WGBH Educational Foundation, Vietnam Project

Records, 1946-1985 (bulk, 1979-1983)

Restriction: researchers must sign a special agreement form before using this collection.

In 1977, television director-producer L. Richard Ellison received funding to begin to research and develop The Vietnam Project, which first aired on PBS in 1983 as a thirteen part series entitled Vietnam: A Television History. WGBH, a Boston public broadcasting station, housed the Project and provided some financial support. Vietnam was produced by WGBH-TV; Antennae-2, a French channel; and Associated TV, a British program service (which became Central Independent TV). The Project was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and others.

The archives of Vietnam: A Television History includes most of the material collected and created during the development and production of the television series. The collection falls into 13 series, which are broken into two groups: production and administration; and sources consulted and research materials. The series titles in the production and administration group include Executive Producer, Archivist, Producers, Interview Transcripts, Interview Audiotapes, Editing Room, and Educational Outreach Materials. The series titles in the sources consulted and research materials group include Project Consultants, Film Research, Still Photographs, Veterans Research, Vietnamese Literature Workshop Material, and the Sully Collection (a discrete collection). Several of these series have been arranged and described. Complete box lists are available for those not yet processed. Descriptions of the series, their titles in boldface, appear below.

The collection also includes 280,000 feet of 16mm film and corresponding sound track outtakes of original material shot by the Project (some not in synch), and 228,000 feet of 16mm film and corresponding sound track, and a number of videotape masters of stock footage workprint outtakes from 65 sources. None of this material (housed in 170 transfer cases) was included in the final version of the television programs, and much of it needs to be reconstituted. There are only a few indexes to the audio-visual portion, so access to it is complicated.

Vietnam Project Archivist Kenn A. Rabin s main function was to organize and maintain access to the film footage the project collected, or about which information was collected. Towards the end of the project, the archivist also coordinated the collection of files from the staff of the project.

This series consists of story cards, subject cards, computer printouts, story logs, shooting logs, and negative cutter s logs, all of which relate to film. Some key the film to subjects, others to the episode in which it was used. Some indicate in what repository the film was located.

FINDING AIDS: Preliminary

This series consists of film production-related material including stock footage, sound, sync, and wild sound logs, and story card and assembly notebooks with scripts, organized by episode. It also includes a chronological list of stock footage, correspondence, notes, and memoranda.

FINDING AIDS: Preliminary

Margaret Ann Roth, Project Director, Vietnam Educational Materials, obtained several auxiliary grants for the creation of educational materials to accompany Vietnam: A Television History. Under the auspices of a 1981 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant, MAR oversaw the development of a telecourse, an audiocassette tape, and three publications including Steven Cohen, Vietnam: Anthology and Guide to A Television History (New York: Knopf, 1983). An additional FIPSE "dissemination" grant in 1983 provided for WGBH's study of the usage of the telecourse in order to evaluate the success of television broadcasts in educational settings.

This series consists of grant proposals, correspondence, reports, questionnaires, drafts, syllabi, and other materials that document MAR's work for WGBH and the development of a postsecondary curriculum by a television station. This series also provides information about the difficulties of preparing published materials for an educational market (which requires advance preparation) in conjunction with producing programs for television broadcast (which allows last minute changes of major proportions).

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In August 1977, WGBH-TV agreed to become the U.S. sponsor for L. Richard Ellison s (RLE) television series about the history of conflicts in Indochina, particularly Vietnam. RLE, a free-lance film and television writer-director-producer, had worked for CBS, NBC, NET, and PBS, and overseas for Time-Life Broadcast and Time-Life Films. As project director and executive producer, he was responsible for the difficult task of securing financial support as well as for overseeing every phase of the Project. In addition, RLE produced the final episode, "Legacies.''

This series contains executive producer files kept by RLE and his production secretary from 1977 through 1983. It includes correspondence, notes, and clippings. This series documents RLE's work on the Project and provides an overall view of the Project s daily functions, including fundraising, research, connections with WGBH and other U.S. and foreign broadcasting services, a trip to Vietnam, script development, production, post-production, and communication with consultants, veterans, and others.

FINDING AIDS: Complete

The audiotapes in this series are the sound reels for the audio-taped or filmed interviews conducted by (or on behalf of) the producers of Vietnam. For more information, see the Interview Transcripts series.

This series includes most of the original sound reels to the filmed interviews, and most of the audiocassette tapes used for transcribing the audio-taped and filmed interviews.

FINDING AIDS: Partial

The interview transcripts are of filmed or audio-taped interviews conducted by (or on behalf of) the producers. Most of the interviews took place in the United States or Vietnam. Portions of many of the interviews appear in the television programs.

This series includes most of the transcripts from the 280 interviews conducted for Vietnam: A Television History. Among the interviewees are Vietnamese, U.S., French, and British veterans, policymakers, anti-war protesters, peasants, doctors, journalists, refugees, and military and government officials with viewpoints and experiences from all sides of the conflicts and wars in Vietnam from the 1930s through the 1970s.
List of interviewees.

FINDING AIDS: Complete. Include name index.

This series consists of files kept by the producers of the television programs. They include correspondence, memoranda, research materials, interview planning material (such as background and logistical information, and questions), interview transcripts, and scripts. Each producer kept his or her own files; thus the organization of each set is different.

FINDING AIDS: Preliminary

Project researchers combed film repositories world-wide for stock footage to use in the television series.

This series consists of correspondence, notes on film repositories, and notes on the content of the film researched.

FINDING AIDS: Preliminary

WGBH relied on academic consultants in every stage of its project. Most were history or political science professors in the United States, Canada, and France. Consultants not before the series aired, but also wrote and critiqued "narratives." These working papers served as background material for producers in their preparation of storylines for each episode and in their selection of possible interview subjects. In 1980, many of the consultants led seminars, referred to as the "Vietnam School," to provide staff with background about the wars and Vietnam itself, and to introduce producers and others to the consultants.

This series includes the project s administrative files regarding the consultants, narratives and critiques, correspondence, articles by the consultants, articles collected by the project, and audiotapes of the Vietnam School. The papers thoroughly document the advice and historical information provided to WGBH, thereby also providing details about which stories the project solicited and which ones it chose to tell.

FINDING AIDS: Complete

This series includes approximately 100 photographs, both black and white and color, and slides. There is also some correspondence concerning acquisition of photographs. Most of the photographs are shots of U.S. troops and military equipment in Vietnam, and most are from the U.S. Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, and Pentagon photo files.

FINDING AIDS: Preliminary

10 cartons, 1/2 file box
Notebooks with contact sheets in transfer cases 17-19

Photojournalist François Sully, born in 1927 or 1928 in France, joined the French Army and was assigned to Vietnam in the 1940s. After choosing to be discharged in Saigon in 1947, FS became a correspondent for both Vietnamese and French publications. He lived in Saigon and worked for Newsweek from 1961 until his death in a helicopter crash in 1971. FS also wrote articles for magazines such as Business Week, Medical World News, and the New Republic. After receiving the papers as a donation from Newsweek in 1979, WGBH used the files in their research for Vietnam.

The collection consists of stories FS wrote for Newsweek and other newsmagazines, material he used in editing We the Vietnamese: Voices from Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1971), and subject files he used as background information for his newstories, including articles and clippings published in the U.S. and both South and North Vietnam, government and military press packages, captured documents, etc. This collection also contains contact sheets, negatives, and submission sheets FS sent to Newsweek, color slides, and military publicity photographs.

FINDING AIDS: Complete

By 1982, part of the thirteen episode of Vietnam, entitled "Aftermath," was to cover U.S. veterans. Although the executive producer had collected material about veterans since 1978, a formal research project began in early 1982 when Stephen Quintana, a Brandeis University student, began corresponding with veterans, conducting interviews, nd collecting information. In May 1982 the "Aftermath" episode was cancelled due to a lack of funds.

This series consists of correspondence and memoranda kept by SQ during his work for the project. The letters from veterans include enclosures such as clippings and poetry. In addition to conveying the issues that WGBH hoped to document, this series provides a good overview of what topics many veterans believed a television series about Vietnam should include.

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"Early Modern Vietnamese Literature: Literary Images of Change in PreIndependence Vietnam," a workshop, took place in June, 1982 and was sponsored by John King Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University. One or more members of WGBH s staff attended as observers. The early modern period of Vietnamese literature covers roughly 1920-45. Near the end of the workshop, WGBH showed the participants a working copy of the "Diem" episode.

This series consists of notes taken by WGBH staff, copies of papers presented, and audiocassette tapes made during the workshop. It also includes some of the scholars responses to "Diem."

FINDING AIDS: Complete

This series consists mainly of books, but also includes reports, periodicals, drafts of a book by Stanley Karnow, and journals. They were acquired by the project for research purposes, both for background on events and on interview subjects.

In addition to its value in providing information on Vietnam, the material in this series is of interest in that it shows what some of the producers used for information (or may have used). Some is annotated.

FINDING AIDS: Preliminary