Access to the Collection

Persons interested in obtaining access to the political ads and other holdings of the Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Archive should contact the PCC's curator, Lewis Mazanti, by email or telephone to initiate a request. The archive's online catalog contains a listing of all the available political television commercials and ballot initiative or issue ads for reference; ask about the other holdings such as radio ads, debates, convention coverage, and speeches.

The archive is normally open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, except on official holidays and other university-designated closing periods, (contact the archive for more information). During these normal operating hours, the archive's materials are available to the public for on-site viewing at no charge, subject to availability of playback equipment and prior scheduling of facilities. The archive does adhere to any restrictions placed on the access to specific materials by the donors of the materials; however, very few archival holdings are subject to such donor restrictions.

Access is available only to copies of the materials and primarily for on-site use. No originals will be available for usage. For this reason, advance consultation with the archive staff can provide information on the most efficient methods of providing access for a particular user's needs. This is especially true if a user's request involves extensive research of materials that span several time periods or campaigns. Please contact the archive 10 days prior to any visit. We cannot guarantee timely access to materials without this advance notice. For on-site viewing of the materials, users must sign in and agree to abide by the viewing policies; any patron found willfully damaging materials, attempting to remove them from the premises, and/or transferring or copying them to other media will have their user privileges suspended. Researchers requiring access to a large amount of materials may request that these materials be pre-compiled to save time during their on-site visit. This service requires a 10-day minimum notification plus a minimum service fee of $100. Materials compiled for this service cannot be loaned for off-site usage; requests for off-site usage must follow the guidelines below.

When an on-site visit is impossible or impractical, the archive may agree to compile special compilations of commercials for instructional or research purposes to be used off-site. The general guideline for off-site viewing limits the number of spots to 20 per tape with no more than 5 from any one candidate. Please be aware that when the archive provides materials for use, the user is provided a rental copy of the materials only, and this copy must be returned within the specified time; the archive owns no copyrights to these materials and permission for any use other than individual viewing must be obtained from the copyright owner. The user must sign a loan agreement providing assurance to the archive that the materials will not be duplicated, further loaned, or used in any unauthorized ways. It is the express policy of the archive that its materials will not be used in any way to bring disrespect, ridicule, or misrepresentation to the candidates or producers of the commercials it preserves. Also, no materials from candidates engaged in an active campaign are loaned. All loaned tapes are dubbed with the PCC's watermark visible on-screen. The loan duration is 30 days. The tape must be returned at the user's expense. The minimum rental fee is $250 per tape plus $18 for shipping. For academic use, the minimum rental fee is $100 per tape plus $10 for shipping; students must have the educational institution verify the academic use. The Archive reserves the right to deny requests for copies. Prepayment of the rental and shipping fee is required for all requests; payment can be made by credit card, check or money order. The archive staff will attempt to complete all requests within ten working days.

Required information needed for consideration of a request: A description of the purpose and nature of your research, including some detail on how you intend to use the borrowed materials. Your contact information (a complete residential or business address where you could receive a FedEx package), a telephone and fax number; and if you are affiliated with an educational institution (specify if you are a student or an instructor), a corporate entity, or if you are an independent professional researcher. This information is required to determine the appropriateness of the request, the total fee charged, and for preparation of the loan agreement.

Standard procedure for commercial users is to first provide a screening reel of the requested materials on a VHS cassette generally following the guidelines above. If a selection is made from the screening reel to be included in your production, a clean copy will be loaned on a Betacam SP cassette; the archive only provides physical copies of the materials and conveys no other rights to the user. The minimum charge is $250 per 30 second or shorter spot, and $500 per minute or longer spot. Please be aware that these fees are only production and rental charges for the loan of the tapes; the archive owns no copyrights to these materials and permission for any duplication or further use must be obtained from the copyright owner. The user must provide assurances to the archive that materials will not be used in any unauthorized ways and agree to limit the use of the commercials provided to the specific purpose for which they were requested, and guarantee not to use them in any other context or to make them available to any other person or entity. A separate loan agreement must be signed for the screening reel and any subsequent tape that the archive sends out. Tapes must be returned at the user's expense. Prepayment of the rental and shipping fee is required for all requests; payment can be made by credit card, check or money order. The user is responsible for paying the full amount shown on the loan agreement plus shipping cost; the archive extends no warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility for the ability of borrower to use the materials, or the quality or performance of the materials. Please consult with the curator in regards to volume discounts, rush charges, or multiple use arrangements. Political candidates, consultants, or ad agencies are prohibited from obtaining commercials (other than their own) for use in current or future political campaigns.

Requests for still images and radio spots generally follow the same guidelines as above; however, these cost a minimum of $35 plus $15 per spot/image. The archive reserves the right to deny requests for copies. The archive staff will attempt to complete all requests within ten working days.

It is the policy of the archive to provide routine on-campus usage at no charge to the University of Oklahoma students, faculty, and staff who wish to use the materials for classroom or research use. The professor must verify student classroom presentations and or research assignments. Such use is subject to the general conditions of the archive's use agreement. If usage requests for university students, faculty, or staff require special compilations that involve substantial staff time and resources, such requests may be subject to a compilation fee.

For more information please contact:

Lewis Mazanti, Curator/Archivist

Political Communication Center

610 Elm Ave., Burton Hall Rm 113

Norman, OK 73019-3141

Telephone: (405) 325-1573 - Mobile: (405) 651-7299

Fax: (405) 325-1566

Email: lwmazanti@ou.edu

Important Notice:

If you are interested in requesting materials from the collection to be used off-site, please click on the Access & User Information link on the left to review the policies and guidelines for special compilations.

Please Note: The online catalogue provides the listings of candidate’s ads alphabetically by last name; and the listings of ballot initiatives by state and national issue ads. Call or email the curator or archives assistant for information regarding radio spots and other holdings.

Streaming video access to the archival materials is not available on this site; however, many famous ads can be viewed by following the ‘Links to Spots Online’ button on the left.

Financial support for on-campus work in the Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Archive is now available.

Lewis Mazanti

Curator/Archivist

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