Project Update: Research, Research, Research
I want this blog to be your way of seeing the process of putting the movie together, as well as our ups and downs of working on the project. So I guess the best thing to do is bring you up to date on where we are right now in the process.
I have contacted all of the companies that exhibited at the fair, looking for any archival materials they may have, along with leads on great interview candidates. I suppose it should be obvious, but one of the toughest parts of finding this stuff is several of the companies have changed hands many times, or have gone out of business in the 45+ years since the fair ended. I have to say though, for the most part, the archivists I've talked to have been very helpful and open with what's available in their archives. It's unfortunate to chat with archivists who are themselves disappointed that their company didn't keep more things from the fair.
Over the next few weeks we'll be focusing on visiting some of the museums with materials from the fair, and we've got our first big interview shoot in early June. More on that later...
Ryan Ritchey
Reader Comments (1)
First off, best of luck with your project! As a historian and researcher myself I unfortunately know something about how difficult it is to find things in corporate archives, because even if the company hasn't changed hands, there's still a greater tendency to throw old material out, meaning the kind of information needed for a project such as this is not always well preserved.
Case in point for me, is that I was unable to find any information regarding the participation of Sunshine Biscuits at the Better Living Center Pavilion. This was of interest to me since my grandfather was CEO of the company at the time and attended the Pavilion groundbreaking ceremonies. The Fair files at the New York Public Library amazingly had nothing, and Sunshine has since gone through a number of corporate takeovers where the name only is still used for Cheez-It crackers by the current owners, Keebler, and they are not inclined to keep any of the materials that might have shed light on their Fair participation.