Aims and objectives
The aim of this two year project was to digitize and prepare metadata for materials belonging to an early film distribution company known as South India Picture Ltd. The materials comprise of the company’s correspondences with exhibitors, cine labs and banks, accounting ledgers, records of movie dispatch and receipts, financial statements of movie distribution, box office accounts, movie rights and censor certificates. The materials are both typed and handwritten. The date range of the material is in 1940s.
Outcomes
Through this project, Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL) has preserved culturally significant papers related to a Tamil movie distribution company, South India Pictures, existed in 1940s in Tamil Nadu. These materials were rescued from Sivagangai district in Tamil Nadu, which were supposed to be scrapped. For last two decades these materials have been housed in RMRL. Dr Stephen Hughes, a scholar from the United Kingdom, has already used this collection for his research. He also suggested that this collection if digitized will be helpful for many scholars all over the world for their research. As these materials, which include letters, post cards, reports, bills, accounts and other correspondences, are around 80 years old, most of them are in deteriorating condition. We had to flatten their edges before digitization, as they were either folded or rolled. In a way, this project also helped to physically conserve the material, in addition to digitization. We have created a total of 75,243 TIFF images and their corresponding metadata. The South India Pictures had meticulously documented all their correspondences which is an excellent source of research for those researching about the early development of Tamil cinema in the 20th century. The financial, accounting notes, bills and receipts are also excellent source of research for understanding the economy around cinema industry during those days.
