David Bordwell, emeritus professor of Film, passed away earlier this year. The global community of film and media researchers has deeply felt this loss, and have been celebrating David's incredible impact on the field.

David wrote 20 books, yet none of these were a revised version of his dissertation. His doctoral dissertation is part of the David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson papers, housed at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. The dissertation has now been scanned, and is available to read online in the Media History Digital Library - its pages are all searchable within Lantern.

Despite the fact that so much archival research takes place individually, in quiet rooms, the truth is that archives are massively collaborative enterprises and scholarship becomes meaningful when shared in community. David embodied this, and passed it on, again and again. Now, as we mourn David’s loss, we recognize that it’s on us to keep it going.