury, The Clash, Francis Coppola, Elvis Costello, REM and many more.
Videowest Alumni have started to transfer the Videowest archive onto digital formats, to preserve over a thousand hours of innovative programming currently stored on decaying videotape. More information about this project can be found on the Videowest website.
View footage from the Videowest Collection:
Beauty: Beneath the Skin, 1980
Television: The Ultimate Drug, 1981Special Projects
American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-71)
John TrudellA 40th Anniversary project to commemorate the American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-71) has been completed. This 3 year struggle to reclaim ownership of the island “deeply informed the founding of the American Indian Studies Department" (AIS) at SF State.
Over 3 hours of rarely or never before seen 16mm newsfilm shot by KPIX and KQED, relating to Alcatraz and other Indian occupations in Northern California during this period, has been repaired, color corrected and re-mastered. Follow this link to view the footage online.
KTVU Newsfilm Online 1973-1982
Claud MannA pilot project has just begun to repair, digitize and preserve KTVU’s remaining local 16mm newsfilm collection from 1973-1982, beginning with 1973-4. This footage will be made available to view online through DIVA. Contact the film archivist for more details.
KGO’s Success Story: San Francisco State College (1954)
KGO documentary seriesKGO-TV have kindly granted us permission to make their documentary Success Story: San Francisco State College publicly available to view online. Filmed at SF State’s new Lake Merced Campus during the college dedication week in October 1954, this 30 minute program includes an address from college President J. Paul Leonard. A voice over introduction from Hartley Sater reminded live audiences tuning into this telecast: "Ladies and gentlemen you are viewing the future of America, possibly of this world."
Please note: this is a ‘kinescope’ recording that was originally made in 1954, by filming the picture from a live video monitor. As a result the picture quality – especially sharpness – is much lower than the rest of our material produced on 16mm film.
View the documentary Success Story: San Francisco State College (1954).
Donations
Financial donations to support the work of the TV Archive are welcome. These may be made to the Bill Hillman Television Archives Fund. It is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) fund managed by The University Corporation, San Francisco State and all contributions are fully tax deductible.
Your donation enables the preservation of original film & video material, the purchase of new equipment and the widening of access to our collection. It will be recognized in the University’s annual Report to Contributors and you will also receive special communication from SFSU through newsletters, presentations and other programs and events.
These contributions support the vital on-going process of transferring hundreds of hours of archival footage from deteriorating film & video formats onto new digital master copies.
The physical condition of 16mm news film deteriorates with the passage of time and some of our material is over 50 years old. Similarly, many obsolete video formats in our collection are unstable. If footage isn’t migrated onto stable digital copies, this material will eventually be lost forever.
The fund is named for Bill Hillman, a prominent Bay Area news broadcaster specializing in science and cultural affairs. He joined the staff of KPIX-TV, San Francisco in 1953 as an announcer and was a news broadcaster with that station until his retirement in 1992. His advocacy helped to establish the television archive at SFSU and Hillman remained an active supporter of its work until he passed away in 1999 at the age of 76.
Hillman at the Presidio, 1974Please contact Alex Cherian at 415-817-4261 or via e-mail acherian@sfsu.edu, for more details on how to make a lasting contribution towards preserving the unique moving image heritage of the San Francisco Bay Area.
