Film Library For Harvard Is Suggested

Two members of the Faculty may and that the University establishment library to provide visual aids or courses and to permit serious study of cinema.

Movies and slides are rapidly becoming an integral part of university education, according to Patrick L.R. Higonnet '58, instructor in History, and Richard McM. Hunt, assistant professor of Social Dean Ford uses films in French and German History and "Triumph of the Will" is shown in Soc Sci 2 and Soc Higonnet and Hunt point out.

'Hopeless'

L. Cavell, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, said it is "hopeless to try to study film seriously without having a library. It is like studying the stars without telescopes.". Even as few as 100 or 200 films would be a workable beginning said.

At present, the only film study at Harvard is Cavell's freshman seminar and occasional independent study projects in cinema.

Over a period of years, purchasing films might cost the University less than is spent on rentals, Hunt believes. And lectures could avoid the necessity of placing rental requests with private firms months in advance or accepting substitute choices.

Better Attendance

Students like to have films in their Hunt believes. "After you've talked for a whole term about the material, a movie transmits a feeling for history. I often get better attendance at movies than at lectures, he said.

Dartmouth has taken the lead among Eastern schools in the accumulation of films and even film scripts, according to Cavell, and now has a full-time office to purchase and catalogue material. The only visual-aids collection at Harvard is the Fogg Art Museum's slides.