Series V. Visual and Audiovisual Materials, circa 1940s-1997

Series

This series has broken into three sections: Subseries A. 35mm Slides, 1946-1992; Subseries; B. Negatives, 1952-1974; and Subseries C. Audiovisual materials, circa 1940s-1995.

The first subseries consists of roughly 3,000 slides taken between 1950 and 1995 depicting various model rocketry competitions and activities that Stine was involved with during his lifetime, as well as images related to crewed space flight, astronomy, and various slides form lectures. The titles in the inventory in quotations were given to the contents by Stine and have been pulled directly from the containers.

The 3,980 negatives in Subseries B. predominantly illustrate Stine’s work in model rocketry, with some examples of aeronautical research, and a few instances of domestic life. The bulk of the negatives range from the late 1950s to the 1970s. Many of the negatives related to model rocketry and aeronautics have corresponding photographic prints elsewhere in the collection.

The Audiovisual subseries contains three 8mm film, eight 16mm films, four 45-rpm records, two 33 1/3-rpm records, three compact discs, two DVDs, and two 3.5 floppy discs, with the bulk of the collection consisting of 29 open-reel audiotapes, 201 audiocassette tapes, and 50 VHS format videocassettes. The material in this subseries is similar in content as the themes in the rest of the collection.

The audiocassette tapes and open-reel audiotapes consist of sound recordings of NAR competitions, board of trustees meetings, and the YMCA Space Pioneers events. There are sound recordings of conventions and keynote addresses for various space related topics, in addition there are reports on space programs produced by NASA. There are also many sound recordings of individuals that Stine worked with throughout his professional career in model rocketry and aeronautics. The audiocassette tapes in the collection cover a many themes in space travel and aeronautics. There are sound recording of seminars and various space reports. In addition, there are audiocassette tapes with names of authors from the genres of science fiction and aeronautics that contain possible interviews or seminars. Some of the audiocassette tapes have no descriptive information written on the item, but they have been retained with the collection.

The videocassettes include some televised space news productions, which include Stine on an episode of The Merv Griffin Show that aired on July 24, 1985, as well as documentation of the Space Access Society, Delta Clipper, and the Kistler Rocketship during the 1990s.

The films in the series date from around the 1940s to the 1960s. A few films contain demonstration footage of Model Missiles and Estes model rocket launches and propulsion engines and other footage related to the National Association of Rocketry. One features footage from the 1959 World Congress of Flight. One features World War II era footage of the Peenemunde Airfield in Germany. One, likely filmed by Stine or his friends or family, contains footage of students at the New Mexico Military Institute, which Stine had attended. Other films are related to Stine’s time at Huyck Research Corporation. The films range in length from around three minutes to around ten minutes.

The audiovisual materials are sorted by format. An itemized list of material on an Excel spreadsheet (Stine Collection_AV material) is available upon request.

Dates

circa 1940s-1997

Language of Materials

Some materials are in Russian, French, and German. All other materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Some films have been reformatted but other items may need reformatting in order to make them accessible.

Extent

From the Collection: 85 Cubic Feet (126 letter size 4-inch document boxes (12 1/4" x 10 1/4" x 4), 10 letter size full-width document boxes (12 1/4" x 10 1/4" x 5), 5 legal size full-width document boxes (15 1/2" x 10 1/4" x 5), 1 legal size full-width document boxes (15 1/2" x 10 1/4" x 4) , 1 letter size half-width document box, 6 record cartons, 4 oversize boxes (16 1/2" x 20 1/2" x 3"), 3 oversize boxes (20 1/2" x 24 1/2" x 3), 6 oversize rolled storage boxes, 60 oversize folders (35 3/4" x 47 3/4"))

Additional Description

Arrangement

The negatives and 35mm slides in the Visual and Audiovisual Materials series (boxes 109-125, 161-162) have been arranged in the original order established by Stine, while the audiovisual materials have been organized by format. The 35mm slides were donated in metal cases that were labeled by Stine. The negatives arrived in wooden boxes and were grouped into date ranges that were further broken down into specific years or NARAM events. Stine assigned a sequence of numbers to each strip of negatives that correlate to an individual frame. In the beginning of the negatives there were no numbers apparent. When a number was available it was transcribed to the sleeves. Both slides and negatives remain in their original sequence and have been rehoused in sleeves and folders. The folders for the slides are titled after the original cases. The folder titles for the negatives are derived from the groupings established by Stine.

The audiovisual material has been rearranged and organized by format. Because there was no contextual information for this grouping before processing the Project Archivist established a structure by format and then cataloged each item to aid in identifying individual items.