Today I paid my first visit to the Archives of South Australia. If you are interested, I am researching picture theatres of South Australia as part of another blog I have - History of South Australian Picture Theatres – History, South Australia, Picture Theatres (wordpress.com). I love this blog I have been adding to it slowly and yes I admit, at times very slowly, over some years.
Most of my research has been through Trove, some books that I own copies of, and the odd interviews that I have done. Also, as I am a member of CATHS (Cinema and Theatre Historical Society), I can access their archives too - which is incredibly helpful - if you are interested at all in Cinema and the preservation of the history of cinema I highly recommend you join.
Anyway, today I visited the State Records of South Australia and was able to look at some records which are held there. What I find really fascinating is that by looking at records you can bring to life the story behind these buildings/businesses. For instance, just by reading a few letters and looking at official records of the period I was able to get an understanding of just how tough it was during the late 1920s and early 1930s for the Picture Theatre industry. And further I was able to look at different records for different theatres and see that some were doing it tougher than others. So behind that information is the knowledge that certain suburbs were struggling more than others. The working class in this instance were doing it tougher than the white-collar or the professional classes in Adelaide. And you can glean that knowledge simply by looking at whether certain cinemas were struggling to pay the yearly fees on time, whilst others seemed to do so easily.
Entertainment is a luxury for many households. In the early 20th century Picture Theatre houses were a chief source of entertainment for every household, that was before television, which arrived in Adelaide in 1959 and in other parts of South Australia in the 1960s. So if you are doing it tough and as many households are doing so today it is the luxuries that you cut first. So it makes sense that those doing it toughest and that typically is the working classes - that they make the cuts deeper and earlier.
When I was a uni I wanted to write an essay about the impact of The Great Depression on the Picture Theatre Industry in Australia, but decided against it as it needed more than 3000 words to do it justice. But today I was able to see firsthand the impact that it did have - at least for one cinema.
Archives are such wonderful places. I cannot wait to go back and discover more secrets and treasures.
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