Collection Items

  • 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
    Sorting refuse at incinerating plant, New York City The subject is a group of about thirty men and boys who are sorting combustible refuse, mostly paper, and stuffing it into large sacks. In the background a man in a hat with an emblem on it can be seen unloading trash from a large wagon.
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Porter, Edwin S.
    • 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
    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
    Fireboat "New Yorker" in action
    Fireboat "New Yorker" in action--excerpts
    A demonstration by the famous fireboat "New Yorker." The picture shows the fireboat with all its nozzles spurting water as it goes back and forth in front of the camera. Put in service on February 1, 1891 as Engine Company 57, the "New Yorker" was stationed at the Battery near Castle Garden, where her crew lived aboard. She was 125 feet long, 25 feet...
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Smith, James Blair
    • 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
    New York City "ghetto" fish market "A fine panoramic view of this busy market on a Friday morning. Immense throngs of people are seen passing along the stands and making their selections of fish. A great character study. 165 feet"--Edison films catalog.
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Smith, James Blair
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    Opening of new East River bridge, New York
    Opening new East River bridge, New York
    The first view is from the roadway of the Williamsburg Bridge on the day of the opening. Close-ups of the parading dignitaries and members of the press are seen. Mayor Seth Low is second from the left in the row of four men in top hats (James B. Reynolds, his personal secretary is on Low's right, and Manhattan Borough president, Jacob Cantor, is on...
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Smith, James Blair
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • 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
    Panorama of Blackwell's Island, N.Y. This film was photographed from a boat heading south along the eastern shore of Blackwell's Island (known today as Roosevelt Island). The island lies in the East River, between Manhattan (which can be seen in the background) and Long Island City, Queens. It is approximately one and three-quarters of a mile long, extending from 51st Street to 88th, and at the time of the...
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Porter, Edwin S.
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • 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
    Sky scrapers of New York City, from the North River Filmed from a moving boat, the film depicts the Hudson River (i.e., North River) shoreline and the piers of lower Manhattan beginning around Fulton Street and extending to Castle Garden and Battery Park. It begins at one of the American Line piers (Pier 14 or 15, opposite Fulton Street) where an American Line steamer, either the "New York" or "Paris," is seen docked [Frame:...
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress) - Smith, James Blair
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • Film, Video
    White Wings on review "A fine picture of the celebrated "White Wings" or street- cleaning department of one district of Greater New York, showing over 350 men in line, and over 100 carts that are used to carry the refuse away to the dumping wharf, marching through the streets of New York. Length 225 feet"--Edison films catalog.
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Smith, James Blair
    • Date: 1903-01-01
  • 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