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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 (1926-2014) was 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 were conducted by Steven Scheuer, David Marc, Morton Silverstein, Michael Epstein, and Bernie Cook; and feature such figures as Ken Burns, Jerry Stiller, 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 contains media, research files, transcripts, and digital use copies of audio and video interviews. The collection contains the original audio (audiocassette) and video master (Betacam, miniDV) 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).

Media consists of approximately 482 audiocassettes of taped interviews (master tapes and duplicates) and approximately 315 videocassettes of taped interviews (master tapes and duplicates). Some individuals were interviewed on multiple occassions, in both formats.

Research files contains background information and notes on numerous film and television figures, many of which were eventually interviewed for the project, but not all. The files include clippings, photocopies of biographical dictionary entries, resumes/work histories, chronologies, filmographies, items of correspondence, photocopies of published interviews, printouts from databases, handwritten notes, questions to be asked, and more.

Transcripts comprises typed transcriptions of 147 of the interviews. A few transcripts are incomplete and some have MISSING corresponding media tapes.

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

This collection is arranged alphabetically, the only exception being the series Digital use copies, which is arranged at the end of the collection because it features reproduced materials, and not original items.

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

Epstein, Michael (Film director).
Marc, David.
Scheuer, Steven H.
Silverstein, Morton.

Subjects

Oral histories (document genres)
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.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Compact discs.
DVDs.
Interviews.
Mini-DV.
Research notes.
Transcripts.
U-matic.
VHS.
Videocassettes.
Videotapes.

Occupations

Actors.
Executives.
Radio broadcasters.
Television producers and directors.

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

Acquisition Information

Transfer from SU Libraries, Media Services, 2009.

Table of Contents

Media

Research files

Transcripts

Digital use copies

Inventory