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Robbins Barstow Film Collection

Call Number

MC.320

Date

1941-1944, inclusive

Creator

Barstow, Robbins

Extent

2.5 Linear Feet
In 12 film reels, three Betamax tapes, and 2 DVDs.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

This collection consists of four film recordings on the Hudson Guild Neighborhood House created by Robbins Barstow in the 1940s. Barstow (1919-2010) received his master's degree in education and history from NYU in 1945. In the 1940s he and his wife Meg Barstow were group workers at the Hudson Guild Neighborhood House in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Biographical Note

Robbins Barstow (1919-2010) was a Vermont native, champion of social justice, and moviemaker. He received his master's degree in education and history from NYU in 1945. His best known work, "Disneyland Dream" (1956), was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2008.

Arrangement

This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.

Content Description

The collection consists of four film recordings created by Robbins Barstow in the 1940s. Youth and the Future and The Abbakadabba Coopno were both produced while Barstow and his wife Meg were group workers at the Hudson Guild Neighborhood House in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Everyone's Coming to the Guild contains scenes of a variety of people and kids from around the Guild House in Chelsea, and some Boys Club and Girls Club activities. Hudson Guild Farm consists of a series of short vignettes of different activities engaged in by the Boys and Girls Clubs and their counselors at the summer farm camp in New Jersey run by the Guild in the 1940s.

The films were transfered to DVD between the years 1999 and 2008. The DVD versions of Everyone's Coming to the Guild and Hudson Guild Farm include introductions describing the work which Barstow and his wife did at the Guild as group workers in the 1940s.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Robbins Barstow, 2008. The accession number associated with this gift is 09-003.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.

Collection processed by

John Zarrillo

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:48:24 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information

Youth and the Future, Everyone's Coming to the Guild, and Abbakadabba Coopno were preserved by NYU Library's Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department in 2013 and 2019. The recordings had also been transfered to DVD prior to acquisition.

Revisions to this Guide

January 2021: Updated by Anna Björnsson McCormick to add container instances and record the availability of digitized access copies.

Repository

New York University Archives
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012