Dalton, Susan E.

Susan E. Dalton died Nov. 30, 2013, in York, Pa., from complications following lung surgery. Susan was born in Flushing, N.Y. on June 24, 1944, to Joseph Dalton and Hazel Crawford Dalton. In 1948, the family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she spent her childhood. She graduated from Regis High School in Cedar Rapids.

Susan attended the University of Wisconsin where she graduated Cum Laude in 1966. At the university she developed a love of film. She began her career as a film archivist in 1969 at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. At WCFTR, she established archival policies and practices for a collection of stills, manuscripts and film which numbered over 5 million items including nearly 2000 major studio films.

From 1987 to 1997, Susan was archivist and then director for Preservation Projects for the National Center for Film and Video Preservation of the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. She administered the AFI's film collection of more than 15,000 films which was housed at the Library of Congress and other archives in the United States. She coordinated film preservation activities at archives in the U.S. and participated in a multinational effort to preserve early film heritage. Her efforts helped acquire and preserve lost and endangered American films, many of which were found in Spain, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

From 1973 to 1978, Susan was co-editor of the cinema journal The Velvet Light Trap. Her article “Women at Work, Warner's in the 1930s” is one of the earliest to focus on women's issues in cinema. During the 1970s and 1980s, she was a participating member of the Film Archives Advisory Committee. In 1978, she coordinated a National Conference on Archival Cataloging of Film and Television. From 1987 to 1997, Susan represented the American Film Institute at meetings of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and was a member of FIAF's Documentation Commission. Susan was a founding member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists and in 2012 she received AMIA's Silver Light Award in recognition of career achievement.

In 1997, Susan returned Cedar Rapids for a change of environment. Her time in Iowa was focused on gardening and yoga. In Iowa, she indulged a life long passion and brought Mina, an Irish Wolfhound, into her life. She had many old friends from years before and also made many others.

She move to Carroll Valley, Pa., in 2007 where she has enjoyed her semiretirement with her husband, Paul Spehr. Irish Wolfhounds, gardening, computer art and reading filled many days. Susan was treasurer of the Carrol Valley Civic Association and a member of the Carroll Valley Garden Club.

Susan had a vibrant spirit, a sharp sense of humor, a gift for friendship and she lived her life to the fullest. She was very much loved by her friends and especially by her family and her husband. A truly special light has gone out of our lives. She is, and will be, achingly missed.

Surviving Susan is her husband, Paul Spehr of Carroll Valley, Pa. Susan's surviving siblings are Sharon Hays of Washington, D.C. and Joseph Dalton of South Portland, Maine.

A memorials celebration is planned for Carroll Valley in the spring. Additional celebrations will be held in Washington, D.C., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Susan's name may be made to the William S. O'Farrell Volunteer Award, Association of Moving Image Archivists, 1313 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90028.

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Published in The Gazette Dec. 10, 2013.