Commencing in 1973, the Kodak Lecture Series Fonds contains audio and video recordings of lectures presenting the work of photographers, filmmakers, photo-based and new media artists, curators and visual media theorists.
A series of lectures at the School of Image Arts (then known as the Photographic Arts Department) was begun by professor Phil Bergerson in 1975 to support the school's unique curriculum. Bergerson wanted to expose his students to new artists and ideas around photography by inviting internationally known artists, curators and theorists to discuss the art of creating, collecting and curating photography. These lectures were financially supported by Ontario Arts Council Grants and ticket sales. The first series (Photographic Perspectives) was extreamly popular, and Bergerson continued to organize the lectures for the next 9 years.
Kodak Canada Inc. stepped in to sponsor the series in 1984, allowing students and the photographic comminity of Toronto to attend all lectures in the series without charge. The series was re-named the Kodak Chair Lecture series (1986-2007), and motion picture and, over time, video and new media artists and theorists joined the line-up of speakers.
Throughout the series, the lectures were documented, on audiocassette and then video tape. In 2009, the lectures began to be streamed online and archived on the RyeCast websites (https://ryecast.ryerson.ca/1/page/Channels.aspx). In 2002, the School of Image Arts received funding from the Canada's Digital Collections (CDC) program, through Industry Canada, to create an online multi-media database of over 200 of the participants, using images and footage captured during the lectures. The project, entitled "Images and Ideas: 25 Years of the Kodak Lecture Series", was completed in 2002 and hosted on the Library and Archives Canada server, along with thousands of other local and national digital projects. The Canada's Digital Collections website is no longer live, but is archived at the Government of Canada website: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/E/Alphabet.asp
In addition to the Kodak Lectures, the fonds contains the audio recordings of the proceedings of the Canadian Perspectives Conference (1979), a Critique Workshop with Gary Winnogrand (1981), a Critical Writing Workshop with A. D..Coleman (1982), the proceedings of the August Sander Symposium (1982) and the Symposium on Photographic Theory (1983).