Field Work Term

Exceeding The Sum Of Your Parts

A sophomore creates a gallery that wins praise and promotion from The Atlantic.

Exceeding the sum img

For her sophomore Field Work Term, Emma Hurst interned with filmmaker Rick Prelinger. During the seven weeks, Emma reviewed thousands of home movies from the 1920s through the 1970s for the filmmaker’s upcoming film, No More Road Trips? It was from that footage that she curated a collection of video stills on her blog, *Stills.

The collection of stills went viral. Editors from The Atlantic and BoingBoing—the world’s most popular web and culture blog—were  captivated. Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, wrote,  “Scrolling through these stills is… suspenseful.” BoingBoing discovered the collection and featured it on their blog, quoting Rick Prelinger. “Megan [Prelinger] and I were very fortunate that Emma Hurst chose to spend her Field Work Term with Prelinger Library and Archives, helping with Megan’s forthcoming book and my forthcoming movie. As she viewed and logged some two hundred hours of home movies, she curated a striking collection of still images that, like all great collections, exceeds the sum of its parts.”

“Megan [Prelinger] and I were very fortunate that Emma Hurst chose to spend her Field Work Term with Prelinger Library and Archives, helping with Megan’s forthcoming book and my forthcoming movie. As she viewed and logged some two hundred hours of home movies, she curated a striking collection of still images that, like all great collections, exceeds the sum of its parts.