Courtney Berge recounts her memories as a customer of Howard Hughes Video Rental. She talks about going to the store as a child while downtown. She briefly talks about her experiences at other video rental stores in town. She discusses finding out how the store closed and how the videos ended up at the University of Idaho Library.

Monique Lillard: Okay, it looks as if it's recording my name is monique lillard and I am doing this oral History project for the University of Idaho libraries.

Monique Lillard: We are doing a project about the video rental store in downtown Moscow Idaho today is July 2 2021 and I am here with someone to interview, have you have you signed the release.

Courtney Berge: I have.

Monique Lillard: Very good, would you state your name for the record.

Courtney Berge: Courtney bird.

Monique Lillard: Bird okay very good Thank you again for being here, so how and when did you first find out about the video rental store here in town and how often did you go.

Courtney Berge: um well I don't know when I first heard about it, my first memory of it, I grew up in Moscow, so my first memory of it.

Courtney Berge: was when it was on its fifth street location, it was.

Courtney Berge: The the appliances had already moved out of the place and it was just the video rental I didn't even know appliances were there until later in life um.

Courtney Berge: But.

Courtney Berge: I was probably nine or 10 the first time I remember going and I went I would go.

Courtney Berge: Probably every week or every couple weeks cuz I would go Thursday mornings, I had coffee with my grandpa and his for friends at the wheat berries bakery.

Courtney Berge: For years and years and years, and so, when we were downtown i'd take a few minutes and i'd run to the video store and I don't remember what prompted me to go there, the first time i'm and I don't remember any times before, that but.

Courtney Berge: I remember, I must have been nine or 10.

Monique Lillard: Great and wheat berries was directly across the street across Main Street wasn't it.

Courtney Berge: It was right next to it yeah where the recovery Center is it's right next to where one world currently.

Monique Lillard: is okay very good yeah That was a great place i'm glad you said it, because that name has not yet come up.

Courtney Berge: Now these tapes man, I worked there for many years to.

Monique Lillard: Oh okay all right, then i've certainly seeing you.

Monique Lillard: and

Monique Lillard: So your grandfather and his friends are meeting at wheat berries and he take you downtown and Okay, so what are they eating wheat berries.

Courtney Berge: They just drink coffee Okay, sometimes they'd buy me a cinnamon roll or a pastry of my own um if it was someone's birthday, we get a cake.

Courtney Berge: But they just drink coffee.

: Nice Nice.

Monique Lillard: Who is your grandfather it's okay to say his name.

Courtney Berge: His name was jack sage jack.

Monique Lillard: sage okay I don't know if I knew him.

Courtney Berge: He was from southern Idaho and didn't move here until.

Courtney Berge: Until I was about nine or 10.

Courtney Berge: And, but he was the other people were longtime late ah residents.

Courtney Berge: Ted Cowan i'm.

Monique Lillard: Ted yes.

Courtney Berge: It did Chrysler.

Courtney Berge: louie baka from potlatch just.

Monique Lillard: i've heard all these names that's funny.

Monique Lillard: that's funny yeah so you they'd be drinking coffee and you'd run across the street yourself and what was your favorite section and what kind of movies, where you're getting when you were nine or 10.

Courtney Berge: um I would go to the family section in the classics mostly because I was by myself and I knew I could rent pretty much anything from them without.

Courtney Berge: issue with my parents.

Courtney Berge: Right.

Monique Lillard: And, some of which you get go ahead.

Courtney Berge: I did the five for five for five.

Courtney Berge: And I would get I just remember like my love of classic movies started there because one of the first things I rented was calamity Jane.

Courtney Berge: With debbie Reynolds and then that got me on a kick of old musical.

Courtney Berge: That sounds what.

Monique Lillard: Are you I don't think i've ever seen calamity Jane with debbie Reynolds i've heard of it, of course, but that's interesting.

Courtney Berge: Oh sorry not debbie Reynolds Doris day.

Monique Lillard: Doris day Okay, easy to easy to make sense.

Monique Lillard: um.

Monique Lillard: let's see were you paying for this by yourself, or is this your allowance money or.

Courtney Berge: I think it was my allowance money there might have been a timer to my grandpa gave me a few dollars I don't remember okay.

Monique Lillard: Okay, and would you watch them by yourself, or with your family or.

Courtney Berge: i'm by myself, mostly um.

Courtney Berge: I might have watched some with my mom she likes old movies, too, but I only remember watching them by myself and because I was at that time kind of homeschooled so um.

Courtney Berge: I would just watch them during the day and then.

Courtney Berge: return them the next week.

Monique Lillard: Nice I like that I like that, and then, how did it evolve than what.

Courtney Berge: The you mean.

Monique Lillard: The store life know my life.

Monique Lillard: Your life So there you are nine or 10 you're getting those movies, what what are your next memories of the video star.

Courtney Berge: um well I did that for several years, I liked there well I got into audrey hepburn movies, and so there was a good span, where I went to the audrey hepburn section of the Hollywood the wall of fame the actors wall of fame.

Courtney Berge: And then, as I got older, I think I started public school at a time and wasn't able to do coffee anymore, but I would go with friends on like a weekend and we'd have movie marathons and we'd pick out movies and we'd watch them.

Courtney Berge: And I would just go by myself still.

Monique Lillard: And you know I forgot, you said this was the fifth.

Monique Lillard: street location i'm yard my mind was stuck on the newer location so so from wheat berries you go across the street and up the block, first of all to get.

Monique Lillard: It done with your friends you'd go in there and what kind of movies, would you rent with your friends.

Courtney Berge: Well, I think it was in the Main Street location, by the time I went with my friends um.

Courtney Berge: We.

Courtney Berge: We would just go, we were really in the anime so we watched a lot of studio ghibli films, we would have like a studio ghibli movie marathon night and try to get through all of the films if we could but.

Courtney Berge: they're now beyond the so many have been released in there now beyond that.

Courtney Berge: The capability of watching all.

Courtney Berge: night.

Courtney Berge: Or at least all the ones that they we knew about and they had at Howard Hughes at that time um and if I feel like I went with.

Courtney Berge: Some friends around their birthdays and we might pick out some movies um but also if we were just downtown in the store was open we'd go and kind of browse and hang out didn't always get anything anything but we'd look around.

Courtney Berge: And then in college.

Courtney Berge: And after that happened less frequently, but my friends would always get a movie and we'd have they'd be like we rented this movie let's watch it so he would go and watch something often from like a cult the cult classic section or something we like weird movies.

Monique Lillard: Did you ever go to other video stores in town or.

Courtney Berge: yep um I remember when I was really little I was doing gymnastics and the police empire gymnastics was on the east side of town at that point.

Courtney Berge: And there was a little tiny video rental right next door, and I remember after practice, we would go in there and get something every now and again I don't remember what it was called and I had to confirm with my dad that I wasn't making up the memory, because I was like.

Courtney Berge: Is this did we was there a store there, and he said yes, there was, and we did that um and then that place disappeared.

Courtney Berge: I don't know when and then we, I think it was like the movie gallery or something that was in the east side marketplace right next to safeway for a long time, and so I go there, I remember going with my family there, more often than just me.

Courtney Berge: And then i'd also get movies that safeway every now and again.

Monique Lillard: And just to confirm safeway had a little section where they rented movies, for a really long time I don't know when that stopped, but it, I was surprised how long that kept going.

Courtney Berge: yeah it was right next to I think it's like the customer service desk or where you can do mail orders and things like that.

Monique Lillard: And during this time would your parents go to any of these video stores and get movies for themselves or was it mainly a kid thing.

Courtney Berge: i'm sure that they did um as I got older, we would like, we would watch the same movies.

Courtney Berge: In trying to think of the video store in preparation for this, I was talking to my dad yesterday.

Courtney Berge: And there's one movie that he swears he picked out but I swear that it seemed like something I would have picked out some Norwegian Swedish film called kitchen stories.

Courtney Berge: So he was apparently at least there when we got that.

Courtney Berge: And when we watch that.

Courtney Berge: And it's one of our favorites now.

Monique Lillard: i'll have to look for it, I must say in this process i've learned all these great titles to watch watch it up.

Courtney Berge: it's a very.

Courtney Berge: it's slow, if you look but it's like fun it's funny my dad's Norwegian so like there's a lot of humor in it for him, particularly.

Courtney Berge: it's kind of a funny concept but it's it's a good thing.

Courtney Berge: and

Courtney Berge: yeah I mean, I know I went with my family, at times, but I don't remember much of like a huge difference between the movies, my parents Scott and what we got I feel like we did.

Courtney Berge: There were every now and again there'd be something we're like go to bed now you're PG 13 or are you can't watch it, but I don't remember that a lot.

Monique Lillard: And, did you go to the theater to watch movies ever.

: yeah.

Courtney Berge: We went when pirates of the Caribbean came out, we went and saw that like 13 times in theaters me and my mom at the it was the university for theater right across from when code, but it's not there anymore.

Courtney Berge: And we would go to East side marketplace, because that was close to where we live to um and I we didn't go to the kenworthy very often in high school and college I started going to the kenworthy more often, but.

Monique Lillard: Was it already the nonprofit or was it still when it was a movie theater.

Courtney Berge: A nonprofit is when when I went to it and then i'm also, I think it was around when I was in high school, the new art had Friday free movies, and so I go watch those two.

Courtney Berge: And I don't know but I get the feeling that they just rented them from Howard Hughes and then play them on screen.

Monique Lillard: I think they might have I don't know but.

Courtney Berge: yeah I got away with that because they weren't charging money or anything yeah.

Monique Lillard: And I don't know what those rules are it's a complicated thing so.

Courtney Berge: yeah.

Monique Lillard: I think that some of their own, but some that they probably just did that did you ever go to the kenworthy used to play Saturday morning cartoons during the Saturday market, did you ever go to those.

Courtney Berge: I didn't I only noticed that a few years ago at market cuz well they didn't start doing that to a market moved to mainstream I don't think.

Monique Lillard: Oh you're probably right no you're probably right.

Courtney Berge: um.

Monique Lillard: I know i've gotten in a few times just I think those old cartoons are hilarious so.

Courtney Berge: They might have gone in once with my husband, in the last couple years just to pop in and see what they were playing but I don't have I don't I don't remember.

Monique Lillard: No that's okay just just wondering, did you ever go to the micro, I think that might be before your time, I think.

Courtney Berge: My parents, did I didn't they've mentioned it, it was um where the swan family Inc is now, but was untamed our um before that and I don't know what was between all of those.

Monique Lillard: Now did your parents grew up in Moscow or.

Courtney Berge: No, they came here for college Okay, and then ended up coming back a few years later.

Courtney Berge: Like a lot of people yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: And I assume, when you were in college, you were at the University of Idaho is that right.

Courtney Berge: Yes, my undergrad yeah.

Monique Lillard: Oh so where'd you go for graduate school.

Courtney Berge: baylor university.

Monique Lillard: wow far away okay.

Courtney Berge: My family my family moved to Texas my sophomore year of undergrad.

Monique Lillard: And so okay now so in baylor in Texas were there any video rental stores still in operation.

Courtney Berge: No, there wasn't one in Austin I never went to it, we drove by it once um but I don't like maneuvering austin's so.

Monique Lillard: i've never been that's a place, I would like to go Austin actually but.

Monique Lillard: i'm i'm curious so when you so when you came back to Moscow and there was still the video rental.

Monique Lillard: And that I were talking just a few years ago when did you come back to Moscow after baylor.

Courtney Berge: um I came back in 27 to.

Monique Lillard: 2017 and there's my.

Courtney Berge: Main Street video co op.

Courtney Berge: Yes.

Courtney Berge: forever known as Howard Hughes.

Monique Lillard: forever out exactly exactly and do you think oh my gosh it's still there, or or.

Courtney Berge: I was like.

Courtney Berge: Oh, they changed the name that's weird.

Courtney Berge: I feel like I remember it changing hands of ownership at some point and but it stayed Howard Hughes, and so I didn't know what had happened between that and it becoming the video co op.

Courtney Berge: And then I think later someone was like oh it's still the same it's just a Co op now right right right.

Monique Lillard: So that co op kind of the change didn't affect you much.

Courtney Berge: Know except the five for five for five and turn into a 547 for seven and I had a hard time, remembering that phrase like I got it.

Courtney Berge: was like when I remember going in and be like Do you still do the 54545 and they're like it's 54747 so i'm like now break that down for me five movies for seven days for $5 like know or like.

Courtney Berge: Right.

Monique Lillard: I confess that was my idea that they raise those prices.

Courtney Berge: An idea, it just doesn't roll off the Tongue quite.

Monique Lillard: They probably could have done 74747 and probably at about the same profit so come to think of it.

Monique Lillard: should have talked to you that.

Monique Lillard: that's.

Courtney Berge: I wasn't around.

Monique Lillard: Did you become an owner of the co op it, you know or.

Courtney Berge: I did, I did not, I remember getting asked one time if I was an owner and I said no, and then I asked what it was, and they said it was $200, but I could pay in installments and I was like not today, but maybe someday and then I was going to do it.

Courtney Berge: Actually right around I was like next time I get a movie i'm going to start this and then they close down which I gotta say i'm kind of glad I did it at that point cuz, then it would have basically $200 out of the.

Courtney Berge: sure.

Courtney Berge: or nothing but.

Monique Lillard: yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: Okay now there's a whole lot of interesting things that all of this, so you come back here in 2017 at that point, how often do you go to the video store.

Courtney Berge: um I would probably go every few months in 2017 i'm 2018 or 19 or this probably about the same I go every few months and I get five movies um but, in the last.

Courtney Berge: The year or so before it closed, it was like my husband, and I would go downtown for dinner for like a date night and we've just be walking downtown and i'd be like let's rent movies.

Courtney Berge: So that was kind of part of the like the day um.

Courtney Berge: But now we can't do that and it makes me sad I probably would have gotten more honestly throughout the time except they weren't ever open during Saturday market.

Courtney Berge: which was when I was downtown because it was always a while i'm downtown i'll get movies, not i'm going to go get movies um and so when they were never opened during market, which was one of the few times I went to downtown I didn't have the opportunity to.

Courtney Berge: You know.

Monique Lillard: that's interesting because I was on the cooperative board Maybe I should have said that beginning I was, I was.

Monique Lillard: an officer in the cooperative board at the beginning and oh my gosh we went back and forth so many times, because a lot of people like.

Monique Lillard: me and lots said, you know that's when people are there, and if we're going to have these weekly Rentals then people aren't going to worry about their late fees and.

Monique Lillard: But then the problem was, of course, you have to pay someone to be at the store and so being open had to at least pay their salary and unfortunately it wasn't a clear moneymaker.

Monique Lillard: Yes, put it that way, so that's what was going on now, so your husband was he surprised that there were still a video store data always see from here.

Courtney Berge: he's not I met him at Miller.

Courtney Berge: He was surprised.

Courtney Berge: He was he was like oh that's cool I don't know exact thoughts.

Courtney Berge: But our trips went from me picking out, I had to give up a few of my slots in the five two things that he would like, which was always a bit of a challenge, because I have like I had a method about how I did it um.

Monique Lillard: What was your method.

Courtney Berge: So I would always i'd go in and I have like my favorite sections, or whatever, and I get at least one classic.

Courtney Berge: One animated thing and one TV show the TV show wasn't an every time, but like I would try to get a TV show, and then I would get a cold classic.

Courtney Berge: um and then there was like a random card one, but I always tried to get things and I always split it up between things that I knew I liked because sometimes i'd go in, because I wanted to watch a specific movie and then, once I had never seen that looked interesting.

Monique Lillard: And through all this time, taking from 2017 did you do, you also use streaming services.

Courtney Berge: Yes, yeah.

Monique Lillard: And I assume you're also going to the movies, from time to time in the theater.

Courtney Berge: Not as much and got expensive and i'm cheap that's okay um if there was a movie That was really good I might see it in theaters.

Courtney Berge: If not i'd wait to see if it went into the kenworthy and then i'd go see it and that's how I saw like most of the marvel movies, because i'm not very into the marvel movies, but i'd pay $6 to go see one versus like 12 or whatever it was at that time.

Courtney Berge: And I sweet I don't we only had netflix for a very long time, and now we have well within my family, we have netflix Amazon prime and Disney plus oh.

Courtney Berge: yeah air variety, but I don't particularly like them, but yeah.

Courtney Berge: yeah.

Monique Lillard: Do you think, having and I hear you saying that and I understand the fat sort of family sharing, but do you think it saves money to do the streaming or did it was it essentially cheaper to do the video store.

Courtney Berge: I think when netflix first started, I think, when it was the only streaming movie I think it was cheaper, I remember having to convince my dad to get it, because he was not convinced that we would use it worth 899 a month.

Courtney Berge: I think we proved him wrong in that because we did use it much more um but now because there's so many and there's fewer video Rentals so you can't go as easily and get like a DVD people who get them all it's it's just cable it's all.

Courtney Berge: This cable yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: Do you ever take videos home from the library, where you work at the University of Idaho or from the Moscow public.

Courtney Berge: I have recently in the last few weeks, actually.

Courtney Berge: I went up on one of my breaks, because a friend and I have been working through twin peaks.

Courtney Berge: Does one of the movies, that are the shows I first watched from Howard Hughes I watched the first season.

Courtney Berge: And I couldn't get through the second season and then I watched it on netflix the first season and I couldn't get through the second season and then I co opted, a friend and was like I want to watch all of it.

Courtney Berge: So now i've watched the first and second season, the movie and we've started the 2016 17 reboot, and so I needed the next desk for the reboot, and so I went off and I did some browsing on the you have I shells and I walked out with four movies, I think, oh okay.

Monique Lillard: Including that that reboot of twin peaks yeah excellent some of these.

Courtney Berge: And I want you to read.

Courtney Berge: Before they weren't.

Monique Lillard: When you said.

Monique Lillard: You couldn't get through them in what sense.

Courtney Berge: twin peaks me and my friend have talked a lot about this on the first season's like eight episodes and it's great but it's weird it's David lynch.

Courtney Berge: um it's very melodramatic kind of slow moving and the music trust blares up at points.

Courtney Berge: And I could get through the eight episodes but then I would like, want to take a break, before starting the second season, but if there's memory to us.

Courtney Berge: On twin peaks that you'll watch an episode and completely forget everything that happened in the previous episode, so you can't let enough time pass.

Courtney Berge: before you start the second season cuz, then you forgotten everything that happened or seemed important in the first season, and so I would let too much time pass and I couldn't remember who the characters are what their relationships were or anything.

Courtney Berge: And, like every time we would meet, because we would meet weekly this last year, we met weekly to to watch some episodes and every week we'd be like all right now, what happened last week.

Courtney Berge: So funny yeah.

Monique Lillard: Is it had you been watching a lot of other shows or was it just something about.

Courtney Berge: I think it's just something about how the story is told in twin peaks.

Monique Lillard: that's interesting and i'll play the age card here because I watched twin peaks when it was airing right and.

Monique Lillard: Everybody was talking about it and so everybody would keep talking about it all week long and calling each other, did you see this, and can you believe this and oh man wasn't weird when she suddenly looking at a plate of creamed corn, remember that.

Monique Lillard: And Oh, can you believe this, and this, and I think that that probably kept it alive for us, you know, and then I remember, I must have replayed sometime and I taped it using my vcr.

Monique Lillard: And then my I got married and my husband found that I think he was sick with the flu, or something and so he's binge watching using my homemade vhs.

Monique Lillard: And i'd forgotten to take the last episode, or it got taped over something.

Monique Lillard: he's still doesn't forgive me he's still insist he's never seen it and I said i've rented it, you have seen it, but I think he said what you said, he said, like you, can't just play me the last episode.

Monique Lillard: i'm gonna have to invest all that time now to watch the whole thing so maybe he hasn't seen it I don't know.

Courtney Berge: And after watching the movie.

Courtney Berge: And stuff and I haven't watched a lot of David lynch if any um.

Courtney Berge: I feel like he just likes to open things and never address them and i'm like did you intend to go back I don't know with the movie he people just disappear and you're like what happened to that guy, why was David Bowie in this for like a second and then just gone.

Monique Lillard: Oh, you need to see blue velvet have you seen blue velvet.

Courtney Berge: i've seen the intro because I took a film class and they showed the intro and part of the film class.

Monique Lillard: Extremely creepy weird movie i've been assured by a movie buff that it's about spokane this person who said this was a spokane native and he's now actually the movie reviewer for the salt lake tribune.

Monique Lillard: And he's the one who loved David lynch and got me watching this whole thing and very weird movie.

Courtney Berge: I don't doubt it.

Courtney Berge: was when I was watching the twin peaks movie I looked up David lynch's kind of like biography cuz I was like it's so weird to watch a movie.

Courtney Berge: Where someone says Oh, he flew in from spokane with like, no question of where spokane is no like huh because, like in TV you'll see like he's from Seattle or portland but you're not going to get like a spokane you might get a Boise but not.

Courtney Berge: Not often.

Courtney Berge: So.

Courtney Berge: I looked at it and I was like ah, he was born in missoula lived in spokane lived in sandpoint lived maybe in Boise and I remember.

Monique Lillard: Right exactly yes, yes, and his cousin lives here in town as a matter of fact, but while we'll talk about that.

Courtney Berge: After we stopped recording.

Monique Lillard: How about that any.

Monique Lillard: Any thoughts about changes in the store itself over the years, so you're starting as a little girl and, of course, your perspective is changing you're getting literally taller and obviously more grown up.

Monique Lillard: all the way through to the end just what the inside felt like what the conversations were like.

Courtney Berge: I remember not liking it when it moved to mainstream because they got rid of the wall of the actors wall of fame and stuff which now I understand they just didn't have space for like I get it, but I still missed that a lot um.

Courtney Berge: Other than that, I don't remember a lot of changes I remember.

Courtney Berge: I remember that there was like.

Courtney Berge: I remember noticing I think when like the adult section disappeared, because, like a curtain went away in the movie section expanded or not, the movie the TV section expanded, I think.

Courtney Berge: um.

Courtney Berge: But not a lot I certain sections changed over the times like there were the staples you had your comedy or drama your foreign your new releases.

Courtney Berge: They got a British TV section and I don't know when that popped up but I remember recognizing when it popped up and being like oh that's new.

Courtney Berge: They got like a star trek specific section that may have been there and maybe they moved it they got a ghibli studio section.

Courtney Berge: But.

Courtney Berge: Not a lot of like physical or even like atmospheric changes I feel like because I was so little when it was on fifth street like.

Courtney Berge: I didn't pay much attention to that I was just there looking to look for the movies.

Courtney Berge: But I liked the space on Main Street, the more is more time I got to spend there and I don't know if that's just because well, I mean it was there there's nothing I could do to change it, so I just accepted it and moved on and let my grudge of the wall of fame be.

Courtney Berge: go away and.

Courtney Berge: Just accepted the staff PICs as my new like wall of fame i'm.

Monique Lillard: i'm right there with you, I completely agree.

Courtney Berge: um but I always felt like it was a fun space I liked how they had.

Courtney Berge: The little section, like the stairs up like because it was multi tiered.

Courtney Berge: The old space or the streets place I all I remember, is it was on like one floor and then there was like a little ramp or a couple stairs that went up to the other side of the store.

Courtney Berge: So I liked the little variations of steps and.

Courtney Berge: It was nice.

Monique Lillard: To us, the customer over all these years, who was the most important person in the store.

Courtney Berge: um.

Courtney Berge: I don't know if they were in portland I know that there are certain people that I just.

Courtney Berge: seemed to have worked there forever and I just like remember being there um.

Courtney Berge: And I feel like part of that was like.

Courtney Berge: Part of I always thought the clerks were really cool but I don't know if that, in part because, like my brother, I think, was friends with some of them, and so, in my mind if someone is friends with my brother, they were cool.

Courtney Berge: um but, from my point of view, I guess, the most important people were people I was there with.

Monique Lillard: that's a nice answer yeah did you often run into friends who you you didn't walk into the store with but people you knew.

Courtney Berge: It often no I think if I saw someone there that I knew it was because we went there together yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: So, how did you learn that the video store was closing for good.

Courtney Berge: I was there, the day before they shut the doors returning a video, and I remember the Clerk saying that they were closing and I didn't know.

Courtney Berge: At that time, I think I thought it was they were just closing because the governor had made the order for the shutdown, and so they were closing.

Courtney Berge: And then I was on Facebook, the next day and a message pops up that they were closing for good, and I was very sad because I had already planned what my next rental was going to be.

Monique Lillard: Okay, so you thought about the movies, that you had already planned.

Monique Lillard: And felt sad.

Monique Lillard: How will you see those movies, have you seen them yet.

Courtney Berge: it's been a year I haven't I think that honestly that the movie that I was gonna rent the next time I went in I think I saw it, when I was on Boxing all of the movies, and special collections and.

Courtney Berge: So.

Courtney Berge: um it might be here, I could be remembering correctly, because I went through i've gone through a lot of movies.

Courtney Berge: But i'm my sneak it up to the reading room and watch it it's me.

Monique Lillard: You know I think you know something that I don't know and I haven't heard from anybody.

Monique Lillard: we've been talking with a lot of people about what happened to the movies, and obviously the bulk of them were given Rebecca all of them, the movie inventory film title inventory was given to the kenworthy right.

Monique Lillard: And then the can you describe how the University of Idaho got involved.

Monique Lillard: and

Courtney Berge: i'm so we got involved, because the camera he was starting their movie sale.

Courtney Berge: They were offloading a lot of the inventory and they were opening it up to the Community, and I think.

Courtney Berge: If I remember correctly i'm the dean of the library sent out to people in the library of the some of the lists or whatever that we're going around.

Courtney Berge: To see if we could get some extra titles that may be like we had a low section in our circulation or like important films that we didn't have and he sent it out to like all of us, because he was like i'm not a movie buff but I know some of the staff is um and around that time.

Courtney Berge: Special collections was thinking well the Howard Hughes video is like.

Courtney Berge: kind of a staple of Moscow and we collect the papers and stuff of businesses and people of the area and things that are important, and then there was also the added aspect of video stores are dying it's not just a closed business it's kind of a closed form of business.

Courtney Berge: And so we started talks with our Dean about seeing if we could acquire whatever the kenworthy didn't end up selling.

Courtney Berge: With the hopes of kind of preserving that catalog as best we can, and like I think we also got like their point of sale computer that will have to figure out what we're going to do with and things like that.

Courtney Berge: I think that's on the digital end and not really my my purview, and so I I don't know the negotiations or whatever with the kenworthy in the library, but we ended up acquiring approximately 14,000 DVDs and a few hundred vhs is.

Courtney Berge: And i'm.

Courtney Berge: I I still haven't finished going through all of them, they sent us like an inventory and so when it came in my main job was to figure out what we got from like their big list of inventories and what.

Courtney Berge: We didn't kind of get um but even that was not complete i've done most of it, but not the bit that wasn't on the list, so I still have to inventory, the films and and identifying what we had duplicates of as well because.

Courtney Berge: There were a lot of duplicates because you know they had multiple copies to Landau.

Courtney Berge: And that, and then we decided to do the this oral History project to kind of.

Courtney Berge: encapsulate the importance of like what a video store is to a Community and also.

Courtney Berge: capture like the memories of of people who had it because it was such an important part of the area and I advocated that we got it because I thought it would be nice that's.

Monique Lillard: Great I think that's fascinating you know I did not realize that the university had as many as 14,000.

Courtney Berge: yeah um they're not all.

Courtney Berge: they're not like the admittedly they're not like the great hits or whatever the that it's a lot of the popular stuff a lot of partial TV like because they broke out the discs so you could rent like a disc or two um so it's impartial TV series and some British TV but um.

Courtney Berge: There were some sections we didn't get any anything from.

Monique Lillard: you've actually given me hope because there were certain titles that I wished I bought from the kenworthy and.

Monique Lillard: i've got just I don't know if I was depressed or just distracted you know it's all during this pandemic and I somehow missed several chunks of the sales, but there are actually some obscure TV shows.

Monique Lillard: Which so eventually, let me i'm sorry that I started and stuff eventually is the library, going to be renting these out or are you going to hold it like history.

Courtney Berge: And that's something that I think it's still kind of in limbo cuz because we it's in special collections it's an archive there's like a certain responsibility to like.

Courtney Berge: preserve and make accessible and like them, but also make accessible, and so we haven't figured out how to balance that and they're also stored in special collections.

Courtney Berge: Which is a secured location that not everyone in the library can get to so it's not So there are a lot of logistical things that we're still trying to figure out at this point of how to make them accessible.

Courtney Berge: we've talked about doing some sort of like podcast or having like movie watching parties in the future, like at the library, because then people could at least come see a movie but it's not getting rented out and worn worn down.

Courtney Berge: So if that's still in in question at this point, but.

Courtney Berge: we're going to try to make them as accessible as we possibly can to the Community, we just haven't figured out how to do that yet right gotcha.

Monique Lillard: that's very interesting and then there were just lots of things and, frankly, it was the lesser titles that I thought in a way, where the most important to preserve I mean.

Monique Lillard: Gone with the wind is always going to be available yeah let's say they pulled it off because it was politically incorrect for about a day or two, and then they put it back that's not going to vanish but.

Monique Lillard: Alright, so the TV show i'm thinking it was called American dreams, it was it, I think it went two or three seasons and then it just fizzled out.

Courtney Berge: and

Monique Lillard: For some reason I loved it and then it turned out friends of mines were actually the producers and directors and everything i'm from southern California, you know and.

Monique Lillard: I thought that's a good example of a TV show this never going to be super famous right maybe one of the actors will become somebody really important but it's been 1015 years now probably not but.

Monique Lillard: It tells you something about what movies were being made and what the pressures were so to me that becomes almost a historic and historical document that needs to be preserved because it's not going to be commercially great.

Monique Lillard: yeah yeah.

Courtney Berge: I was ahead.

Monique Lillard: No, you go ahead.

Courtney Berge: I was just gonna say when they did the sale I didn't buy any from the list because I tried to open.

Courtney Berge: I forgot when they were releasing the lists like a lot, and then the one time I emailed them to ask for a list to see what they had, and it was just so massive that I was like.

Courtney Berge: I don't know what I want and I don't have the time to like sift through this list, but a few of my friends got several titles.

Courtney Berge: From from the kenworthy um and they they've been working on watching all of them, but one day we had a a watch party, because we were going to launch one of the movies, I got because I got I got five I think five titles from one of the sidewalk sales that they did on a Saturday morning.

Courtney Berge: And we're going to watch one of those but we didn't we ended up watching one that my friend had got called werewolf on wheels.

Courtney Berge: which was like this 1970s 60s kind of free writer, whatever that movie was, but it was.

Courtney Berge: It wasn't movie um it was an odd movie there was more of a satanic cult than werewolves in it, it was very bizarre um but we had a good time watching it and then the other one that we had watched that night was called vampires with an a blood brothers and blood.

Courtney Berge: And that was like a home, it seemed like a home movie that someone was like I want to make a vampire movie.

Courtney Berge: And I don't know if anyone else has ever seen vampire has brought this in blood.

Courtney Berge: I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Courtney Berge: But i'm glad that I saw it i'm glad I know it exists but someone spent their time making it.

Monique Lillard: It was exactly what i'm talking about you know it's it's it's part of the whole thing.

Courtney Berge: yeah yeah.

Courtney Berge: I think bad cinema is only bad when people are snobs about it in many ways, like someone put effort and money into a passion project and i'm not going to begrudge them that one bit.

Monique Lillard: or every now and then somebody pretty old becomes suddenly famous and then we, we want to watch all the schlocky stuff they made.

Monique Lillard: yeah over their lifetime yeah yeah I fascinating now, you said something that I just want to pick up on it, you said, the kenworthy put out these lists and you're probably looking at them online on a screen right.

Courtney Berge: yeah I have them email them to me yeah them email them.

Monique Lillard: And you said oh I can't go through it, can you talk about the difference between looking at a list of things and being in a room and seeing a bunch of boxes and touching them or pointing your finger or.

Monique Lillard: However, you do it friend of mine used to collect cherry picking I do it with books and libraries, too, I love open stacks not close to X, I want to go in there and just sort of see you know.

Courtney Berge: yeah um so with the list all you have is a bunch of Titles that unless you're gonna research what the title is you have no idea.

Courtney Berge: What the movie is one of my friends got the Mummy and she was like I got the money but it's not the Mummy are thinking of, or the other Mummy you're thinking of, or the other Mummy are thinking of.

Courtney Berge: And so that's also an issue with lists is you know what title but multiple films have the same title and with Howard Hughes.

Courtney Berge: You never know you didn't know if it was going to be the well known title with the well known movie with that title or the D grade movie from cult classics with that title.

Courtney Berge: So I just like I didn't know because i'm not a movie buff I enjoy movies, I rarely know directors, I rarely know.

Courtney Berge: The Louvre of people I always would go and I look at it, the box if it caught my interest i'd be like I look at the title and i'd be like and then i'd read the back and i'd be like huh looks fun and I would either pick it or not.

Courtney Berge: can't do that with the list.

Courtney Berge: And I think like it's like most people love movie posters and like DVD cases are just like smaller versions of the poster they're intended to get you interested in the movie like that's the whole point.

Courtney Berge: Their marketing and you don't get that when you're just trying to read a list, and if you don't know exactly what you're looking for the list isn't helpful I wasn't gonna just pick out five random titles, with no context so.

Monique Lillard: Even the lettering and the coloring of the box is sending tons of messages to us yeah.

Courtney Berge: And it tells you the year that it was made, which gives you context of like the type of film it's.

Courtney Berge: likely to be.

Courtney Berge: tells you the actors who are in it which helps a lot if you're one of those people who's like I like this actor I don't.

Monique Lillard: go back to that hall of fame.

Monique Lillard: yeah wall of fame yeah.

Courtney Berge: I mean, I still do it, I go to actors imdb page is all the time and i'm like what else have you been in.

Courtney Berge: or i'll check it to see if, who, I think, is in a movie is actually in the movie because i'm not good at identifying or remembering names.

Courtney Berge: My husband's worst he'll be like he's that guy from that movie and i'm like no he's not he's like he is he is i'm like No, that is not George clooney and he's like yes, when I pull up the imdb page and i'm like George clooney is not in this movie.

Monique Lillard: I do it with Wikipedia rather than imdb I don't know why, but I sometimes use imdb yeah.

Courtney Berge: I sometimes use Wikipedia but imdb just has the full list.

Monique Lillard: that's true that's true yeah yeah now How did the University of Idaho library then pick the title, so that they just take the leftovers.

Monique Lillard: are what we just made you tried to describe it, but if you could just sort of explain it.

Courtney Berge: We had what was left with the DVDs that were left after the kenworthy it was done okay.

: and

Monique Lillard: Did you say that the library got some duplicates.

Courtney Berge: So, within the yeah there were duplicates within the thing mostly I mean not mostly it's hard to say, mostly um a lot of them were like the blockbuster like the new release genre they weren't new anymore, but like titles, that you would have heard like heard of before.

Monique Lillard: The ones that they thought they should buy multiple copies.

Courtney Berge: yeah right.

Monique Lillard: Do you think the library will sell those at someday.

Monique Lillard: The duplicate or not, maybe not.

Courtney Berge: I don't know what the plan is.

Courtney Berge: I don't know about selling because we're in special collections and there's some ethical considerations with selling things from collections.

Courtney Berge: So I don't know i'm hesitant to say that we would ever sell them i'm not sure what the plan is right, we might donate them to somewhere else, because we just don't have the space to keep.

Courtney Berge: duplicates of them.

Monique Lillard: And that's what I was going to ask is is did it create a space issue because that was always the issue with the stores like oh my gosh.

Monique Lillard: And I think it's an issue with libraries in general, we all just keep creating more and more and more, and there are people like me, I completely confess I like paper and I like boxes and discs things I can touch you know what.

Courtney Berge: I mean there's no kidding that it's a it's a large collection, I would say, from what I saw when it came.

Courtney Berge: They were in these like movers boxes ranging in size from like a two by two by two to like a four by four by four size just piled with movies in them.

Courtney Berge: And that took a lot of space to store those while we went through them and I had to quickly go through them because we had an exhibit coming that was 14 large crates that I needed that space for to store, while we had the exhibit.

Courtney Berge: And I got it small enough now it's there's just one I think four by four box, with some odds and ends left that I need to go through.

Courtney Berge: But we put them all in bankers boxes basically.

Courtney Berge: and

Courtney Berge: if memory serves its at.

: let's see.

Courtney Berge: 612 2430.

Courtney Berge: Between 30 and 40 cubic feet and that's not including the duplicates that I pulled.

Courtney Berge: wow uh huh.

Monique Lillard: You said what did you just say how many cubic feet.

Courtney Berge: Like 30 or 40 between 30 and 40 cubic feet that's a lot um or at least that's how we measure it because the boxes are about.

Courtney Berge: One foot cubic squared and I was able to fit a fair number of DVDs in those boxes, but and I packed them as.

Courtney Berge: geometrically like Timothy as I possibly could to get the most use out of them, but it's still a lot of space and we have a finite amount of space.

Courtney Berge: So we always consider very because we get offers have a lot of collections and if it's a very large collection, we have to consider very carefully whether we can accept it because.

Courtney Berge: of space space constraints and future growth and whether we're proper to where you're properly able to take care of it.

Monique Lillard: Interesting very interesting now tell me the history of the oral history, then, whose idea was it and.

Monique Lillard: I hope was enough since it's coming to an end the interview section of it, I hope, we've been doing what you wanted, but were you and whose idea was it, how did it work.

: um.

Courtney Berge: I don't remember who came up with the idea first when we when it was decided, we were going to receive the collection of a group of people Librarians and staff at the library we form like a little committee and we discussed.

Courtney Berge: possibilities for like what we could do to enhance the collection, because we knew it would be a while before or if we would be able to like lend them out or do anything with them were like we want.

Courtney Berge: We want to make this collection, accessible and we want people to kind of know that it is here and it's not all of it, but like we.

Courtney Berge: How would you.

Monique Lillard: feel good.

Monique Lillard: yeah apple very happy nobody knows it's as many as 14,000 i'll just tell you that and.

Courtney Berge: yeah.

Monique Lillard: And it makes us all think oh good yeah.

Courtney Berge: yeah it's like whoa like we didn't get it all, because I think it was like 30 or 40,000 titles, to start with her, it was a lie um.

Courtney Berge: But we wanted people to know that it was you know we cared and like it's a part of our history and like that's what we wanted, I think, in that community in that initial it was a zoom meeting cuz it was early, it was the early coven times and there were.

Courtney Berge: I don't know 10 to 20 people in that first meeting, and we were all kind of like bit balling ideas of like something we're like someday we could do a podcast and you know, do something and others were like we could do movie nights and I don't remember who said the oral history.

Courtney Berge: First, but we all liked that idea and we're like well, maybe the oral history could then inform the podcast and we're going to create a digital collection like with all of these these interviews, so people can reminisce and and kind of understand what the video store was like and.

Courtney Berge: Then the final product we're not sure what it'll fully look like, but.

Courtney Berge: The intent was to.

Courtney Berge: To kind of preserve the unimportant part like 30 ish year aspect of Moscow history.

Courtney Berge: 40

Courtney Berge: and shared before yeah.

Monique Lillard: Well, people i've spoken to have really enjoyed participating and at.

Monique Lillard: Some have been brought to tears just remembering the nostalgia of watching with their children watching with their parents watching with their siblings the family rituals of negotiation.

Monique Lillard: And then watching and anticipation and.

Monique Lillard: Everything you've actually just described, so I think the oral history was a very good idea, and for those of us who were.

Monique Lillard: very involved with the project it's actually bought me a certain sense of peace in terms of we we did all we could I eventually.

Monique Lillard: got off the board, and then the people who remain the boy Lauretta Campbell in particular oh my gosh she worked so hard Melissa swab it for oh so hard to try to make it work, you know and.

Monique Lillard: It was what it was you know, it was an era, and it was what it was so.

Monique Lillard: 10 data cheerful note.

Monique Lillard: Happy memories of the store weird memories odd memories goofy memories.

Courtney Berge: I.

Courtney Berge: The only one that I kind of have is um I saw the movie Santa do.

Courtney Berge: Have you seen Zanna do.

Monique Lillard: I guess once I can hear olivia Newton john singing the song I almost broke into it, but i'll spare the history that.

Courtney Berge: I got it because it was want to gain kelly's final movies, I forgot that, and so I watched it and it's a trip it's.

Courtney Berge: A bizarre little film.

Courtney Berge: I love it and I remember telling my friend about it, and I was like I think you would like Santa do we should watch it, and this is actually probably one of the it was in the last year or two before the store and and my friend watched it and she loved it.

Courtney Berge: And she was like this is my new favorite movie is just so good.

Courtney Berge: And then she got to get her movie choices on the wall of thing are the impacts.

Monique Lillard: She do the trivia question he.

Courtney Berge: knew the trivia and she got picked she was so excited that's for like shining moment.

Courtney Berge: And she put Zanna do up she's like he got you know I put Zanna do up there and i'm like as you should like no one's gonna pick Zanna do unless you like weird disco roller skating movies.

Courtney Berge: which I feel like there aren't that many people who like that's the genre that they're going for is.

Courtney Berge: But that that was that was a happy moment.

Monique Lillard: You know what's funny is what I think it's added to I think of what the cover looks like I might have to Google it and see if i'm remembering right, but my guess is the reason I can see that cover is because I saw her pick that's My guess, I mean I.

Courtney Berge: play and then she went out and bought it after Howard Hughes closed because she's like I have to own Zanna do yes.

Monique Lillard: that's a wonderful story.

: yeah.

Monique Lillard: Anything else other stories other memories.

Courtney Berge: I remember getting the trivia wrong, the law, I never cheated, I never like tried to Google it or anything.

Courtney Berge: I was just did my best bet.

Monique Lillard: Those were hard trivia questions.

Monique Lillard: They were I never got one right so.

Courtney Berge: I think I might have gotten one right a long time ago, but it was before you had like the option to get your PIC on the wall like that wasn't it was just I feel like at one point, it was just a pride thing, and there was no like.

Courtney Berge: You might have gotten maybe a free rental or something I don't remember, but I feel like I might have gotten one of those right or I was close.

Courtney Berge: um.

Courtney Berge: I just I remember those early days like I memories aren't my strong suit I don't have a lot of strong memories from my life, some people always seem to be able to recall them really well like when I was four this happened and i'm like I don't remember.

Courtney Berge: about my life when I was four but those first years when I would go on on Thursdays and just like going through the classics.

Courtney Berge: Those were really very happy times, it was like a time of discovery and I was figuring out my own tastes and.

Courtney Berge: learning about like what I liked in film and what I did it and, like watching movies other people would suggest, and being like I don't like that, but I liked this, but no one else likes this but that's okay um I do remember.

Courtney Berge: When I was getting into foreign film.

Courtney Berge: Howard Hughes had a movie that I had seen when I was studying abroad and it's this weird surrealist movie that I really want to watch again, but I can't find anywhere um and I wish I could I could watch that but what's it called Do you remember called daisies.

Courtney Berge: it's the 1960s trek new wave phil.

Monique Lillard: New wave all right.

Monique Lillard: yeah uh huh.

Monique Lillard: wonder where it is.

Courtney Berge: This is not a company must have bought it I don't think it was a criterion.

Courtney Berge: It might be I just remembered in the check section of the foreign film.

Monique Lillard: yeah that it probably wasn't that's interesting.

Monique Lillard: I heard that the kenworthy kept all the criterion and they kept the French movies, I heard so.

Courtney Berge: That sounds right yeah I wish I could have gotten my hands on the check movies in the movies, but.

Monique Lillard: You know, you could check with Jamie hill who.

Monique Lillard: was in charge of this for the weekend, which you know who she is.

Courtney Berge: i've heard the name.

Monique Lillard: yeah yeah yeah you could check with her, she may or may not know.

: yeah.

Courtney Berge: Go ahead, I was gonna say just my memories of friends and stuff they're all happy I don't have a big one yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: Anything else I should have asked and I asked that of everybody, but that's especially true since you were sort of part of the formation of this history so um.

Courtney Berge: No okay.

Monique Lillard: So, as I said, if something comes to your mind it's completely easy to set this up, and we can just you know, part two.

Monique Lillard: And, and we can talk about this once we stop recording, but we are still recording at the moment is there is there anybody else you think we should be speaking to because i've got a few more about another week on my.

Courtney Berge: Have you talked to a lot of people who bought movies, through the sale.

Monique Lillard: Some songs not a lot I I heard that there were sort of.

Monique Lillard: groups of people and, of course, this was all virtual because we were all on lockdown when when this was starting and then it would then we're sort of finding our way last summer, so there were a bunch of science fiction buffs, for example.

Courtney Berge: who apparently.

Monique Lillard: Really excited about the kenworthy sale.

Monique Lillard: And I don't know how they found out about it, but then they must have told each other and then.

Courtney Berge: There was.

Monique Lillard: Not quite competition but I remember thinking they almost could have done an auction, because I think that they might have raised the price if they if they wanted to play that way, but I think trying to work that out would have been just logistically impossible, but but.

Monique Lillard: i've heard about that I have not talked to anybody who participated in that type of buying So if you know somebody in particular, let me know i've got.

Courtney Berge: Anyone who did that sort of thing I just know people who bought a bunch of Middle East.

Monique Lillard: How did they do it, what what went on.

Courtney Berge: I think they just went through the list, they went through the list, they just went through the list and they picked out the titles that they wanted or thought they wanted.

Courtney Berge: And then they got them.

Courtney Berge: And then they watched them all, and they have, I know that they have piles of ones that they want to keep and ones that they're like i'm not I don't want to watch these get and I told them not to throw those away yet, because I haven't decided whether or not.

Courtney Berge: I had in my head that people who did that who got these movies, and then decided they didn't want them, they could donate them to the library, but that was before I realize just how much space.

Courtney Berge: The DVDs take, and so I don't think that's plausible but I don't want them to get rid of them, yet, because I want to figure out some way to to to make them accessible to others and some some sort of format.

Monique Lillard: good for you i'm thinking that Chairman i'm what.

Monique Lillard: Facebook, is the.

Monique Lillard: or next door are two huge ways to get to or the local newspaper, of course, you know hitting all three and forming a group I don't know if that would work or not I don't know.

Courtney Berge: I wonder if there'd be a way to do like the free libraries with DVDs oh that might be fun yeah.

Monique Lillard: Now I just realized there's confusion, because if the University of Idaho.

Monique Lillard: got essentially what was left over, then some things were put out for those sidewalk sales on Saturday by the kenworthy so.

Courtney Berge: I think we got those after those sales.

Monique Lillard: After those sales okay okay yeah yeah well as a taxpayer, I am really glad that the University of Idaho did that I think it's important I really do so, the ones I think are the most important personally so.

Courtney Berge: we've got some vhs is that are.

Courtney Berge: Real interesting.

Courtney Berge: Oh, I don't know if it's a memory, like, I just want to say so, when I opened the boxes of the vhs says in it were the hard cases that the vhs is used to come in with the brown and the blue cover on them and I had 100% forgotten.

Courtney Berge: That that's what that looks like cuz cuz then DVDs there and they were in these like clear little just.

Courtney Berge: I have numbered case.

Courtney Berge: yeah yeah.

Courtney Berge: But I had an it like brought back, I was like it was like nostalgia of I remember this like when you watch an old DVD or something, and you see i'm like I think it's a little Disney ones where they're like coming to a theater near you.

Courtney Berge: Like that sort of thing because, like that, just an all right hs case.

Monique Lillard: Or the little was it a green sticker That said, be kind rewind.

Courtney Berge: I did I didn't take any of the vhs is out of the cases that they came in, so I didn't see if any of them had that sticker but that, because the brown case was just empty, it was just like an example.

Courtney Berge: And I want to I plan to like digitize the front of it and have that be part of the digital collection perfect.

Monique Lillard: Perfect on these interviews when I spoke with Ben hardcastle whose face I know you'd recognize and beau newsome who's my co interviewer.

Monique Lillard: I had taken out.

Monique Lillard: i'd rented a DVD and then I bought it and Jamie hill was kind enough to find me the case for it, or at least to look for the case for it it's clueless she couldn't find it if you find the case for coolest given.

Monique Lillard: If you can maybe again if it's in library that's fine.

Monique Lillard: yeah but, so I have one of those little clear containers and then, of course, I have some DVDs and I actually held them up to the.

Monique Lillard: camera and we looked at the disk and how there was a number on the disk and match the number on the case which then match the number on the.

Monique Lillard: cover and all of that, so I tried to preserve all that information because I just figured that's what the future wants to know you know those little gritty details at least I.

Monique Lillard: I was a history major and majored in social history so every little gritty details of interest to me always.

Courtney Berge: I always think it's really interesting because.

Courtney Berge: In preparing for the oral History project and all of this we did a little research on like video stores and.

Courtney Berge: whatnot and there's literature about like video stores dying and like these things but there's very little about how video stores were run and how things got changed and whatnot and I admit i've seen a few of the interviews part of my job.

Courtney Berge: i'm working on kind of getting those ready for for the future and I don't remember who it was with someone who had worked there and they were mentioning how they had like this box of parts and they fixed vhs is and I never.

Courtney Berge: In a million years imagined that they had a box of parts that they used to fix broken vhs like that never occurred to me and I was like well that's something that.

Courtney Berge: No one's written about no one's talked about how the things are run and how the things were done, and so I think just having the people who work there, and the people he used it all talk is.

Courtney Berge: Is a great preservation of.

Courtney Berge: The process well good.

Monique Lillard: I think both Ben hardcastle and Ben and Bo talked about that and.

Monique Lillard: pat angle, a talked a little about the economics of it yeah and yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: How it all worked out.

Monique Lillard: I assume you're holding on to the machines also like I have a machine upstairs that I never have done this, and I must do it in fact it's probably too late, it said that it would take vhs and tournament to DVD is this is all a little obsolete now but anyway.

Monique Lillard: It.

Monique Lillard: Being able to use the machines is really hard because, especially vhs machines were always breaking I don't know what was the matter with it was not a great technology, but we all got very used to it so.

Courtney Berge: The library has a couple vhs players, because I think some of the main collection still on vhs somewhere yeah.

Courtney Berge: um and then special collections has one of those are like vhs to DVD conversion, though, the people it's older now, and so we like we don't do the conversion, but we have used both the vhs player and the DVD player to check certain things yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: You know about the vhs that the library has, and I think Ben hardcastle interview talked about that or i'm sure he would speak to you, those they saved those because they thought they were so rare they said they were things that were not on DVD So those are.

Courtney Berge: really important I.

Monique Lillard: You know that technology it kind of goes sour that's why, when I was saying, I should do this, it was for home movies, like of my father.

Monique Lillard: And I was always going to do it because they say it gets all not what you'd probably know much more than.

Courtney Berge: This but yeah you don't want to know the life cycle of digital media.

Monique Lillard: I don't because.

Monique Lillard: I think i'll be upset.

Courtney Berge: Now i'm scared to do it yeah.

Monique Lillard: yeah well we'll see what we can manage to do better take care of that now that i'm not teaching anymore that rise up on my list I think so yeah well.

Courtney Berge: Oh no.

Monique Lillard: i'm fine what were you gonna say.

Courtney Berge: I was just gonna say it's like one thing that libraries and archives, particularly always struggle with is are like legacy media and trying to.

Courtney Berge: migrate and keep in digitized and keep it alive, so we don't lose yeah.

Monique Lillard: there's something in your face it's worrying bama to.

Courtney Berge: Yours is fine, we have some old things.

Courtney Berge: To get to get moved yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: Anything else you'd like to say or.

Courtney Berge: No.

Courtney Berge: No okay.

Monique Lillard: Well, thank you.

Monique Lillard: Thank you for your time and i'm going to stop the recording and then i'll just say goodbye let's see there we go.