Early Cinema Collection (1904-1918)
Cinema emerged in the late-nineteenth century through a combination of new advancements in technology with old traditions of screen presentation. Although some historians date the emergence of cinema back to 1880 or earlier, our Early Cinema Collection begins in 1904 with The Optical Lantern and Cinematograph Journal, a publication that attests to the continued use of magic lantern presentational techniques into the early-20th century.
The highlight of our Early Cinema collection is the 1912 to 1918 run of the Moving Picture World, one of the earliest trade papers of the motion picture industry. The heyday of the Moving Picture World was during the 1910s and the period that film historians have called cinema’s “transitional era” (lasting roughly from 1908 to 1917). As a series of dramatic changes swept the industry, including the rise of the star system, the transition from short films to features, the decline of the Motion Picture Patents Company (generally associated with its largest stakeholder, Thomas Edison), and the rise of “Independent” companies that became the Hollywood studios. Showmen read Moving Picture World to stay abreast of the rapidly changing marketplace and the latest batch of pictures. Even reading now, one hundred years later, you can feel the dizzying energy of change.
