For week four’s topic on “Bodies, Gender and Sexuality”, Dave did a presentation on the readings by Mary Ann Doane, Constance Balides and Lucy Fisher. Here are his presentation notes: Dave’s Presentation
The British Film Institute
The BFI holds one of the largest collections of books and journals related to film in the world. The library catalogue is available on-line . The BFI Collections and Archives include a variety of searchable catalogues and information on the availability of prints and videos.
The British Library
The British Library holds copies of every title published in the UK and is a vital source for finding rare publications. The library houses various British and Irish cinema and film periodicals and a select list of Victorian illustrated newspapers and journals .
The Guildhall Library
The Guildhall Library is primarily for those interested in business history since it holds the records of the London Stock Exchange and a comprehensive collection of finical journals and newspapers. Their archive of sources includes a sizeable quantity of records from the 1895 to 1914 period.
GRAFICS
GRAFICS is an early cinema study group. Although some resources are in English the majority of the website is in French.
The Magic Lantern Society
As the name suggests, the Magic Lantern society are dedicated to research, information, history and development of magic lantern apparatus and slides. They are involved in cataloguing and exhibition of existing magic lantern material.
The Projection Box
The Magic Projection Box is a publishing company specializing in early cinema.
Screening the Past
Screening the Past describes itself as, “An international, refereed, electronic journal of visual media and history”. Their searchable archive is an easy way to access the various articles and reviews the journal has published.
The History of the Discovery of Cinematography
Although not an exhaustive or critical history, The History of the Discovery of Cinematography site provides a basic outline of the technological developments leading to cinema. Their related sites listing provides several helpful links to information on cinematic precursors like the camera obscura and magic lantern.
Early Cinema.com
According to the site, Early Cinema.com “aims to provide an introduction to the first decade of motion pictures and the developments which helped shape cinema as we know it today. The site is by no means a complete account of the development of cinema, and concentrates on the major events in cinema’s history encouraging further reading and research”.
Charles Urban, Motion Picture Pioneer
As the title suggests, this site contains a history of Charles Urban. Perhaps more pertinent to general interest in early cinema is the site’s “Early Cinema Gateway”, which supplies links based on a number of categories like genre, biography and theme.
Silent Film Sources
This site features a directory of silent films available for purchase or rental in the United States. Their site also features “the bookshelf”, which is a collection of documents from the silent film era.
Victoria Research Web
The VRW is “dedicated to the scholarly study of nineteenth-century Britain, and to aiding researchers, teachers, and students in their investigations of any and all aspects of this fascinating period”.
The Centre of History and New Media
The Centre of History and New Media is a project of George Mason University with a wide scope of historical resources. The centre’s mandate is using digital technology to peserve historical documents, which includes some early films .
Early Motion Pictures from The Library of Congress
An essential resource of on-line films created between 1897 and 1916.
British Universities Film and Video Council
This site contains links to various regional film archives in the UK.
American Film Institute
The AFI is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The British National Archives
The National Archive includes the public records of the UK, generated by the government and the courts. It is an important source for primary information about the commercial history of early film in the UK and film copyright.
Bibliotheque Du Film
The BIFI is a excellent resource for early French films.
Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture
Affiliated with the University of Exeter, the Bill Douglas Centre contains an enormous collection relating to the history of film and visual media. The site contains Everyone’s Virtual Exhibition or EVE a search portal for the collection and centre’s various exhibitions.
National Fairground Archive
The University of Sheffield has collected photographic, printed, manuscript and audiovisual material covering all aspects of the culture of travelling showpeople, their organisation as a community, their social history and everyday life; and the artefacts and machinery of fairgrounds.
National Museum of Photography, Film and Television
The Museum located in Bradford houses an expansive collection of early cinematic technologies.
Association Francaise de Recherche Sur L’histoire du Cinema
This french site includes links to several useful cinema journals.
Domitor
Domitor is a An International Association Dedicated to the Study of Early Cinema. Their site includes published proceedings of the Domitor conferences and a database of early cinema that is readily available on DVD.
Companies
Several early film companies like the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, British Pathe Database, Thomas A. Edison Papers, and the Tanhouser Film Company have websites that include small company histories, databases of films and production catalogues.