[SIGCIS-Members] Request for help locating sources, archives: History of computerized human modeling in CA

[Alana Staiti]

Hello SIGCIS,

At the last SIGCIS meeting at SHOT Singapore, I was fortunate to receive
feedback from attendees on my dissertation proposal. Now, if you don't
mind, I'd like to reach out to the wider group to ask for your help in
pinpointing resources in the California area for an upcoming research trip.
My research centers on the history of human modeling for computer graphics
and animation, primarily for the entertainment industry (commercials, tv,
motion picture), 1960s-early1990s.

While I'm learning a lot about computer graphics and animation in general,
I am focusing my research on *computerized human modeling* (human and
animal bodies in motion, methods of traditional and computer animation,
processes of digitizing, body scanning, motion capture, rigging, skinning,
3D graphics and "realism," etc.).

In the interest of keeping this email brief, I'll lay out the people,
places, and repositories that I've already identified. I've only reached
out to a few of the people listed thus far, so if you are willing and able
to connect me with anyone listed below (including archivists at these and
other repositories) I would be grateful! If you can think of other people,
places and/or resources that I would benefit from consulting, please let me
know. Access to some of the company archives will be tricky. I welcome any
and all suggestions/connections, especially for those repositories that
tend to be more guarded.

-people associated with the *Computer Graphics Lab @ NYIT *(Lance Williams,
Alvy Ray Smith, Ed Catmull, Rebecca Allen)
-people associated with *Robert Abel & Associates* (Kenny Mirman, Richard
Taylor, Randy Roberts, Tim McGovern, [who is the motion model featured in
the Brilliance Sexy Robot making-of film?])
-people associated with *Triple I* (Richard Taylor, Gary Demos, "Adam
Powers Juggler" Ken Rosenthal)
-LucasFilm
-Pixar (John Lasseter late 1980s)
-Computer History Museum
-Disney archive & Disney family museum
-Stanford University special collections
-UCLA special collections
-Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences archive

Here are the archives I have already visited (or will do so in the near
future) and people interviewed:
-Animac & Scanimate (Dave Sieg, Ed Tajchman, Marilou Harrison)
-Henry Fuchs, UNC Chapel Hill
-Norman Badler, UPenn
-Charles Babbage Institute
-University of Utah
-Smithsonian National Museum of American History
-Library of Congress motion picture collection

Thanks for reading, and thanks so much in advance for any suggestions
and/or leads you can offer. SIGCIS, you're a lifesaver.

Best wishes,
Alana Staiti
PhD Candidate
Science & Technology Studies
Cornell University
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