The first public showing of motion pictures for a fee took place at the Holland Brothers’ Kinetoscope Parlor, 1155 Broadway, New York City, April 14, 1894. The making of motion pictures soon became a highly competitive business, and producers were eager to obtain some sort of protection for their works. The copyright law at that time did not provide for the registration of motion pictures as such, and was not amended to do so until August 24, 1912. The only course open to pioneer producers was to register their works as photographs and hope that the desired protection had been obtained. This became the practice in the new industry.

Before 1900, all items were recorded in sequence as they were received and registered (or “entered” as the law stated prior to 1909) in the Copyright Office. The different types of material were distinguished from one another only by a descriptive word or phrase; i.e., photograph, book, musical composition, etc. On January 1, 1900, the Copyright Office established Classes A, B, C, and D. Class D, Graphic Arts and Miscellaneous, included photographs. On January 1, 1901, photographs were placed in a class of their own—Class H. On March 4, 1909, photographs were assigned to Class J and included both published and unpublished works. All motion pictures copyrighted as photographs from 1894 to 1912, the period covered by this catalog, fall correspondingly into these categories. They are recorded in over five hundred official copyright record books, each of which contains about two thousand entries. To compile the catalog it was necessary to search approximately one million entries, and to determine—by title, or copyright claimant, or both—which items recorded as photographs did, or did not, represent motion pictures. The task was sizable and presented many difficulties; but I hope that, with the margin for error customarily allotted even to the best of compilers, I have produced an acceptable list. And, while Dr. Luther H. Evans, Librarian of Congress, and Mr. Arthur Fisher, the Register of Copyrights, have made it possible for this work to be produced, it is only fair to say that the responsibility for omissions which may later be discovered is certainly mine.

The first problem encountered, that of identifying the work, was the biggest. Then, although the information in the record books was acceptable in the light of requirements for copyright registration, it was found all too frequently to be unsatisfactory from the standpoint of a full description or a complete identification of the motion picture. Lengths of films were seldom given; claimants had not always made it clear as to whether numbers accompanying titles stood for parts, scenes, reels, or production numbers; some films, copyrighted as separate entities, were obviously only parts of a unified subject which the claimant had failed to furnish; the articles in the titles were often omitted; and, for the pre-1900 years, it was not always clear as to whether certain titles referred to a Kineograph (thumb book), a Mutoscope reel, or a 35mm film. There were numerous other deficiencies, such as misspelling of names or words and omission of words other than articles from titles.

A complete solution to the complexities and limitations existing in the project would have required motion picture research, but such research is beyond the scope or function of the Copyright Office, and of the project for which I was employed. Hence, the record is passed along to you precisely as it stands with minor additions and corrections. Misspellings and similar minor errors have been dealt with by corrections written within brackets. In several instances, where titles of factual films are ambiguous as to persons, places, or things, it has been possible to draw on first-hand knowledge to enhance their meaning and significance. This information is also presented, within brackets, with a view to increasing as much as possible the practical value of the catalog. A general correlation of the films under supplied subject headings was, as in the case of extensive research, considered beyond the scope of the project. Such grouping has been left to those whose special interest may require it. To facilitate such further research, the Claimant Index provides a chronological listing of titles by year to bring them together in their significant time relationships.

After an examination of the record, it appears that the earliest motion picture copyrighted was Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, January 7, 1894. The claimant was William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, West Orange, New Jersey. This film, popularly known in film circles as “Fred Ott’s Sneeze,” and famous as one of the films which launched the modern motion picture industry, now has added fame as the first to be registered for copyright. There were only three other entries to the end of 1894. For some inexplicable reason, there is a total gap from the end of 1894 to October 23, 1896, at which date the registrations substantially began and continued. One highly important irregularity in this connection must be pointed out; there is evidence that the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, in its 1902 and 1903 registrations, submitted, along with current material, a considerable backlog of pictures produced from late 1895 to 1902. An appreciable amount of research would have to be done to clarify the wide discrepancies between the production and copyright dates of this company. There is no evidence that other claimants followed this practice.

Not all motion pictures produced from 1894 to 1912 appear in the copyright record. However, the overwhelming majority do—representing nearly every important advance made in the first 18 years of the medium. The record pertaining to the newsreel type of film affords some surprise. The entries for these are rather profuse and important from 1896 to 1907, after which there are practically no entries during the period under consideration. It is clear that by 1908 fictional entertainment had become an almost exclusive business with the industry.

Although the entries in the record books of the Copyright Office do not indicate the exact physical nature of items submitted by claimants as copyright deposits, an investigation of the Library of Congress holdings of this material revealed a heterogeneous collection. Claimants submitted deposits indiscriminately and variously in the following forms: Mutoscope reels; sample 35mm frames from every scene in a motion picture, in the form of positive photographic paper prints or on celluloid; photographic stills or enlargements—one each of representative, but not all, scenes from a motion picture; photographs of the sets used in a motion picture; Kineographs (popularly known as thumb books or flip books); and, most important of all, complete motion pictures printed on 35mm positive photographic paper rolls.

About half of the films listed in this catalog are represented in the Library’s collection of paper prints. Other films are available in other collections or are likely to be located in the future in forgotten storage places. An ingenious way has been found to rephotograph the paper prints on celluloid by the optical printing process in order that they may be put to current use.

Here is a cross section of the nonfictional film titles, selected at random from this early collection: “Street Scene, Chicago” (1897); “Troop Ships for the Philippines” (1898); “Burial of the Maine Victims” (1898); “Admiral Dewey Landing at Gibraltar” (1899); “Sharkey-Jeffries Fight” (1899); “Automobile Parade” (1900); “Boers Bringing in British Prisoners” (1900); “President McKinley Taking Oath of Office” (1901); “President McKinley’s Funeral Cortege at Washington, D. C.” (1901); “Anna Held” (1902); “Princeton and Yale Football Game” (1903); “Opening Ceremonies, New York Subway” (1904); “Senator Mark Hanna” (1904); “Inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt” (1905); “Scenes and Incidents, Russo-Japanese Peace Conference, Portsmouth, New Hampshire” (1905); and hundreds of other similar films which bring back an almost forgotten era.

These films depict the true customs, dress, and manners of the time and place; they show general world events, Presidential inaugurations; events of the Spanish-American War, noted political figures and other personalities, fires and disasters, sports, popular dances, and many other phases in the life of this period.

Changes in techniques or styles of motion picture production cannot affect the importance of these films. Specialized students of the motion picture and drama will derive profit and pleasure from seeing the first attempts to tell a story on the screen, the evolution of screen syntax by D. W. Griffith, and the first appearances of such celebrities as Mary Pickford, and the films listed in this catalog and preserved in the Library of Congress and elsewhere will have an even wider appeal to general historians, sociologists, and educators who may have no interest in the motion picture as such.

It is hoped that this catalog will serve not only those seeking information regarding the copyright history and status of these films but will also be of material assistance to those studying the motion picture as an art, as an important means of communication, as a historical record, or as an effective social force.