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Steven H. Scheuer Television History Interviews

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: [Summit record]
Date: 1999-09-07

Biographical History

Steven H. Scheuer (1926- ) is an American film and television historian and critic. He was the editor of the book Movies on TV (originally titled TV Movie Almanac & Ratings) which went through 17 editions between 1958 and 1993. The first guide of its kind (it preceded the still-active Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide by ten years), the book contained a mixture of movies, videos and TV movies with ratings up to four stars. Scheuer was also the moderator of the syndicated television series, All About TV from 1969 to 1990.

The interviews in this collection were recorded as part of an oral history project conducted through the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University in the late 1990s. The project, funded by the Steven H. and Alida Brill Scheuer foundation, accumulated interviews in audio and video formats with key individuals from all parts of the television field. Interviews conducted by Steven Scheuer, David Marc and others include such figures as Ken Burns, Gore Vidal, Joan Ganz Cooney, Av Westin, Howard K. Smith, Dick Clark and many others.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Steven H. Scheuer Television History Interviews consists primarily of audio and video interviews. The collection contains the original audio and video master tapes for each interview, duplicate copies of the audio interviews on audiocassette and compact disc, and duplicate copies of video interviews on VHS, DVD and audiocassette (audio portion only). The collection also contains printed transcripts for most of the interviews and a small amount of research material.

Audio interviews consists of approximately 120 audiotaped interviews (master tapes and duplicates) and Video interviews consists of approximately 65 videotaped interviews (master tapes and duplicates). Some individuals were interviewed on multiple occassions.

Research files contains background information and notes on numerous film and television figures, many of which were eventually interviewed for the project. The files include clippings, photocopies of biographical dictionary entries, printouts from databases, handwritten notes, questions to be asked, and more.

Transcripts comprises typed transcriptions of 147 of the interviews; audio interviews are followed by "(A)" and video interviews are denoted by "(V)." Some transcripts are incomplete; these are indicated in the inventory. Transcripts are in Microsoft Word format. The transcript CDs also include some other files of unidentified type and content.

Digital use copies were created by SU Libraries for the use of researchers, and consist of approximately 400 CDs and DVDs containing digitized versions of most, but not all, of the interviews and transcripts. Audio interviews, on CD, are in .cda format; video interviews are on DVD

Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is divided into audio interviews and video interviews. Master tapes and use copies are arranged separately. The five-character alphanumeric catalog number for each interview is given in parenthesis ( ).

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Researcher access to the tapes requires advance notice in order to produce a working copy.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

In addition to the television interviews collection, Special Collections Research Center also holds the Steven H. Scheuer Papers, which includes research files, photographs, writings and other material related to Scheuer's professional work as a television critic and historian, as well as the All About TV Recordings, a videotape archive of the program moderated by Steven Scheuer from 1969 to 1990. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing of other collections related to television and broadcasting history.

Subject Headings

Persons

Scheuer, Steven H.

Subjects

Popular culture -- United States.
Television -- United States.
Television actors and actresses -- United States.
Television journalists -- United States.
Television producers and directors -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Audiotapes.
Compact discs.
DVDs.
Interviews.
Videotapes.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Steven H. Scheuer Television History Interviews,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Table of Contents

Audio interviews

Video interviews

Research files

Transcripts

Digital use copies

Inventory