Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Meilan Lam fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
- Sound recording
- Moving images
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1931-1999 (Creation)
- Creator
- Lam, Meilan
Physical description area
Physical description
80 cm of textual records
40 video cassettes
4 audio cassettes
1 audio reel
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Meilan Lam was born in Vancouver in 1950. She began to work as a film-maker in 1971 at the National Film Board of Canada, specializing in animation and other technical skills on over 80 productions. Her credits include Atmos (1980), The National Scream (1980), Four Centuries: The Firearm in Canada (1982), Victoria Bridge: The 8th Wonder (1988), The Road Taken (1996), Under the Willow Tree (1997), and Moving Pictures (2000). She was director and researcher for the 1998 documentary film Show Girls:Celebrating Montreal's Legendary Black Jazz Scene (French version: Les Girls).
Custodial history
The documents were donated to Concordia University Archives by Meilan Lam in 1998 and 2000. The fonds was transferred from Concordia University's Records Management and Archives Department to Concordia University Libraries' Special Collections March 16, 2016, April 6-7, 2016, April 13, 2016, April 19-20, 2016, and May 17, 2016.
Scope and content
The fonds provides information on Montreal's Black jazz scene from the 1920s to the 1960s, chronicling the lives of three women - Tina Baines Brereton, Bernice Jordan Whims, and Olga Spencer Foderingham - who danced in night clubs such as Rockhead's Paradise, The Terminal, and Café St. Michel.
The fonds consists of materials gathered, and in some cases created, during the National Film Board of Canada's production of Show Girls / Les Girls. It includes research notes, edited sequences on videotape, video tapes and transcripts of interviews with the film's principals, audio tapes of interviews with various sources, stock footage, shot lists, clippings of night clubs ads, historical reference books, and VHS copies of the documentary.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The documents were donated to Concordia University Archives by Meilan Lam in 1998 and 2000.
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
- French
Script of material
Language and script note
The documents are in English, though the fonds contains a French copy of the film.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
A box listing is available.
Finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
Rights
Copyright belongs to the creator(s).
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
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Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Final
Level of detail
Minimal