RESOURCES
This section covers a wide range of resources for readers to take further their interest in Victorian cinema, or Victorian life as reflected through the projected image. Follow the links on the left-hand menu for individual sections.
ARCHIVES
Below are listed some of the major film archives around the world with holdings of Victorian film. Details of all national film archives can be found on the Federation of International Film Archives (FIAF) website.
CNC preserves the entire surviving Lumière collection, and has organised these into national compilations for exhibition purposes. The archive also preserves the Will Day collection, which inclues many early titles. The BFI National Archive (formerly the National Film and Television Archive) has an exceptional collection of film from the Victorian period. Highlights includes Mitchell and Kenyon actualities, 100 American and British Biograph 68/70 mm titles, many Lumière titles (including all surviving British and Irish from CNC), 'Brighton school' work from G.A. Smith and James Williamson, and the work of Goodwin Norton, Georges Méliès, Bamforth, Riley Brothers, Warwick Trading Company, Hepworth, and many others.Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique
One of the world's leading film archives, with a particularly rich collection of early film materials. The EYE collection (formerly the Nederlands Filmmuseum) includes 200 titles produced in the Victorian period by the American, British, Dutch, French and German Biograph companies on 68/70 mm format, which it has also turned into compilation films with explanatory titles. Probably the finest collection of silent cinema anywhere, particularly strong in early American, French and British material. The collection is particularly strong in films from the earliest years of American production, notably Edison titles going back to the very first experiments, and its Paper Print collection (early film records originally preserved on paper for copyright protection). A notable feature of its website is American Memory, which features extensive downloadable copies of early Edison films, scenes of New York 1898-1906, the Spanish-American War, and variety performers. The Film and Media department of MoMA includes original negatives of Edison and Biograph productions, including a good collection of Biograph 68/70 mm format titles.
