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• Collection: PH Filing Series Photographs

• Title: Edison kinetoscopic record of a sneeze / taken & copyrighted by W.K.-L. Dickson, Orange, N.J.
• Other Title: Fred Ott's sneeze
• Creator(s): Dickson, W. K.-L. (William Kennedy-Laurie), 1860-1935, photographer
• Date Created/Published: c1894 Jan. 9.
• Medium: 1 photographic print : gelatin printing-out paper print ; 7 x 5 in.
• Summary: Photograph consists of a series of 45 frames for a movie showing a man, Fred Ott, sneezing. This photographic print mounted on card stock is the earliest surviving "motion picture" registered for copyright at the Library of Congress, received on January 9, 1894. Colloquially known as "Fred Ott's Sneeze" for its star (an Edison engineer), the photo represents the dawn of filmmaking in America while remaining something of an historical accident. In 1894 there was no provision in the copyright law for the registration of motion picture film--the format still being in the process of invention and refinement--but, fortunately, the Copyright Office allowed the Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze to be registered as a photograph.
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-85607 (digital file from original, no. 1) LC-USZ62-44602 (b&w film copy neg. of detail of no. 1; does not show text handwritten below the photo)
• Call Number: PH - Dickson (W.), no. 1 (A size) [P&P]
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
• Notes:
  • 44732Y U.S. Copyright Office.
  • The related movie was made for publicity purposes, as a series of still photographs to accompany an article in Harper's weekly. It is 5 seconds long and was filmed ca. January 2-7, 1894, in Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio. A digitized copy is available online through the Library of Congress' American Memory, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/edmp.0026A.
  • Title from item.
  • Library has two copies, see also PH - Dickson (W.), no. 2 (AA size).
  • Published in: Eyes of the nation : a visual history of the United States / Vincent Virga and curators of the Library of Congress ; historical commentary by Alan Brinkley. New York : Knopf, 1997.
  • Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress .... Washington : Library of Congress ..., 1975, no. 172.
  • Exhibited: American Treasures of the Library of Congress.
  • Exhibited: "Capitol Visitor Center" at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011.
• Subjects:
  • Ott, Frederic P.
  • Sneezing--1890-1900.
• Format:
  • Gelatin printing-out paper prints--1890-1900.
  • Motion study photographs--1890-1900.
• Collections:
  • PH Filing Series Photographs
• Bookmark This Record:
     https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95505651/

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• Rights Advisory: See Rights and Restrictions Information Page
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-85607 (digital file from original, no. 1) LC-USZ62-44602 (b&w film copy neg. of detail of no. 1; does not show text handwritten below the photo)
• Call Number: PH - Dickson (W.), no. 1 (A size) [P&P]
• Medium: 1 photographic print : gelatin printing-out paper print ; 7 x 5 in.

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• Call Number: PH - Dickson (W.), no. 1 (A size) [P&P]
• Medium: 1 photographic print : gelatin printing-out paper print ; 7 x 5 in.

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