Motion Picture Incunabula in the Library of Congress

A brief survey of the importance of the motion picture and its preservation as an outstanding part of the Nation's culture; summary of the various ways in which early films were lost, destroyed or left to decay; an analysis of recent attempts by various individuals and organizations (public and private) to minimize this significant loss to motion picture art by the rescue of remaining films, and an account of their difficulties arising from the great scarcity of early film material. — A narration of how the early film companies (Edison, Biograph, and others) sent photographic paper tape of their films to The Library of Congress for copyright as photographs; how these paper prints were stored as copyright deposits from 1897 to 1915 in an almost continuous sequence; the recent discovery by The Library of Congress that these prints could be rephotographed through optical printing to celluloid, thereby restoring almost all of the early films to the screen in a single, comprehensive project. — The importance of this discovery from social, aesthetic, and historical viewpoints is discussed.

Print ISSN

0097-5834

Published

1944-03

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J08451