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Silver Voices Project

Listen to interviews, commentary, and recollections from leading figures in the history of photography, film, and conservation from the Eastman Museum’s archive. Select audio includes introductions by current and recent museum staff.

Photography Oral History Project (1975-1977)

George Pratt Cinema Oral Histories (1958)

Addition of audio and biographies are ongoing; check back throughout Fall 2021 for updates.

About the Interviews

For many years, the George Eastman Museum was one of the few centers in the world for the study of photography and film. Key museum activities included not just the collection and preservation of photographs and films, but also the documentation and study of their creators, curators, scholars, and conservators. Beginning in the mid-1950s, museum staff recorded the commentaries, recollections, and histories of many leading figures in these fields, as well as the significant conferences, seminars, and workshops hosted by the museum. Thanks to their foresight, the museum is now the custodian of numerous collections of recordings that tell a multitude of stories about the histories of photography and moving images, their study, and their conservation.

About the Silver Voices Project

Thanks to support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (grant number MA-30-19-0681-19), four of these oral histories are being digitally preserved as part of the museum’s Silver Voices Project, and will be made fully available online through the museum’s website in late 2021.

Beginning in November 2020, with generous funding from Art Bridges and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) CARES Act, the museum is able to provide a series of sneak previews from two of these oral histories. Each of these interviews, presented in full, include a specially recorded introduction by a current member of the George Eastman Museum staff.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services or the National Endowment for the Humanities.