 The archive was founded in 1979 by Robert Gardner, Vlada K. Petric and Stanley Cavell in Harvard's Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, with grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.It opened on March 16, 1979 with a screening of Ernst Lubitsch’s silent film, "Lady Windermere's Fan".The archive's first curator was Vlada K. Petric, who expanded the collection and established the year-round regular screenings.