Resurrection of Early Motion Pictures

Carl Louis Gregory

In a very brief outline the writer relates some of the highlights of the history of the motion picture and makes a plea that the industry take a more active interest in its own archives and the remaining relics of its own development. The years have taken most of its stalwart pioneers and their records have been scattered by the winds of time. — Recently The Library of Congress, under the administration of Archibald MacLeish, realised that it had, tucked away in its old repositories, a priceless and almost complete collection of all the motion pictures made or exhibited in the United States from 1896 to 1912. This collection is printed on fragile ribbons of paper and can not be projected in its present form. — Howard L. Walls, in charge of Motion Picture Collections, The Library of Congress, brought samples of these paper films to John G. Bradley, Chief of the Division of Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings, The National Archives. A description is given of how a method was worked out and the task of converting these paper records back to modern standard motion picture films was begun.

Print ISSN
Published
1944-03
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J08452