Search Films, Videos

  • Film, Video
    Special delivery messenger, U.S.P.O.
    Title from Biograph production log: Special delivery messenger delivering letter | Special delivery messenger delivering letter
    "As the scene opens, the front of a house, the shrubbery, a staircase, and the sidewalk are visible. From camera left, using a flying dismount, comes a bicycle rider in the uniform of a special delivery messenger. After parking his bicyle, he goes up the stairs to the front door of the house. A woman emerges, he hands her a letter, returns to his...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Coach at rural post office, U.S.P.O.
    Title from Biograph production log: Coach exchanging mail at rural P.O. | Coach exchanging mail at rural P.O.
    This section of the postal film is concerned with a stagecoach pulled by four horses arriving and delivering a pouch of mail to a rural post office for rerouting. Also visible is the post office delivery wagon.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Babies rolling eggs
    Egg rolling at the White House
    "Some small children in winter clothing face the camera in a semicircle. They throw what appear to be eggs down the incline toward the camera position. From left and right of the camera, a great number of young boys scramble for the eggs. Many close-ups and mass photographs of the activities are then shown"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1902
  • Film, Video
    Tossing eggs
    Egg rolling at the White House
    Depicts a great crowd of men, women and children, from every walk of life, playing and scrambling together on the lawn of the White House on the occasion of the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
    • Contributor: Thomas A. Edison, Inc - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1902
  • Film, Video
    Carriers leaving building, U.S.P.O. [Version 2]
    Carriers leaving building, United States Post Office
    Male letter carriers of the U.S. Post Office are the subject of this series on the Postal Department. The camera was placed to show a large number of uniformed mail carriers as they leave the main post office to deliver letters. They can be seen walking down the steps of the building toward the camera position. Some mount bicycles and ride away, while others...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Carriers leaving building, U.S.P.O. [Version 1]
    Carriers leaving building, United States Post Office
    The opening scene shows the steps of a large public building. Above the steps is a door out of which, coming toward the camera position, are approximately a hundred and fifty mail carriers of the postal service. They are in uniform and are all carrying mail bags. They continue down the steps in formation for the full length 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
  • Film, Video
    Clerks casing mail for bags, U.S.P.O. "The subject is an operation of mail handling called "casing." The camera was placed so that two men can be seen demonstrating the method. The demonstrators, with stacks of letters in their hands, place them in one of many apertures built into a cabinet or "case"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Throwing mail into bags, U.S.P.O.
    Title from Biograph production log: Throwing mail into bags for destination | Throwing mail into bags for destination
    "This film concerns the separation of mail parcels before distribution. A semicircular rack of mail bags, each tagged with a different location, is placed on a set of the interior of a postal building. Two postal employees throw packages of envelopes brought to them by another employee into the marked mail bags"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Clerks tying bags, U.S.P.O.
    Title from Biograph photo catalogue no. 5: Clerks tying up bags, U.S. Post Office Dept | Clerks tying up bags, U.S. Post Office Dept
    "Two employees of the Post Office Department are removing stacks of letters from the aperatures in the "case" or cabinet and tying them into bundles. They then throw the tied envelopes into the appropriate sacks"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Routing mail, U.S.P.O.
    Title in Biograph production logs: Routing mail for delivery by carrier | Routing mail, United States Post Office | Routing mail for delivery by carrier
    "A man dressed in the attire of a U.S. mail carrier is standing in front of a backdrop painted to represent a projected dimensional schematic of the interior of a post office. The mail carrier is holding a stack of envelopes in his left hand, while with his right hand, he is placing the letters in the pigeonholes of a case especially constructed for...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Old mail coach at ford, U.S.P.O.
    Old mail coach at ford, United States Post Office | Title from Biograph production logs: Old mail coach making ford | Old mail coach making ford
    "The film begins by showing a river approximately fifty yards wide. The opposite bank from the camera position is wooded. Shortly after the beginning of the film, four horses, drawing a standard passenger-and-mail coach, head for the camera position. The horse-drawn vehicle proceeds into the water, crosses the river, and passes the camera"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Collecting mail, U.S.P.O. "The subject is the movement of mail by the U.S. postal service. As the film begins, two types of mail boxes on a pole on the corner of a street can be seen. In the background, away from the camera position, are people going by on foot, as well as horse-drawn and electric streetcar transportation. At the end of the film, a man wearing...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Cancelling machine, U.S.P.O.
    Cancelling machine, United States Post Office
    "The camera that photographed this film, built around the operation of cancelling mail, was placed high enough to include not only the machine and its operation but also the man who was making it work. During the film, a large number of envelopes are worked through the machine by an operator"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Wagons loading mail, U.S.P.O.
    Wagons loading mail, United States Post Office
    "The photographer placed his camera to encompass as much of the loading ramp of a mail delivery building as possible. As the film begins, several horse-drawn postal transportation vehicles are backed up to the ramp. At the end of the film, a postal delivery wagon pulled by one horse enters the scene and is backed against the ramp"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Loading mail car, U.S.P.O.
    Loading mail car, United States Post Office
    "This film, part of series on the various activities of the Post Office, starts with a scene of a large railroad mail car on a siding. A horse-drawn, four-wheeled vehicle with a sign "U.S. Mail" on the side proceeds away from the camera toward the mail car. The vehicle stops, the driver gets out, and, as the film ends, he is seen unloading the...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Tying up bags for train, U.S.P.O.
    Variant title: Tying up bags for train, United States Post Office | Tying up bags for train, United States Post Office
    "The camera shows the action of two postal employees as they remove mail sacks from the semicircular rack where they are placed so they can be filled with mail for their respective locations. The two postal employees stack the mail sacks on a cart in preparation for dispatch elsewhere"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Post man delivering mail, U.S.P.O. "This film shows the delivery of the U.S. mail, in a rural area. A two-horse vehicle, with a sign reading "U.S. Mail," appears on the scene. The postal employee gets out of the vehicle and places mail in a standard metal mail box. A woman comes out of her house and removes the mail from the mail box, then buys stamps from the mail...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Clerks tying up for bags, U.S.P.O.
    Clerks tying up for bags, United States Post Office
    "The film shows two postal employees as they tie into bundles stacks of letters they have just removed from a destination "case""--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Carriers at work, U.S.P.O.
    Title in Biograph production log: Carrier dumping, cancelling, sorting and tying, throwing mail into bags for destination | Variant title in Biograph production log: Carrier dumping, cancelling & sorting, U. S. P. O. Dept | Variant title from AFI catalog online: Carriers at work, U. S. P. O. | Carrier dumping, cancelling, sorting and tying, throwing mail into bags for destination | Carrier dumping, cancelling & sorting, U. S. P. O. Dept | Carriers at work, U. S. P. O.
    "The subject is the handling and sorting of the U.S. mail. The sorting bags and the alphabetizing pigeonhole equipment are visible in a scene photographed from an altitude of approximately twenty-five feet. The placement of the equipment and its use by the post office personnel can be seen"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress) - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Street mail car, U.S.P.O.
    Street mail car, United States Post Office | Title in Biograph production log: Street mail car and mail wagon | Street mail car and mail wagon
    "The first scene appears to have been taken on a main thoroughfare of large city. In the immediate foreground is a horse-drawn U.S. mail vehicle waiting at the side of a streetcar track. Soon a streetcar approaches the camera position. It stops beside the mail vehicle and the driver unloads mail sacks from the streetcar. He then puts some sacks from his wagon onto...
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903
  • Film, Video
    Transporting Internal Rev. stamps, U.S.P.O.
    Title from Biograph production log: Internal Revenue stamp from Treas. Dept | Transporting Internal Revenue stamps, U.S.P.O. | Transporting Internal Rev. stamps, United States Post Office | Internal Revenue stamp from Treas. Dept
    "The film shows a two-horse postal delivery wagon backed against a ramp, where two men are unloading the contents of the wagon into a delivery chute"--Early motion pictures.
    • Contributor: Weed, A. E. - American Mutoscope and Biograph Company - Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
    • Date: 1903