The Library of Congress Paper Print Collection

The greatest tragedy for film historians lies in the fact that fewer than a third of the films produced in the U.S. from the silent era have been preserved, due to unstable nitrate stock and lack of concern. But certain films have been preserved almost by accident, as with the Paper Print Collection held by the Library of Congress (LC). When films first emerged as a medium, they were not covered by existing copyright laws, but early film producers wanted to preserve their rights. The Edison company realized that one could copyright a photograph by sending a copy with the appropriate forms to the LC. In 1897, the LC received a long roll of photographic images on paper of all the frames of an Edison motion picture and recorded and copyrighted it as a photograph. A number of other companies -- the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, Keystone, and Melies -- adopted this practice until the copyright law changed in 1912 to include motion pictures. Ironically, these paper records outlasted most of the films.

In the 1940s the paper prints were rediscovered and the LC took steps to preserve the rolls and transfer them back to film. Nearly the entire collection was transferred to 16mm film in the 1950s and 60s. In the last few decades, a number of the films have been transferred to 35mm film with greater care and clarity. The collection remains a treasure trove for early American cinema, although the images are not always sharp due to the transformations they have undergone. Many of the films are accessible on the Web through the LC's American Memory site.