DOMIC:

Documentaries on Modern International Conflict

DOMIC is a two-year project launched to improve cross disciplinary access to television documentary archives held in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College London. The project supported by Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) began in January 2000. The archival collections to be covered relate to the Vietnam, Falklands and Gulf Wars, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli Wars, conflict in the former Yugoslavia, chemical and biological testing and the development of nuclear technology and its impact on international relations and defence policies.

lectively the television documentary archives are a rich resource for research into international politics, peacekeeping, ethnicity, technology, science and medicine, as well as forming the raw material for media researchers examining such issues as the interpretation of evidence, the role of the documentary in shaping public opinion and public policy, and for the analysis of interview technique. The programmes are typically of a high quality and reflect the skills of several award winning documentary film makers, as well as the input of a number of distinguished academic analysts of international relations and security issues, and experts in the history of science.

The collections covered in the project include:

• Four hours in My Lai, a Yorkshire Television documentary, broadcast in 1989, on the massacre of Vietnamese villagers by US troops, March 1968, and the subsequent investigations, 1969-1971.

• The Nuclear Age, a twelve part documentary series on the history of nuclear strategy, from the development of the atomic bomb to the last years of the Cold War, made jointly by Central Independent Television and WGBH Boston in 1989.

• Woolly Al walks the kitty back, on America’s diplomatic efforts to end the Falklands War, made by Brian Lapping Associates as a BBC2 Timewatch documentary, broadcast 1992.

• The Washington version, a three part series of interviews and discussions by senior US defence personnel on the Gulf War, made by Brian Lapping Associates for the BBC, 1992.

• Bad trip to Edgewood, a Yorkshire Television documentary, broadcast in 1993, on the US Army drug testing conducted at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Edgewood, Maryland, USA, 1955-1975.

• The fall of the wall, a two part documentary made by Brian Lapping Associates for the BBC in 1994 to mark the fifth anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall, Germany, in 1989.

• The Death of Yugoslavia, a six part documentary series maade by Brian Lapping Associates for the BBC and broadcast in 1995, on the events of the civil war in Yugoslavia, 1992-1995.

• The 50 Years’ War: Israel and the Arabs, a six part documentary series made by Brian Lapping Associates for the BBC and broadcast in 1998.

• Berlin airlift, documentary made by 3MB Television for Channel 4’s Secret History series, broadcast in 1998.

• The Cold War, 24 part documentary series made by Jeremy Isaacs Productions for CNN, broadcast on BBC2, 1998-1999.

Summary Guides and detailed catalogues covering some 92,000 items are available on line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/info/domic.htm

Contact details

For more information about the project, please e-mail us at: archives.web@kcl.ac.uk

Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 2 July 2002