Scope and Contents

The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection documents their work as travel filmmakers, photographers, and writers from 1954-2015. The audiovisual and photography collection begins with their first joint travels in the 1950s and covers a range of their professional activities through the early 2000s, mainly encompassing original travel footage, edited travelogues, and travel still photography. Supporting documentation includes film scripts, lecture recordings, personal and professional manuscripts, financial and professional records, and a substantial amount of newspaper and magazine articles which serve as a record of the press generated by and about Chickering and Porterfield.

Records pertaining to Chickering and Porterfield's film career include full lecture scripts for their five major silent travel films: (1960), (1963), (1965), (1968), and (1973). Chickering and Porterfield delivered these scripts at venues throughout the United States in front of live audiences while the (silent) travelogues were screened behind them, essentially acting as live narrators. Silent access copies are available for each of these films except for ; audio recordings of their live lectures are available for , , . Reference video is also available for Chickering and Porterfield's two shorter sound films: (1962) and (1968). Other film material includes several sets of lecture tour records listing dates, locations, topics, and fees, as well as a large amount of advertising material.

Also included in this collection are a large number of published and unpublished manuscripts, including both personal projects and assignment travel writing. Several personal narrative essays and more complete memoir drafts give insight into Chickering and Porterfield's filmmaking process, industry tips, and travel methods, as well as anecdotes from the field. Assignment travel writing ranges geographically, with a focus on cruise ships.

Other materials in the collection include extensive inventories of still photography, personal and professional correspondence, and a substantial amount of printed material which was retained as a central resource for press generated by and about Chickering and Porterfield.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in 9 series: Series 1. Film documentation, 1959-1986, undated; Series 2. Still photography documentation, 1958-2004, undated; Series 3. Writings, 1954-1997, undated; Series 4. Printed material, 1959-2002, undated; Series 5. Other professional materials, 1987-2000, undated; Series 6. Correspondence, 1957-1992, 2000, 2015, undated; Series 7. Films and film-related sound recordings, circa 1960-2015; Series 8. Other audiovisual material, 1957, 1966, 1981, undated; Series 9. Photographs, 1956-2001, undated.

Biographical / Historical

Lisa Chickering (1922-) and Jeanne Porterfield (1923-2010) were travel filmmakers, photographers, and writers in New York City whose professional output spanned from the 1960s through the early 2000s. Chickering and Porterfield first met in Chicago, where they were childhood friends and neighbors. Porterfield attended the University of Chicago and eventually earned a master's in musicology from the American Conservatory of Music, after which she trained under Uta Hagen to pursue stage and television acting; Chickering trained as an opera singer and pianist before turning to work as a stage and cabaret singer, as well as a model at the John Robert Powers Agency. The pair's filmmaking career began in 1954, when they traveled to Paris for a singing engagement Chickering had booked. When they arrived, they found the engagement had fallen through. Porterfield began to act as Chickering's agent, and the two cobbled together a three-year international tour, which they documented on an 8mm camera. Upon returning to New York in 1958, they incorporated a production company, Viewpoints, Inc., and returned to Europe to film their first professional project.

Viewpoints, Inc. released five full-length (70-80 minute) silent travelogues through the 1960s and early 1970s, set in Western European and North American tourist destinations: (1960), (1963), (1965), (1968), and (1973). Chickering and Porterfield acted as directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors on each film. The pair also presented these films on the travel lecture film circuit at venues in the United States and Canada ranging from Kiwanis clubs to major concert halls, narrating their silent footage onstage in front of live audiences.

Viewpoints, Inc. also released two shorter 30-minute public relations sound films sponsored by Volkswagen of America: (1962, which used footage from ) and (1968, which used footage from ). Both of these films won awards at the American Film Festival. A third public relations film, co-sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the Curaçao Tourism Board and titled , was released in 1962 and used footage from .

Chickering and Porterfield turned to still photography in earnest in the 1980s and continued working through the early 2000s; their work was published as educational filmstrips as well as in various leading travel and lifestyle publications, including in and . The pair also authored a number of travel features to accompany their photos, with a particular emphasis on cruise ships.

Porterfield died in 2010 in New York City, where Lisa still lives.