Archival absences, silences, and fragments: the unmade and film history

Archives of the unmade can be fragmented and uncatalogued making it difficult to locate the required evidence for historical reconstruction. But even when archives of the unmade can be found, there are typically many absences and silences in relation to the labour of those who worked on the projects. This chapter investigates the challenges of archival absences, silences, and fragments for those studying the unmade, before drawing upon feminist and decolonial archival methods – reading against the grain – as a possible solution. The chapter presents a case study of the Kirk Douglas Papers, held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to demonstrate the importance of using such alternative archival methods. In doing, the labour of women who were integral to projects left unmade in the 1950s is revealed. The chapter concludes by widening the argument to consider the applicability of the methods used for the broader study of the unmade and film history.