Hamon Arts Library | G. William Jones Film and Video Collection

G. William Jones Film and Video Collection

Mission

The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection supports instruction and research in the Meadows School of the Arts, the Southern Methodist University, and the global moving image preservation and research community. The Collection’s primary purpose is to support education through the study, preservation, and presentation of moving images. To this end, the Collection maintains moving images in a wide variety of formats, examples of related equipment, print materials associated with moving images, and a climate-controlled storage facility.

About the Collection

The Collection was founded in 1970 and was originally known as the Southwest Film/Video Archives. In 1995, the Collection was renamed in memory of its founder, the late Dr. G. William Jones. Dr. Jones was a tireless collector as well as a devoted scholar and teacher in cinema and religious studies. The Collection now contains more than 9,000 film prints and negatives in all formats and more than 3,000 videotapes stored in a climate-controlled facility. The Pleasure Garden (1926) Print materials and antique film equipment are also part of the collection. Among the Collection’s moving image holdings are feature films, news film and video, animation classics, documentaries, television series, and student films. Highlights include the Tyler, Texas, Black Film Collection; the Gene Autry collection; the Belo news film collection; the Sulphur Springs pre-nickelodeon films; and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1926 feature, The Pleasure Garden.

Use of Collection Materials

The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection does not supply stock footage.

Research requests and other enquiries should be sent to filmarchive@smu.edu. Use of the Collection is by appointment only.

Collection Materials on Video

Staff

Amy Turner
Head, G. William Jones Film and Video Collection

Ron Beardmore
Film Specialist