Collection Items

  • Film, Video
    Interior N.Y. subway, 14th St. to 42nd St
    Interior New York subway, Fourteenth Street to Forty-second Street | Title from Biograph production log: Interborough Subway 8 from 14th St. to 42nd St | Variant title from Biograph production log: Interborough subway from 14th St. to 42nd St | Variant title from the Internet movie database: New York subway | Variant title from the Internet movie database: In the N.Y. subway | Variant title from the Internet movie database: Interboro subway | Interborough Subway 8 from 14th St. to 42nd St | Interborough subway from 14th St. to 42nd St | New York subway | In the N.Y. subway | Interboro subway
    The camera platform was on the front of a New York subway train following another train on the same track. Lighting is provided by a specially constructed work car on a parallel track. At the time of filming, the subway was only seven months old, having opened on October 27, 1904. The ride begins at 14th Street (Union Square) following the route of today's...
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1905
  • Film, Video
    Opening the Williamsburg Bridge
    Opening of the Williamsburg Bridge | Opening of the New Williamsburg Bridge
    The film was shot on the roadway of the newly constructed Williamsburg Bridge. The first people to come into view are press photographers carrying large wooden "box" cameras [Frame: 0690]. Next, a parade of dignitaries and military representatives, accompanied by members of the press [1310], is photographed passing the camera position led by a standard bearer whose banner reads "MAYOR" [0902]. The mayor of...
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1904-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Beginning of a skyscraper
    Starting a skyscraper
    The scene is an excavation site in New York City. A large group of workmen with picks and shovels are digging. Carts drawn by pairs of horses can be seen emerging from the smoke in the background. "Taken in the immense excavation for the foundation of the new Macy Building at the corner of Broadway and 34th Street, New York. An excellent study of...
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Bonine, R. (Robert K.)
    • Date: 1902-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Parade of horses on Speedway
    Speedway parade | Parade on the Speedway
    The film is of the third annual parade of the Road Drivers Association of New York. A procession of fine horses and fashionable carriages move along the Harlem River Speedway, in the Highbridge section of northern Manhattan. The view is from the Manhattan side of the river looking north. On the right is the Harlem River and on the opposite bank, the Bronx. Prominent...
    • Contributor: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Bonine, R. (Robert K.)
    • Date: 1902-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Skating on lake, Central Park
    Skating in Central Park | Skating in Central Park, N.Y. City | Skating on 72nd St. lake Central Park
    The view is of a frozen lake in Central Park crowded with ice skaters. The film is of such poor quality that it is difficult to tell if the apparent "snow" is real or just scratches on the film.
    • Contributor: Armitage, F. S. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1902-01-01
  • Film, Video
    N.Y. Fire Department returning
    New York Fire Department returning | Return of the fire departmant | Return of N.Y. Fire Dept
    Shows several pieces of horse-drawn fire vehicles in motion: two hook-and-ladders [Frame: 0114, 0905]; two steam pumpers [0373, 1111]; a rescue wagon [0549]. Children hang onto the back of some of the vehicles [0195, 0970].
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    A perilous proceeding The film follows a group of approximately ten men who are suspended on the cable of a large crane atop a building under construction. As the men are lifted over the site and gradually lowered, they wave to the camera.
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Congdon, James - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1902-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Broadway & Union Square, New York
    Broadway and Union Square, New York | Scene on Broadway
    A horse-drawn street car with a sign for Broadway pulls away from the camera with a full compliment of passengers. Another approaches the camera position and they pass. The first car stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Pedestrians walk pass on both sides of the street.
    • Contributor: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Marvin, Arthur W.
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Bargain day, 14th Street, New York
    Bargain day, Fourteenth Street, New York | Bargain day on Fourteenth St., New York | Bargain day on 14th St., New York
    The film shows hundreds of tightly packed people crowding into the front door of the Rothschild Co. 5 and 10 cent store. They are so closely packed it is difficult to tell one from another. The view is from across the street, looking down from the 2nd floor.
    • Contributor: Armitage, F. S. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1905-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Buffalo Bill's Wild West parade
    Parade of Buffalo Bill's Wild West
    The film shows a parade down Fifth Avenue, New York. In the foreground many children, both black and white, can be seen following alongside the parade. The participants in the parade include cowboys, Indians, and soldiers in the uniform of the United States Cavalry on horseback and riding horse-drawn coaches. Buffalo Bill can be seen on horseback, lifting his hat to the crowd.
    • Contributor: Armitage, F. S. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1901-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Elevated railroad, New York
    Around the big curves | Elevated R.R. 110 St. curve, New York City | Around the big curves on the Manhattan Elevated R.R.
    Taken from the front end of a locomotive following an express train at high speed around the high curves of the Ninth Avenue Elevated, from the 104th to 116th Street station. This section, with its reverse curve, is known as "The Big Loop", and is the highest (at over 100 feet) and most dangerous section on the New York Elevated. During the trip, Grant's...
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope Company
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Lower Broadway
    Street scene on Lower Broadway, N.Y. City | Scene on Lower Broadway
    "A busy street scene on Lower Broadway, New York City"--American Mutoscope & Biograph picture catalogue, November, 1902.
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Bonine, R. (Robert K.)
    • Date: 1902-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Panorama of Flatiron Building
    Eighth wonder | Flatiron Building panorama
    This shows a view looking south from Madison Square, across the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-third Street, to New York's famous skyscraper, the Fuller (or "Flatiron") Building, with a panorama of the surroundings. The cameraman elevates his camera, going from street level to the roof.
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Bonine, R. (Robert K.)
    • Date: 1902-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Parade of "exempt" firemen The film shows a large group of people watching the approach of a color guard followed by a number of elderly marching firemen [Frame: 1734] pulling antique fire equipment [2486]. In the background is the white marble Washington Arch [0116], designed by Stanford White and completed in 1895 to commemorate the first inauguration of George Washington.
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - Armitage, F. S. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Star Theatre
    Star Theater
    Using time-lapse photography, the film shows the demolition of the famous Star Theatre. Judging from the various exposures, the work must have gone on for a period of approximately thirty days. The theater opened in 1861 as "Wallack's Theatre," and was re-christened the "Star" in 1883. It was well known for it's excellent productions, and a number of celebrated actors and actresses worked there,...
    • Contributor: Armitage, F. S. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1902
  • Film, Video
    Arrival of emigrants [i.e. immigrants], Ellis Island
    Arrival of immigrants, Ellis Island | Arrival of emigrants, Ellis Island
    Depicts scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island. Appears to show, first, a group of immigrants lined up to board a vessel leaving the island, then another group arriving at the island and being directed off of the dock and into the Depot by a uniformed official.
    • Contributor: Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1906-01-01
  • Film, Video
    At the foot of the Flatiron
    Windy day at the Flatiron
    This street level view is of the Broadway side of the Flatiron, or Fuller Building, near the narrow north corner. Filmed on a very windy day, pedestrians of various descriptions are seen passing by the camera, clutching hats and skirts against the wind. According to some New York City historians, this corner was known as the windiest corner of the city, and in the...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Departure of Peary [and the] "Roosevelt" from New York
    Departure of Peary [and] Roosevelt from New York | Departure of Peary for the North Pole
    The camera pans to show the schooner "Roosevelt" docked at a covered pier on the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side. Then, from a camera position on board, men in straw hats and fashionably dressed ladies are seen boarding the ship. Next, the famous polar explorer Robert Peary appears on the gangway in a dark jacket, mustache and straw hat. He tips his hat,...
    • Contributor: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1905-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Excavating for a New York foundation
    Lifting a wagon from a New York foundation
    The scene is an excavation pit at an unidentified New York City construction site. A crew of six men can be seen shoveling dirt into a four-wheeled wooden cart. Then a full cart is slowly lifted out of the pit to street level by a steam-powered crane. These carts are similar in design to those shown dumping rubble at the end of the film...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Funeral of Hiram Cronk The film shows a city thoroughfare lined with crowds of people watching a military parade. The first group to come into view is a marching band, then a large formation of soldiers in the uniform of Rough Riders. Following them is a hearse drawn by four black horses, escorted by veterans of the Civil War, and horse-drawn open carriages. The camera position shifts and...
    • Contributor: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1905-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Panorama from Times Building, New York The view is from the top of the then newly-erected Times Building, at a height of approximately twenty stories. The film opens with a vertical pan, going from the street below up to the sky. The photographer then makes a pan to the north over the tops of the buildings from Bryant Park, south of 42nd Street (behind the New York Public Library) [Frame:...
    • Contributor: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - McCutcheon, Wallace - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1905-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Pennsylvania Tunnel excavation This film employs a 180-degree pan shot of the excavation site of New York's Pennsylvania Station, and includes shots of the narrow-gauge train used to haul debris from the tunnels under construction. Work began in 1904, and when completed in September of 1910 the station would span from 31st to 33rd Streets, and from 7th to 8th Avenue, an area of approximately 300,000 square...
    • Contributor: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Bitzer, G. W. - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1905-01-01
  • Film, Video
    The skyscrapers of New York
    Skyscrapers
    The story involves a construction foreman who fires one of his crew for fighting, which leads the disgruntled employee to steal. He then cause the blame to be put on the foreman, who is finally exonerated when the thief is exposed. All of this conflict is woven in and around the actual construction of the building as the work is in progress. There is...
    • Contributor: Slevin, Jim - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Dobson, F. A. - Gauntier, Gene - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1906-01-01