Online Access to Silent Film Era Collection, 1894 to 1931

FAIN: PW-50163-08

Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria, NY 11106-1226)
Carl Goodman (Project Director: July 2007 to September 2010)

Cataloging of 4,028 material culture artifacts from the silent film era, along with digital imaging of approximately half of these.

The Museum of the Moving Image requests $250,000 over two years (May 2008 ? April 2010) to provide online access to 4,028 artifacts of the material culture of film dating from 1894-1931, described in this proposal as ?the silent film era.? Scholars in many disciplines of the humanities have found a rich, challenging source of inspiration in the silent era, discovering its substance lies not solely in the films themselves, but also in the material culture of the period, including the arts, architecture and history. Museum of the Moving Image holds an important collection of silent film era artifacts representing every facet of silent filmmaking and film-going, offering an unparalleled opportunity to study and experience how these films were made, marketed and exhibited, and to explore their relation to other disciplines of that period.