P-26 Motion Picture Collection Repository: Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Span Dates: c.1872-1971, bulk 1890s-1930s Extent: 48 linear feet Language: Primarily English Conditions Governing Use: Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder Conditions Governing Access: Research is by appointment only Preferred Citation: Motion Picture Collection, Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Related Holdings: There are numerous related collections, and these can be found by consulting the Photo and General Collection guides available at the Seaver Center’s website. They include manuscripts in general collection 1095 (Motion Pictures Collection), general collection 1269 (Motion Picture Programs and Memorabilia), general collection 1286 (Movie Posters Collection), general collection 1287 (Movie Window Cards and Lobby Cards Collection), and general collection 1288 (Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Campaign Books). Seaver Center for Western History Research P-26 Abstract: The Motion Picture Collection is primarily a photograph collection. Actor and actress stills are represented, including portraits by studio photographers, film and set stills, and other images, as well as related programs, brochures and clippings. Early technology and experimental work in moving pictures is represented by images about camera and projection devices and their inventors. Items related to movie production include early laboratories, sound, lighting and make-up technology. These items form Photograph Collection P-26 in the Seaver Center for Western History Research. Scope and Content: The Motion Picture Collection is primarily a photograph collection. Actor and actress stills are represented (including portraits by studio photographers), film stills, set stills, and other images, as well as related programs, brochures and clippings. Early technology and experimental work in moving pictures is represented by images about camera and projection devices and individuals including Eadweard Muybridge, C. Frances Jenkins, Thomas Armat and Thomas A. Edison. Items related to movie production include early laboratories, sound, lighting and make-up technology. Much of the collection, as well as other film collections in the Seaver Center, were acquired as a result of the efforts of Earl Theisen (1903-1973). He served as Honorary Curator of Theatrical Arts at the museum for a few years following 1931. Theisen was a technician at the Dunning Process Plant, a member of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, and a member of the Society’s Historical Committee. The collection is arranged in four series. Series 1 through 3 comprise of individual donors, therefore most of the subseries are delineated by donor accession. In some instances a subseries is arranged topically rather than by donor, as in the case of the Tom Mix Collection. Series 4 are primarily items without accession numbering. Series 1: Pre-cinema, Early Cinema, Technology of Moving Pictures and Movie Production Series 2: Silent Film Era Series 3: Sound Film, or “Talkies” Era Series 4: General Stills. Stills, clippings and other items arranged by actor, actress, and movie title, along with a small assortment of montage and animal photographs. Boxes 2ov and 4ov are arranged by size. Series 1 Pre-Cinema, Early Cinema, Technology of Moving Pictures, and Movie Production 1.1 “Horses in Motion” project by Eadweard Muybridge, c. 1872- 1878. (Box 1: ½ letter) (map case) Motion Picture Collection 11/9/2016 2 of 9 Seaver Center for Western History Research P-26 1.2 “Animal Locomotion” plates by Eadweard Muybridge, 1887. (Box 8ov: 1 oversize) 1.3 Photostats, photographs and other images, 1881-1895, undated. (Box 2: ½ letter) 1.4 C. Francis Jenkins Collection, 1890-1929, undated. (Box 3: ½ legal) (see also related collection, Thomas Armat Collection) 1.5 Thomas Armat Collection, 1900-1935, undated. (Box 4: ½ legal) (see also related collection, C. Francis Jenkins Collection) 1.6 Vitagraph and Pre-Cinema, undated. [includes film specimen] (Box 5: ½ letter) 1.7 Aller Laboratories and Biograph, c. 1904-1921, undated. (Box 6: ½ letter) 1.8 Early camera technology, 1915-c.1929, undated. (Box 7: ½ letter; see also folders in Box 2ov) 1.9 Photograph transmission by wire, c. 1931. Series showing steps in photo transmission by wire. (Box 8: ½ letter) 1.10 Hypergonar experiments, c. 1927. Work on wide and narrow screens of the Hypergonar Lens. (Box 8: ½ letter) 1.11 Sound on film recording channels, 1929-1932, undated. (Box 9: ½ letter) (map case) 1.12 Early cinematography, 1912-1920, undated. Equipment catalogs, a few papers explaining the Packer process for animation. A few Kalem Company production stills of 1914 and 1915, a Kalem film frame and various publications. Tools of the cinematographer: a focus chart and a continuity book. (Box 11ov: 1 flat box) 1.13 Motion picture projectors, undated (Box 10: 1 letter) 1.14 Bell & Howell motion picture cameras, undated. (Box 11: 1 letter) 1.15 Motion picture cameras, arranged topically, undated. (Box 12: 1 letter) (map case) 1.16 Bell & Howell motion picture cameras, undated (Box 13: 1 letter) Motion Picture Collection 11/9/2016 3 of 9 Seaver Center for Western History Research P-26 1.17 Autographs (of movie celebrities), Laboratories, Props, Sets, Sound, Theaters, c. 1897-1971, undated (bulk is 1931) (Box 14: 1 letter) (map case) 1.18 Photo-Doubles, Hairstyles, Make-up, Manicure, 1933-1938, undated (Box 15: 1 letter) 1.19 Theaters, 1898-1900. Arthur St. Clair Perry was the proprietor of a motion picture theater in Ferndale, California. (Boxes 16-17: ½ letter; 1 5x7) (map case) 1.20 Theaters, 1915-1919, undated. Bulk of the collection consists of theater programs for Thomas Lincoln Tally’s Broadway Theatre. (Box 18: ½ letter) 1.21 Tally’s Theater Collection, 1890-1932, undated. This artificial collection has photographs, clippings, one postcard, programs, leaflets and a thick, handwritten index to articles and information about Thomas Lincoln Tally and his theaters, including Los Angeles and Texas-based theaters. A few items show the First Theater in Los Angeles, 1896. Box 19: 1 letter; see also folders in Box 2ov) 1.22 Set stills, unidentified, undated (Box 20: 1 letter) 1.23 Studios, two boxes: one arranged by studio name; a second, separate box for Famous Players, Lasky and Paramount Studios, 1888-1979, undated (Boxes 21-22: 1 letter; ½ letter) (map case 25) (above mapcases) 1.24 Camera operators, Directors, Producers, 1912-1976, undated. (Box 23: 1 letter) 1.25 Camera operators, c. 1915-1918. Jerry Erickson was a newsreel cameraman. Bulk of the stills were of Gaumont, a French silent newsreel company. (Box 24: ½ letter) 1.26 Camera operators, 1910-1918, undated. Cameramen, cameras, studios and set stills. (Box 25: ½ letter) 1.27 Camera operators, 1931-1933, bulk is 1932. Photos, news stills, telegrams and travel documents belonging to Mervyn Freeman, who was a newsreel cameraman. Most of the news stills are 1932 field photos made with Japanese soldiers in Shanghai. Freeman worked for Universal and later, Pathe News. (Box 26: ½ letter) Motion Picture Collection 11/9/2016 4 of 9 Seaver Center for Western History Research P-26 1.28 Title backgrounds, undated. Fifty title backgrounds for motion picture titles. Two photos illustrating the use of miniature figures. (Box 5ov: 1 oversize) 1.29 Warren Newcombe matte shots, silent film era to 1953, undated. Newcombe headed the matte department at MGM from the 1920 until 1957. Collection is mostly MGM, with some silent film productions and unidentified items. (Box 7ov: 1 flat box) 1.30 Positype photo reproduction process, c.1931. Examples of a photo reproduction process using Direx and Positype paper. (Box 27: 1 5x7; see also folders in Box 4ov) 1.31 Unidentified film stills, possibly for film(s) based on a Harold Bell Wright work (Boxes 28-29: 2 letter) 1.32 Unidentified stills (Boxes 30-34: 5 letter) 1.33 Unidentified oversized stills (Box 3Aov: 1 flat box) (map case) Series 2 Silent Film Era 2.1 [“Meanest Man in the World” (1923, Principal Pictures)], undated. Film stills of one of the earliest productions by Principal Pictures. (Boxes 35-38: 4 letter) 2.2 “Greed” (1924, MGM), 1923, undated. Set and location stills, with director Erich von Stroheim and actress Zasu Pitts shown. (Box 39: ½ legal) 2.3 Actor stills, undated. (Box 40: ½ letter) 2.4 Actor and film stills, 1913-1921, undated, including numerous unidentified photographs and film stills. (Boxes 41-42: 1 letter; ½ letter) (map case) 2.5 Stills of Sokal and Film d’Art companies; six film stills of Leni Riefenstahl, undated. (Box 43: ½ letter) 2.6 Biograph Studio set stills and Mutoscope cards, 1898-1913. (Box 44: ½ letter) 2.7 Douglas Fairbanks film stills, 1919-1929. (Box 45 and 3ov: 1 letter; 1 flat box) Motion Picture Collection 11/9/2016 5 of 9 Seaver Center for Western History Research P-26 2.8 Charles K. French actor and film stills, clippings, 1893-1920, undated. Includes cabinet cards and postcards of plays of French. French worked with Fred Balshofer at the New York Motion Picture Company (Box 46: ½ letter; see also folders in Box 4ov) 2.9 Actor stills, some with autographs, undated. (Box 47: ½ letter) 2.10 Actor and film stills and handbills, especially for the work of the donor at Kalem Studios, 1910-1918, undated. (Box 48: ½ letter; see also folders in Box 2ov) (map case) 2.11 Lubin Studios, 1911-1914. (Box 49: ½ letter) 2.12 Sigmund Lubin equipment catalog, 1900. (Box 49: ½ letter) 2.13 S. Lubin Company, 1897-c.1912. (Box 49: ½ letter) 2.14 Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties, undated. (Box 49: ½ letter) 2.15 Art stamp album of moving picture stars, 1914. (Box 49: ½ letter) 2.16 “The Fable of Lutie, the False Alarm” (1914, Essanay), 1914 and 1935.