Ray E Edmondson
RAY EDMONDSON
OAM, B.A., Dip Lib, PhD
0009-0005-3601-170X
After graduating in arts and librarianship at the University of New South Wales, Ray joined the Film Section of the National Library of Australia in 1968. In 1973 he established and led its new Film Archive Unit. In 1978 he became overall head of the Library’s Film Section. Described as the ‘moving spirit’ behind the creation of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) in 1984, he was its Deputy Director until 2001, when he retired and was endowed as its first honorary Curator Emeritus, later serving on its Advisory Committee (2004 to 2008). During this public service career he devised and led corporately funded film restorations and pioneering programs like The Last Film Search and Operation Newsreel. Among his writings, his extensive 1974 report on his study trip of European and American film archives proved a crucial step towards the ultimate creation of the NFSA.
His work as chair or board member of various professional or community organisations has included The Federation Line Inc., Music Roll Australia, Archive Forum and the Friends of the NFSA. Internationally, he was elected inaugural President of SEAPAVAA from 1996 to 2002, and was ex-officio Council member to 2008. He was inaugural chair of AMIA’s Advocacy Committee and inaugural co-chair of its International Outreach Committee. From 1996 onwards his wider work for UNESCO has included its Memory of the World program. He authored its General Guidelines (2002) and Companion, and served in various roles on its Australian and international committees; from 2005 to 2014 he chaired its Asia Pacific Regional Committee (MOWCAP). In 2016-17 he coordinated the revision and updating of the General Guidelines.
Ray has conducted missions or lectured in over 40 developed and developing countries. He writes for professional journals and his regular teaching commitments have included the audiovisual archiving courses at Charles Sturt University (Australia), University of East Anglia (UK), Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano (Colombia) and the George Eastman Museum School of Film Preservation (USA). UNESCO publishes his best known monograph, Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles (Third edition 2016). His major writings have been published in ten languages. His doctoral thesis was on the history of the NFSA (2011).
Born in 1943, Ray lives in Kambah, a suburb of Canberra, Australia, with his wife, Sue. His interests include animation, comic art and mechanical music.
Awards and recognition:
1987 Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for AV archiving work
2003 AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists, USA) Silver Light Award for outstanding career achievement.
2008 Australian Society of Cinema Pioneers NSW Pioneer of the Year
2010 SEAPAVAA (South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association) Life Achievement Award and Fellow
Australian Society of Archivists Distinguished Achievement Award
2013 Brazilian Association for Audiovisual Preservation award for “a life dedicated to preserving the audiovisual heritage”
University of Canberra Distinguished Alumnus
2015 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Reconocimiento for audiovisual archiving philosophy
2018 AMIA Advocacy Award
2019 Film Heritage Foundation (India) Lifetime Achievement Award
In 2019, AMIA instituted the Ray Edmondson Advocacy Award which is presented at its annual conference.
Since the 1990s Ray has been listed annually in Who’s Who in Australia.
Career highlights
National Library of Australia
• Reference librarian, Film Collection and Services 1968-1973
• Supervisor, National Film Archive Unit 1973-1978
• Director, National Film Library 1978-1984
National Film and Sound Archive
• Inaugural Deputy Director 1984-2001
• Curator Emeritus 2001-
South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association
• Founding President 1996-2002
• Immediate Past President 2002-2008
Friends of the National Film and Sound Archive
• President 2012 –
UNESCO Memory of the World Program
• Member, International Advisory Committee 1998-2001
• Member, Register Subcommittee 2005-2015
• Vice-chair, MOWCAP (Asia Pacific Regional Committee) 1995-2005
• Chairman, MOWCAP 2005-2014
• Member, Australian National Committee, 2000-
Australia’s Lost Films Canberra, National Library of Australia, 1982. (co-authored with Andrew Pike).
Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles UNESCO, Paris and Bangkok, 2016. Third Edition. (Earlier editions were in 1998 and 2004). Widely translated. Philosophy
The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments Springer, Switzerland, 2020 (co-editor)
Springer MoW
Television series
The Australian Image 12 episodes, TEN network, 1988 (concept, script editor, co-producer)
/lost+found Episode 6: Diluvio Brazil, 2022 (subject of episode).
Phone: +61 413 486 849
Address: 100 Learmonth Drive
Kambah 2902 ACT
Australia
OAM, B.A., Dip Lib, PhD
0009-0005-3601-170X
After graduating in arts and librarianship at the University of New South Wales, Ray joined the Film Section of the National Library of Australia in 1968. In 1973 he established and led its new Film Archive Unit. In 1978 he became overall head of the Library’s Film Section. Described as the ‘moving spirit’ behind the creation of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) in 1984, he was its Deputy Director until 2001, when he retired and was endowed as its first honorary Curator Emeritus, later serving on its Advisory Committee (2004 to 2008). During this public service career he devised and led corporately funded film restorations and pioneering programs like The Last Film Search and Operation Newsreel. Among his writings, his extensive 1974 report on his study trip of European and American film archives proved a crucial step towards the ultimate creation of the NFSA.
His work as chair or board member of various professional or community organisations has included The Federation Line Inc., Music Roll Australia, Archive Forum and the Friends of the NFSA. Internationally, he was elected inaugural President of SEAPAVAA from 1996 to 2002, and was ex-officio Council member to 2008. He was inaugural chair of AMIA’s Advocacy Committee and inaugural co-chair of its International Outreach Committee. From 1996 onwards his wider work for UNESCO has included its Memory of the World program. He authored its General Guidelines (2002) and Companion, and served in various roles on its Australian and international committees; from 2005 to 2014 he chaired its Asia Pacific Regional Committee (MOWCAP). In 2016-17 he coordinated the revision and updating of the General Guidelines.
Ray has conducted missions or lectured in over 40 developed and developing countries. He writes for professional journals and his regular teaching commitments have included the audiovisual archiving courses at Charles Sturt University (Australia), University of East Anglia (UK), Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano (Colombia) and the George Eastman Museum School of Film Preservation (USA). UNESCO publishes his best known monograph, Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles (Third edition 2016). His major writings have been published in ten languages. His doctoral thesis was on the history of the NFSA (2011).
Born in 1943, Ray lives in Kambah, a suburb of Canberra, Australia, with his wife, Sue. His interests include animation, comic art and mechanical music.
Awards and recognition:
1987 Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for AV archiving work
2003 AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists, USA) Silver Light Award for outstanding career achievement.
2008 Australian Society of Cinema Pioneers NSW Pioneer of the Year
2010 SEAPAVAA (South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association) Life Achievement Award and Fellow
Australian Society of Archivists Distinguished Achievement Award
2013 Brazilian Association for Audiovisual Preservation award for “a life dedicated to preserving the audiovisual heritage”
University of Canberra Distinguished Alumnus
2015 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Reconocimiento for audiovisual archiving philosophy
2018 AMIA Advocacy Award
2019 Film Heritage Foundation (India) Lifetime Achievement Award
In 2019, AMIA instituted the Ray Edmondson Advocacy Award which is presented at its annual conference.
Since the 1990s Ray has been listed annually in Who’s Who in Australia.
Career highlights
National Library of Australia
• Reference librarian, Film Collection and Services 1968-1973
• Supervisor, National Film Archive Unit 1973-1978
• Director, National Film Library 1978-1984
National Film and Sound Archive
• Inaugural Deputy Director 1984-2001
• Curator Emeritus 2001-
South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association
• Founding President 1996-2002
• Immediate Past President 2002-2008
Friends of the National Film and Sound Archive
• President 2012 –
UNESCO Memory of the World Program
• Member, International Advisory Committee 1998-2001
• Member, Register Subcommittee 2005-2015
• Vice-chair, MOWCAP (Asia Pacific Regional Committee) 1995-2005
• Chairman, MOWCAP 2005-2014
• Member, Australian National Committee, 2000-
Australia’s Lost Films Canberra, National Library of Australia, 1982. (co-authored with Andrew Pike).
Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles UNESCO, Paris and Bangkok, 2016. Third Edition. (Earlier editions were in 1998 and 2004). Widely translated. Philosophy
The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments Springer, Switzerland, 2020 (co-editor)
Springer MoW
Television series
The Australian Image 12 episodes, TEN network, 1988 (concept, script editor, co-producer)
/lost+found Episode 6: Diluvio Brazil, 2022 (subject of episode).
Phone: +61 413 486 849
Address: 100 Learmonth Drive
Kambah 2902 ACT
Australia
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Written with the collaboration of an International Reference Group of experts, this new edition is a revised and updated successor to the second edition, published in 2004. The first edition of the book appeared in 1998. Previous editions have been translated from the original English into French, Spanish, Farsi, Portuguese, German, Japanese and Macedonian.
Over the past two decades, the field of audiovisual archiving has grown into a profession that is now more confident of its identity. It has become widely recognized among memory institutions, the information and audiovisual industries, and within academia, where it is now the focus of several postgraduate and undergraduate courses around the world. At the same time, the rise of digital technology has brought a new paradigm and new complexity to the field of archiving, as old certainties and assumptions have given way to new realities.