Phyllis R. Klotman, professor emerita of African American and Africa diaspora studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, died at her home in New York City on March 30. She was 90 years old.
Professor Klotman was an expert on African American cinema and established the Black Film Center/Archive at Indiana University in 1981. She traveled the country searching out films by early Black artists in order to preserve these works. Today, the archive she established includes more than 3,000 films as well as movie posters, photographs, and other documents.
Dr. Klotman was a native of Galveston, Texas. She held bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She joined the Indiana University faculty in 1970 and taught there for 29 years. Among her books was Frame by Frame: A Black Filmography (Indiana University Press, 1979).