Martin Scorsese VHS Tape Collection
Scope and Contents
This collection contains the personal VHS tape collection of American film director and producer Martin Scorsese. The 1900+ tapes in the collection contain films and television shows collected by Scorsese since the 1980s, including material recorded from broadcast television, original broadcast tapes, commercial VHS tapes (made and distributed for home viewing), viewing copies sent directly to Scorsese from producers and filmmakers, and duplicate versions of any of the above.
The tapes contain over 4400 individual films and television programs, including theatrical narratives, documentaries, shorts, historical and educational television shows, and television interviews, review shows, award shows, performances, and events related to the film and theater industry and to Scorsese's film work particularly.
According to Marianne Bower, archivist for Sikelia Productions, the VHS collection was used by Martin Scorsese for film research, basic viewing, and loaning to individuals and institutions, especially films that were not otherwise avaialble on DVD or video. Because films are often adjusted or edited for television broadcast, the VHS tapes were sometimes used to reference color timing or edits that are different from existing film prints. Material in the collection that was recorded from broadcast television also includes commercials and other interstitial material from the time of broadcast.
Descriptive information about each item - titles, dates, director, runtime, and genre - is original to inventories provided by Scorsese's office. Some material also includes the television channel from which it was recorded and information about the adaptation - whether the film was cut or altered for broadcast from the theatrical version.
Dates
- Creation: 1980s-2000s
Creator
- Scorsese, Martin C. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
All analog video formats held by CU Boulder Libraries' Rare and Distinctive Collections must be digitized for research access, due to preservation concerns. If these materials have not previously been digitized, the researcher is responsible for the cost of digitization. Researchers may request access to previously-digitized audiovisual materials by contacting rad@colorado.edu
Copyright Statement
The University Libraries do not own the copyright to material in this collection. Researchers are responsible for contacting the copyright holder(s) for this material and obtaining permission to publish or broadcast. The University Libraries will not grant permission to publish or broadcast this material and are not responsible for copyright violations resulting from such use.
Biographical / Historical
Martin Scorsese (1942-) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter from New York City. His narrative films - including Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), the King of Comedy (1982), the Last Temptation of Christ (1988), the Departed (2006), and the Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - often reflect topics related to New York City, Italian-American culture, and Catholicism. Scorsese has also produced and directed a number of documentaries and television series, including films on George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, The Band, Elia Kazan, and the New York Review of Books.
Martin Scorsese studied English and Education at New York University, and was also a student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, in the 1960s. Growing up in the 1950s and '60s, Scorsese was particularly impressed by filmmakers Powell and Pressburger, American historical epics, and Italian neorealist cinema. In the 1970s, he rose to prominence among a group of other young actors and filmmakers that included Brian De Palma, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, and John Cassavetes.
Since the 1980s, Scorsese has been a global advocate for the film preservation and restoration, founding the Film Foundation (1990) and the World Cinema Foundation (2007) to support the restoration of narrative and theatrical films from around the world.
Scorsese's production company, Sikelia Productions, was founded as Cappa Productions in 1989 in New York City. The company has produced most of Scorsese's film, documentary, and television projects in the last 30 years.
Extent
52 linear feet (52 records boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The personal VHS tape collection of American film director and producer Martin Scorsese. The collection includes over 4400 narrative films, documentaries, and television programs recorded and collected by Scorsese since the 1980s.
Arrangement
Tape numbers were assigned by Martin Scorsese and his office. It is presumed that tape numbers were assigned chronologically as they were created. For ease of access, tapes are listed in this finding aid in ten series, according to tape number. Many tapes in the collection contain more than one title, film, television show, or episode. Within each series of 1000 tapes, material is listed individually, alphabetically by title, rather than grouped by tape number.
Contact CU Boulder Libraries' Rare and Distinctive Collections to access the collection inventory as an excel sheet or data set.
Accruals
The collection was acquired by CU Boulder Libraries from Martin Scorsese's production offices in two accessions: 27 boxes in 2018 and 31 boxes in January 2022
- Title
- Martin C. Scorsese VHS Tape Collection
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- First accession inventory compiled by Gina Telaroli, Sikelia Productions, in 2017/2018; second accession inventory by Gina Telaroli and Erin Willers, Sikelia Productions, 2021. Finding Aid by Jamie Marie Wagner, 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections Repository
