The Chaplin collection was just donated to the Elysée Musuem of Lausanne including nearly 10,000 pictures documenting the life and career of Charlie Chaplin. Set photographers provided continuous coverage for each of his movies at Chaplin Studios. These archives, belonging to Charlie Chaplin, then his family, include “vintage” prints and negatives from the end of the 1910’s, to which one can add the more personal pictures from the exhibition “Chaplin and Pictures” presented at the Elysée Museum in 2006.

For this historic occasion, it is essential to add documents and important prints, like these two “vintage prints” of Charlie Chaplin by Edward Steichen, made in 1925 for Vogue. Or better still, the Keyston album made up of nearly 750 rare pictures retracing the first 35 films made by Chaplin in 1914.

The Chaplin family negotiated a long-term agreement free of charge, requesting only that the Elysée Museum guarantee excellent conservation, administration and exhibition conditions, with a particular emphasis on the collection’s use for teaching.

The funding obtained by the Elysée Museum allowed for an up-to-date storage space to be built within the exhibition hall. The Inventory and scanning of the collection, establishing an on-line database for researchers, and the development of the teaching program “Chaplin in School”, the creation of thematic exhibitions focusing on Chaplin’s work, and the publication of reference works and the launch of an internet website.

As early as 2012, the Elysée Museum will launch “école du regard” (observation school), a teaching program focused on Charlie Chaplin’s work, as well as exhibitions and publications.

For Museum Director Sam Stourdze, receiving the Charlie Chaplin collection was great news. “It was a strong signal that came on the heels of last autumn’s donation of 144 photos by Gilles Caron. The Elysée Museum confirms its standing as the most competent in photographic conservation. 33 years after his death, it is Chaplin’s brilliant return to the Vaud region of Switzerland”.

Bernard Perrine
Correspondant for the Institut de France