It wasn’t the most interesting of events. It probably wasn’t even that newsworthy at the time. But something about this news film clip from nearly 50 years ago has fascinated audiences on Instagram. What does that tell us about the value of archive?
I first saw the clip a few weeks ago. Sanja, one of our Content Curators, was logging some footage of President Jimmy Carter and she called me over to take a look.
From 1st to 3rd January 1978, President Carter made an official state visit to India. Whilst there he hosted the Indian Prime Minister, Moraji Desai for lunch at the US Embassy in New Delhi. Before the meal was served, a camera crew was invited in to cover the event. The film captures the two leaders sat next to each other, making small talk, whilst a group of important looking men sit around them at a long dining table. The table is laid with the finest china and silverware; three bunches of blood red roses complete the scene.
At first I questioned why Sanja was showing me this clip. It seemed so unremarkable. But Sanja is a professional who has been logging and curating footage for many years. She spots things that others wouldn’t. I was wrong to question her.
Beyond the ‘important looking men’ there were a number of other officials dotted around the room. Sanja pointed to a man stood behind Prime Minister Desai and told me to watch him. He was a slight man wearing a dark Jodhpuri style suit. Clean shaven, he had sharp features in his face and a receding hairline with a classic ‘70s combover. In his hand was some kind of stick or wand. As I watched, he leant over between Desai and Carter and… thwack! He slapped down on the table. It turned out that he had just swatted a fly and that this man’s role was official fly swatter to the president. As I continued watching the clip, the man deftly and inconspicuously took out more six-legged pests.
Sanja did a bit of research and discovered that the US Embassy in New Delhi employed staff members as ‘fly swatter operators’ stationed around the table at official dinners with the sole responsibility of swatting away insects, to ensure satisfactory dining experience for diplomats and high-ranking guests. This practice started in the early 1960s and evidently was still taking place in 1978.
This little clip fascinated and entertained us, but what would others think? We posted it on our Instagram, wondering if anybody would have any interest in this unusual piece of footage from nearly 50 years ago. The answer was a definitive yes. It started slowly at first, with under 250 views in the first hour, but then the notifications started flooding in. People were liking and commenting and sharing the clip. Within 24 hours it had amassed over 50,000 views. There was something that the people of Instagram also found fascinating about this clip. As I write, it has been viewed over 180,000 times.
But why has this clip captivated so many people? Reading the comments, some people couldn’t believe this used to be a job. Others were surprised that neither Carter nor Desai flinched as the swatter went speeding past their heads. A few people even commented that the ‘swatter in chief’ had more than a passing resemblance to Vladimir Putin. What we can say for sure is that even the most mundane looking clip can have the ability to show you things you have never seen before. That demonstrates the value of archive footage. It has the power to uncover new discoveries about the past. It can entertain and it can educate. And it can find new audiences of all ages and from around the world, keen to learn about the past.
Sanja continues to log and curate footage, finding brilliant clips from our archives. And we’re continuing to post our favourites to our social media channels. Do give them a follow. You never know what we’ll find next!
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