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Archival Absences, Silences and Fragments: The Unmade and Film History

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Archives of the unmade can be fragmented and uncatalogued making it difficult to locate the required evidence for historical reconstruction. But even when archives of the unmade can be found, there are typically many absences and silences in relation to the labour of those who worked on the projects. This chapter investigates the challenges of archival absences, silences, and fragments for those studying the unmade, before drawing upon feminist and decolonial archival methods - reading against the grain - as a possible solution. The chapter presents a case study of the Kirk Douglas Papers, held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to demonstrate the importance of using such alternative archival methods. In doing, the labour of women who were integral to projects left unmade in the 1950s is revealed. The chapter concludes by widening the argument to consider the applicability of the methods used for the broader study of the unmade and film history.

Keywords: Archival method ; Archives ; Feminist media history ; Film history ; Kirk Douglas ; Unmade film ; Unproduction ; Women’s film history

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Archival Absences, Silences and Fragments: The Unmade and Film History
Intellect , 64 (2026); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835952474_5
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References

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References

  1. Anon (1950a), ‘New title manager’, Boxoffice, 57:23, p. 42.
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  2. Anon (1950b), ‘Inside stuff – pictures’, Variety, 178:4, p. 20.
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  3. Anon (1956), ‘Inside stuff – pictures’, Variety, 202:9, p. 18.
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  4. Anon (1957), ‘Picking film titles: Arduous sport’, Variety, 206:3, p. 20.
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  5. Anon (1960), ‘“King of Kings” title never registered, hence acute case of 1960 heartburn; Margaret Young’s unique position’, Variety, 219:4, pp. 3, 18.
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  8. Anon (1971c), ‘Obituary: Weisel – Minerva’, New York Times, 27 May, p. 42.
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  9. Arnold, Sarah and O’Brien, Anne (2020), ‘Doing women’s film & television history: Locating women in film and television, past and present: Editorial’, Alphaville, 20, pp. 3–11.
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  10. Arnold, Sarah, Terkanian, Kate and Warner, Helen (2024), ‘Women’s television histories: Locating women’s role in emerging and developing international television’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 44:4, pp. 656–68.
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  11. Beeston, Alix and Solomon, Stefan (eds) (2023), Incomplete: The Feminist Possibilities of the Unfinished Film, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  12. Bell, Melanie (2021), ‘Selection and interview process’, Learning on Screen, learningonscreen.ac.uk/womenswork/oral-histories/selection-and-interview-process. Accessed 7 January 2021.
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  15. Caswell, Michelle (2014), Archiving the Unspeakable: Silence, Memory, and the Photographic Record in Cambodia, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
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  17. Caswell, Michelle (2021a), ‘“The archive” is not an archive: On acknowledging the intellectual contributions of archival studies’, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, 16:1, pp. 1–19.
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  18. Caswell, Michelle (2021b), Urgent Archives: Enacting Liberatory Memory Work, London and New York: Routledge.
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  20. Chaudhuri, Nupur, Katz, Sherry J. and Perry, Mary Elizabeth (2010), ‘Introduction’, in N. Chaudhuri, S. J. Katz and M. E. Perry (eds), Contesting Archives: Finding Women in the Sources, Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, pp. xiii–xxiv.
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  32. Ghaddar, J. J. and Caswell, Michelle (2019), ‘“To go beyond”: Towards a decolonial archival praxis’, Archival Science, 19:2, pp. 71–85.
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  33. Harris, Verne (2002), ‘The archival sliver: Power, memory and archives in South Africa’, Archival Science, 2:1&2, pp. 63–86.
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  34. Harris, Verne (2012), ‘Genres of the trace: Memory, archives and trouble’, Archives and Manuscripts, 40:3, pp. 147–57.
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  36. Hunter, Kathryn M. (2017), ‘Silence in noisy archives: Reflections on Judith Allen’s “Evidence and Silence – Feminism and the Limits of History” (1986) in the era of mass digitisation’, Australian Feminist Studies, 32:91&92, pp. 202–12.
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  37. Krämer, Peter (2015), ‘Adaptation as exploration: Stanley Kubrick, literature, and AI Artificial Intelligence’, Adaptation, 8:3, pp. 372–82.
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  38. Krämer, Peter and Ulivieri, Filippo (2021), ‘Kubrick’s unrealized projects’, in N. Abrams and I. Q. Hunter (eds), The Bloomsbury Companion to Stanley Kubrick, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 327–35.
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  39. Kunze, Peter (2017), ‘Herding Cats; Or, the possibilities of unproduction studies’, The Velvet Light Trap, 80, pp. 18–31.
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  40. Kunze, Peter (2018), ‘Belles are singing: Broadway, Hollywood, and the failed Gone With the Wind musical’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 38:4, pp. 787–807.
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  41. Manoff, Marlene (2016), ‘Mapping archival silence: Technology and the historical record’, in F. Foscarini, H. MacNeil, M. Bonnie and O. Gillian (eds), Engaging with Records and Archives: Histories and Theories, London: Facet, pp. 63–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Margulies, Stan (1956), Letter to Donald Heller (United Artists), 6 November, ‘Shadow of a Champ’ file, Folder 16, Box 55, Kirk Douglas Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections.
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     [Google Scholar]
  44. Martin, Catherine (2018), ‘Archival research as feminist practice’, New Review of Film and Television Studies, 16:4, pp. 454–60.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. McAvoy, Catriona (2022), ‘Below the line: Decentering narratives from the Stanley Kubrick Archive’, Culture and Creativity Research Institute doctoral symposium, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, 5 October.
  46. MPAA Annual Report (1956), Motion Picture Association of America Records, Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections, http://catalog.oscars.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=7531. Accessed 14 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Murray, Simone (2008), ‘Phantom adaptations: Eucalyptus, the adaptation industry and the film that never was’, Adaptation, 1:1, pp. 5–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. North, Dan (ed.) (2008), Sights Unseen: Unfinished British Films, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  49. Norton, Samuel (1956), Letter to Sidney Shemel, 30 October, ‘Shadow of a Champ’ file, Folder 16, Box 55, Kirk Douglas Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Rippy, Marguerite H. (2009), Orson Welles and the Unfinished RKO Projects: A Postmodern Perspective, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
  51. Schatz, Thomas (1988), The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era, New York: Metro.
  52. Shemel, Sidney (1956a), Letter to Samuel Norton, 24 October, ‘Shadow of a Champ’ file, Folder 16, Box 55, Kirk Douglas Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Shemel, Sidney (1956b), Letter to Minerva Weisel, 2 November, ‘Shadow of a Champ’ file, Folder 16, Box 55, Kirk Douglas Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Shurlock, Geoffrey M. (1955), Letter to Sol Konecoff (United Artists), 22 March, ‘Killer’s Kiss’ file, MPAA Production Code Administration Records, Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections, http://catalog.oscars.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=66279. Accessed 14 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Trouillot, Michel-Rolph (1995), Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
  56. Wasko, Janet (2003), How Hollywood Works, London: Sage.
  57. Weisel, Minerva (1956), Letter to Sidney Shemel, 22 October, ‘Shadow of a Champ’ file, Folder 16, Box 55, Kirk Douglas Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Williams, Tony (2014), ‘From Kaleidoscope to Frenzy: Hitchcock’s second British homecoming’, in M. Osteen (ed.), Hitchcock and Adaptation: On the Page and Screen, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 161–76.
     [Google Scholar]

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