Master hands: History and Collection Facts

Catalogue description

Manufacturing of Chevrolets from foundry to finished product as a paen to the designers of the factory mass production system. Filmed in Flint, Michigan months before the United Auto Workers won union recognition with their famous sit down strikes.

Collection details

• Original format: Film, video
• Medium: 1 video file (digital) (approximately 32 min.) : sd., b&w.
• Genre: Short films; Promotional films; Industrial films; Nonfiction films
• Language: English
• Location as catalogued: Michigan--Flint; Michigan; Flint; United States
• Collection: Prelinger Collection (Library of Congress)
• Catalogue date: 1936
• Catalogue subjects: Automobile industry workers--Michigan--Flint; Chevrolet automobile--Design and construction; Assembly-line methods--United States
• Named contributors: Herman, Vincent, 1900-1979, editor of moving image work; Avil, Gordon, cinematographer; General Motors Corporation. Chevrolet Motor Co., presenter, copyright claimant; Benavie, Samuel J., composer; Jam Handy Organization, production company

Catalogue notes

• Copyright: Chevrolet Motor Company; 27May36; 18May36; MU6488.
• This film was selected for the National Film Registry.
• According to Daniel Eagan in America's film legacy, this film may have been made for a shareholder's meeting, and was used as a training film. Though some sources indicate it may have been shown theatrically, no distribution information could be found.
• Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1912-1939, p. 527, viewed July 7, 2022 via the Internet Archive; Internet movie database WWW site, viewed July 7, 2022; Moving image archive news weblog posted December 12, 2017, viewed July 8, 2022; Eagan. D., America's film legacy, p. 256.
• Photography, Gordon Avil ; orchestral score, Samuel Benavie ; film editing, Vincent Herman.
• Music performed by the Detroit Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sources and reuse

This guide reorganizes bibliographic facts and catalogue descriptions from the Library of Congress Free to Use and Reuse data package, a published snapshot documented in 2024. The original item record identifies the source material. Audio, films, scores and full-text works are linked through the original record rather than reproduced here.