This document discusses the concept of intersectionality and how it relates to orphan works in film collections. It defines intersectionality as the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ability status and more and how they apply to a person or group. It defines orphan works as public domain or archival films that lack information about their creators or rights holders. The document notes several examples of orphan film collections, including newsreels, educational films, home movies and other amateur works. It argues that understanding intersectionality can help provide important historical and cultural context for orphan films and make their educational role more meaningful.

1. Un-Caging the Orphan:
What Intersectionality Can Teach Us About the
Educational Role of Orphan Works
Ashley Blewer & Travis Wagner
University of South Carolina
Moving Image Research Collections
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies

3. Intersectionality
race, gender, class, sex, sexual
orientation, ability, religion, body,
age, ethnicity, nationality, education

4. Orphan
public domain materials, home movies, outtakes,
unreleased films, industrial and educational movies,
independent documentaries, ethnographic films,
newsreels, censored material, underground works,
experimental pieces, silent-era productions, stock
footage, found footage, medical films, kinescopes,
small- and unusual-gauge films, amateur
productions, surveillance footage, test reels,
government films, advertisements, sponsored films,
student works, and sundry other ephemeral pieces
of celluloid

5. Collections
News:
Fox Movietone collection
South Carolina television
news
Television and cinema
commercials
Educational:
Spartanburg Police Films
collection
Personal/”home
movies”:
Lula Belle and Scotty
Wiseman
Lever-Karst
Watson-Cambre
Scott Nixon
Phelps
Buffington

6. BUT
FIRST

10. GENDER

20. RACE

28. CLASS

34. LAYERS

38. DON’T
FORGET:

39. ...ability, religion, body,
age, nationality, sexual
orientation…
et cetera

40. Ability

41. Nationality

42. Age

43. Body

44. Religion

45. ?

46. University of South Carolina
Moving Image Research Collections
{Available for research}

47. Thank you!

48. Works Cited
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