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Inventory of the International Monitor Institute Records, 1990-2003 and undated

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Descriptive Summary

Repository
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Creator
International Monitor Institute.
Title
International Monitor Institute Records, 1990-2003
Language of Material
Material in English
Extent
530 Linear Feet

10,100 Items
Abstract
The non-profit agency International Monitor Institute (IMI) operated between 1993 and 2003, primarily to assist international war-crimes tribunals by collecting, indexing and organizing visual evidence of violations of international human rights law.
The International Monitor Institute Records span the dates 1992-2003, and primarily comprise audiovisual materials related to IMI’s documentation of contemporary conflicts and human rights violations around the world. Countries represented include: Burma (Myanmar), Bosnia and Hercegovina, Cambodia, Kuwait, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Thailand. Includes master and use copies of approximately 6000 videocassettes and 100 audio tapes and audiocassettes. The video and audio material is indexed by an extensive database developed by IMI which includes keywords, air dates, segment producer, segment title, and in some cases, transcripts and stills from the video. There are also many photographs and slides taken in the same regions, depicting destruction in areas of conflict, forced labor, refugees and refugee camps, and protests. The majority of the photos were taken on the Burma/Thai border, in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and refugee camps in Rwanda. Finally, there are some organizational records, including an extensive database of the audiovisual components.
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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions
Collection is restricted. Access to audiovisual and organizational records series is restricted at this time until processing of this material is complete. Photographic series are open for research.
In addition, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Copyright Notice
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], International Monitor Institute Records, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The International Monitor Institute Records were received by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library as a gift in 2006 and 2007.
Processing Information
Processed by Mathew Archer, Ted Holt, John Blythe, and Patrick Stawski
Encoded by Mathew Archer, Ted Holt, Paula Jeannet Mangiafico, and Patrick Stawski
Accessions 2006-0111 and 2007-0070 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory: DACS, EAD, NCEAD guidelines, and local Style Guide.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note for Pippa Scott

The International Monitor Institute (IMI) was founded in 1993 by actress and film producer Pippa Scott. Scott, daughter of screenwriter Allan Scott who wrote some of the Astaire-Rogers films, was educated in California and in England, at Radcliffe College and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Ms. Scott acted in such films as "The Searchers" and "Auntie Mame," and was a founding partner of the Emmy-award winning television company Lorimar Productions (producer of such TV hits as "The Waltons" and "Dallas" ). Scott established Linden Productions in 1987 to develop documentaries focusing on current issues. Linden's latest production is "King Leopold's Ghost," a documentary about the exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium. Scott was a member of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, the Pacific Council on Foreign Relations, and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

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Historical Note for International Monitor Institute (IMI)

IMI operated between 1993 and 2003, primarily to assist international war-crimes tribunals by collecting, indexing and organizing visual evidence of violations of international human rights law. Videos and audiotapes were acquired through donation as well as on collecting trips by IMI associates in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and Cambodia. IMI's activities also included developing regional archives of videos on conflict and human rights abuses, producing film and multimedia projects to assist humanitarian organizations, organizing public outreach events, conducting video research for governments, film makers, authors, and students, and providing educational outreach. Patrons and partners of IMI and its collections included the International Criminal Court and its staff, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the governments of Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, and former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

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Collection Overview

The International Monitor Institute Records span the dates 1992-2003, and primarily consist of audiovisual materials related to IMI’s documentation of contemporary conflicts and human rights violations around the world. Countries represented include: Burma (Myanmar), Bosnia and Hercegovina, Cambodia, Kuwait, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Thailand. Includes master and use copies of approximately 6000 videocassettes and 100 audio tapes and audiocassettes. The video and audio material is indexed by an extensive database developed by IMI which includes keywords, air dates, segment producer, segment title, and in some cases, transcripts and stills from the video. There are also many photographs and slides taken in the same regions, depicting destruction in areas of conflict, forced labor, refugees and refugee camps, and protests. The majority of the photos were taken on the Burma/Thai border, in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and refugee camps in Rwanda. Finally, there are some organizational records, including an extensive database of the audiovisual components.
Pippa Scott, IMI's creator, was a founding partner of Lorimar Productions (producer of such TV hits as "The Waltons" and "Dallas" ) and went on to establish Linden Productions in 1987. Linden is committed to developing documentary films about current issues. Linden's latest production is "King Leopold's Ghost," a documentary about the exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium.
Addition (2007-0070) (approx. 4000 items, 120 linear ft.; dated 1990-2002) contains master and use copies of videocassettes related to human rights violations around the world.
Acquired as part of the Archive for Human Rights.
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Subject Headings

These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
List of Series in Collection
Photographic Material Series, 1996-2002 and undated
Organizational Records Series, 1993-2003
Audiovisual Material Series, 1990-2002
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Detailed Description of Collection

Photographic Material Series, 1996-2002 and undated

(2 boxes)
Series contains groupings of images taken in areas of conflict around the world, including: color photos and slides showing fires burning or villages destroyed and injuries of Burmese refugees, taken in Burma or Thailand by human rights worker Kevin Heppner, founder of Karen Human Rights Group; photos and slides taken in Burma, or on the Thailand/Burma border in refugee camps acquired or made for IMI and gathered or taken by filmmaker, Jeanne Halacy, who spent time in Bangkok; stills from Mikel Flamm, a professional photographer/journalist; photos and hi-8 video of the refugee camps on the Thailand/Burma border taken by commission members of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, including IMI founder Pippa Scott,when they visited the camps. The camps were run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) which had an office in Bangkok at the time; many of them have been shut down; and images of refugee camps and refugees chiefly in Rwanda and other countries in Africa, but also in Sri Lanka and Turkey, which form visual evidence gathered by the United Nations' Human Commission on Refugees (UNHCR).
Other images contain scenes of mass demonstrations for peace, possibly in Thailand; forced labor in Thailand; ruined cities in Sarajevo and photos of residents and mass burial sites; elections and voting scenes, possibly from Burma or Thailand; burning oil fields in Kuwait; and other scenarios in countries such as China, Rwanda, Kenya, Cote D'Ivoire, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Pakistan. Many of these photographs can be assumed to have been taken in secret and smuggled out of the country of origin.
Photographs and slides, along with a few negatives, are arranged by country name, with unidentified images at the end of the sequence. Most are undated but can be estimated at being from the 1990s to 2000. Also included and filed as found with the images are small amounts of related materials such as newsletters, publicity, and correspondence.
Box PH1
Asia, Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Tibet
Bosnia  (3 folders)
Cambodia  (2 folders)
Cote D'Ivoire  (2 folders)
Hercegovina, Mostar  (5 folders)
IMI Offices
Kuwait  (2 folders)
Box PH2
Liberia, Monrovia  
Mexico
Pakistan and Khmer Rouge
Rwanda and Kenya
"Saga o Sarajevu, " circa 1992
Publicity packet of 22 cards with graphics, text, and credits, each one representing a short documentary film about Sarajevo.
Sarajevo, 1994 and undated  (2 folders)
Thailand and Burma (Myanmar), 1996-1999 and undated  (Folders 1-11 of 17)
Box PH3
Thailand and Burma (Myanmar), 1996-1999 and undated  (Folders 12-17 of 17)
Thailand and Burma, supporting materials, 1997-1999
Ukraine
United Nations Human Commission on Refugees (UNHCR)  (7 folders)
Box PH 4
UN Commission of Experts, 1994  (3 folders)
UN photos  (4 folders)
Vietnam, undated  (2 folders)
Washington, D.C. and Thailand (?), undated  (2 folders)
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children  (Folders 1-3 of 7)
Box PH5
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, 1993and undated  (Folders 4-7 of 7)
Unidentified images  (4 folders)

Organizational Records Series, 1993-2003

(10 boxes)
Contains records produced and maintained by IMI. Includes printed material, correspondence, publicity material, subject and project files. Box total is approximate. Series closed until processing is complete.

Audiovisual Material Series, 1990-2002

(400 boxes)
Contains video and audio material. Box total is approximate. Series closed until processing is complete.
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Separated Material

The collection came with an extensive reference library consisting mostly of books and monographs providing historical background to human rights conflicts documented in the collection. Books and monographs published by human rights organizations are individually cataloged in RBMSCL. The rest of the collection was integrated into Perkins circulating collection and can be searched by the subject heading "Archive for Human Rights."