InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies

The recent restoration of The Daughter of Dawn, an American silent film made in 1920, is a significant example of both film preservation performed by a regional film archive and its implications for preserving diverse cultural heritage within rural communities. The film was shot in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in Lawton, Oklahoma, and the cast is composed entirely of 300 members of the Kiowa Tribe and the Comanche Nation. Thought to be lost, the film was discovered by the Oklahoma Historical Society in 2007, and the restoration was completed and first exhibited in 2012. Since then, the film has also been digitized by Milestone Films and sold to Netflix. What is the significance of this restoration for the larger field of moving image archiving? What larger implications for the archival profession can be gleaned from the restoration of The Daughter of Dawn? How can archives better preserve the diverse cultural heritage of rural communities?

By examining the restoration and re-distribution of The Daughter of Dawn, I argue that regional film archives perform a critical function when they restore films within their communities of origin. I conclude that in order for cultural heritage on film to be truly preserved, the cultural expertise and geographical positioning of the regional film archive combined with participatory archival methods are key to film restoration. The priority should be to return the film, or the cultural and historical essence of the film rather than the actual film object, to its community of origin. Initial exhibitions of The Daughter of Dawn involved varying levels of participation of both Native and non-Native communities, which created powerful affective experiences for its audiences. Currently available for online streaming via Netflix, the restoration of this film reflects a continuing tension between restoring cultural heritage to its community(ies) of origin and providing access to the film that does not require an awareness of its cultural and historical context. This tension is intimately connected with the potential of film restoration projects to create experiences where all Oklahomans can engage with their unique, diverse and problematic history.