*Re-posted here on this date in part from an earlier email update.
December 28, 2015. Dear Friends and Supporters of “The Matusow Affair”,
As the year draws to a close, “The Matusow Affair” is ramping up to full speed. Here’s a rundown of where things stand as of the close of 2015.
Fundraising
We start with fundraising because it is the most critical part of the project. In order to facilitate raising funds, we are in the final stages of negotiating a contract with Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. (“FC”) to serve as the 501(c)(3) fiscal agent/sponsor for the project. Working with FC will allow our funders to contribute to the development of our project while receiving the tax benefits for donating to a charitable cause.
We are in the process of drafting and revising solicitation materials to be submitted to potential funding sources. Letters will begin going out to potential donors the moment we have a signed contract in hand with FC.
Primary Research
Ben and George traveled to Brighton, England in early November to take a first dive into the Harvey Matusow papers at the University of Sussex’s archive, known as The Keep. Though we were there for a total of five days, there wasn’t enough time to make it through all of the material, but we began to get a lay of the land. Harvey’s wartime and post-war correspondence to his parents, in particular, gave us a tantalizing and (we think) fresh perspective on what motivated his erratic, self-aggrandizing behavior. There is more work to be done in the Matusow archive, and we will want to go back to continue reviewing his materials in early 2016.
Conversion of Reel-to-reel Tapes to Digital Format
While in England, Ben met with administrators at The Keep to discuss the process of converting the original audio recordings The Keep possesses of conversations between Albert and Harvey from reel-to-reel tape to digital files. We view that conversion as critically important to our efforts, not only because of the essential content of the tapes to the story we want to tell, but also because we fear the physical tapes themselves are rapidly degrading and could soon be in irretrievable condition. Since returning from England, we’ve researched firms in the UK that can perform the delicate task of digitally converting the tapes, with help from connections at the British Library and the Imperial War Museum. We’ve also secured The Keep’s agreement to let us take the lead, and to say we are working “in collaboration” with the Keep, in soliciting bids from those firms to do the work. Once bids are in hand, we plan to ask The Keep to share the cost of the conversion.
University of Wisconsin Research Assistant
We have retained a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin to help us go through Albert’s archives there. After reviewing those archives, Ben believes that the research assistant is critical to helping us organize Albert’s materials and identify the most salient documents to use in the project. We expect to send her a list of marching orders in early January. She will sign a non-disclosure agreement, which we have already drafted.
Other Primary Sources
Clinton Jencks left his personal papers to Arizona State University. Also, Columbia University has an oral history by Angus Cameron on tape, and transcribed into a 640 page tome. We will want to visit both of these archives in early 2016. We’ve also learned that an author in Virginia has been working on a biography of Angus. We plan to reach out to him eventually.
Organizing our Research
We are in preliminary talks with a Boston-based document management company called Evidox that “hosts” document collections - such as our collection of archival material culled from Harvey’s and Albert’s archives - online for review and analysis. Our hope is to upload the documents and other media we have collected, and expect to continue to collect, to an online database that will allow us to organize our thoughts and arrange our materials into a presentation for potential investors/buyers. We expect to meet with representatives of Evidox in early January to discuss budgeting.
That is all for now. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions as we move forward. The year 2016 holds lots of promise for The Matusow Affair!
Ben and George