Guild’s historical archive

The Edinburgh Film Guild’s historical archive is a collection of materials stretching back to the late 1920s.
It had been our intention, for several years, to transfer the various parts of the archive to institutions that could preserve, catalogue and make the archive more accessible to film researchers and others with an interest in cinema. We achieved that long-term goal in the Spring of 2023.
Background:

The abrupt closure of the Centre for the Moving Image (the charity responsible for the Filmhouse) in October 2022 put the Guild in a difficult position. While the Guild remains solvent and continues to function as a film society, registered charity and company limited by guarantee, we did share the same building with Filmhouse*. The closure of the building meant that the Guild could no longer use its office, cinema, or Guild Rooms. The closure also forced us to consider how to protect the Guild’s historical archive.

Thankfully that problem was resolved in the Spring of 2023, with the bulk of our archive being transferred to the National Library of Scotland (NLS) and the University of Stirling.

Photos (left to right): Removal of part of the Guild Archive from the Filmhouse building. National Library of Scotland. University of Stirling Library.

Details of the various parts of the archive and where they’ve been transferred are listed below.

The archive:
  1. The minutes, correspondence and published material of the Edinburgh Film Guild. These have now been transferred to the National Library of Scotland.
  2. The Guild Library of cinema books, dating back as far as the 1920s. This book collection was part of a reference library used by Guild members since the early 1930s. The bulk of these publications has also been transferred to the National Library of Scotland.
  3. Film stills collection. Approximately 10,000 film and production stills, dating back to the 1920s. This has been transferred to the University of Stirling Archives and Special Collections.
  4. A collection of contemporary cinema books inherited from the late Keith Hennessey Brown (former Guild council member, Guild film programmer and writer at Eye For Film) have been transferred to Stirling University Library.

Above: A set of promotional photos for Michael Powell’s film The Edge of the World (1937). Part of the Edinburgh Film Guild’s photographic collection at the University of Stirling Archives and Special Collections.

Acknowledgements:

Our thanks go to Chris Cassells (Head of Archives and Manuscript Collections) and his colleagues at the National Library of Scotland, and to Karl Magee (University Archivist, Information Services) and the Library staff at the University of Stirling. The University of Stirling Archives and Special Collections already houses both the Forsyth Hardy Archive and John Grierson Archive, two important figures in the history of the Edinburgh Film Guild. Our thanks also to Alistair Mitchell and Susan McArthur, from FRP Advisory Trading Limited, who facilitated access to our offices and archive at 88 Lothian Road EH3 9BZ.

Photo: 88 Lothian Road EH3 9BZ in 2022, following the closure of Filmhouse.

*Note: The Guild was one of the key partners in establishing Filmhouse, alongside the Scottish Film Council, British Film Institute and City of Edinburgh Council. As part of this, the Guild invested in the purchase and development of the building at 88 Lothian Road EH3 9BZ.