Movies: Thomas A. Edison

A beautiful panoramic view of lower New York from Barclay Street to Battery Park, showing a beautiful stereoscopic effect of the sky-scrapers in the business section of the city....

This film records the arrival of the Governor General of Canada, the Earl of Minto, accompanied by the Countess of Minto and their household, as they cross the river in ice canoes. Upon reaching the Quebec side, the canoes encounter a wide ledge of i...

A great feature of the Pan-American Exposition, as unanimously conceded by all visitors, was the electric illumination of the Exposition grounds at night. After a great deal of experimenting and patience, we succeeded in securing an excellent picture...

The Birth of the Telephone (1914) is a Kinetophone short produced by Edison, featuring Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, discussing his role in the development of the telephone. Recorded at Edison’s Bronx studio, the film is presu...

Nursery Favourites (1913) is an Edison Kinetophone short featuring performers miming to a pre-recorded nursery song, synchronized with a commercial phonograph record. It stands as an early example of Edison’s experiments with sound-film technology....

The Edison Quartet perform songs as blacksmiths. This was one of 200 projects produced using the Edison Kinetophone system. The Kinetophone was a fairly complex mechanical means of creating talking pictures. Unlike previous systems, in which actors w...

Late 1800s cigarette advertisement produced by Thomas Edison Manufacturing....

A six-part documentary recording the 74-year-old Edison's collaborations with his staff, conversations with industrial leaders, and supervision of the factory's production line. The majority of the film (parts 3, 4, and 5) chronicles Edison's trip to...

The only known moving-image footage of the author, filmed at his home, Stormfield, in Redding, Connecticut. The silent short shows Twain walking about his estate, relaxing indoors with his daughters Clara and Jean. No known voice recording survives. ...

A short film in which the members of the Motion Pictures Patents Company (which had been founded only a year earlier) congratulate Thomas Edison himself on receiving a new patent....

An excellent view of 'The Finest,' on their annual parade and inspection, June 1, 1899. The head of the column is just turning into 14th street from Broadway, the Morton House forming part of the background. Crowds line both sides of the cable car tr...

East Side Drive, No. 1 (1896) is a brief, silent actual-city documentary directed by James H. White for Edison. Filmed on New York City’s East Side during high society’s “driving hour,” it captures elegant, horse-drawn carriages gliding through the s...

Civil War drama of a Confederate spy who is captured by Union soldiers....

Footage of the 1903 football game between the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan, showing uniformed players in action along with views of the spectators in the stadium and surrounding stands. A rare early motion-picture record of Am...

This short captures the thrill of winter sport in Canada, showing skiers racing downhill at high speed before leaping over a snow-built hurdle. Most of the jumpers tumble into a heap at the bottom, adding humor to the action. Although Thomas Edison h...

A satirical short produced to highlight the unreasonable extremes of local film censorship—a film so heavily censored that only the title cards remain!...

On February 17, 1913, after many years of R+D, Thomas Alva Edison introduced the Edison Kinetophone to an enthusiastic New York audience. The Kinetophone was a fairly complex mechanical means of creating talking pictures. Unlike previous systems, in ...

The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898) presents scenes from the famed Bavarian passion play, dramatizing the final days of Jesus Christ—from his entry into Jerusalem to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Filmed by the Edison Company, it offered late-...