Early Cinema Gateway
Non-Fiction
- American Memory from the Library of Congress
Incomparable collection of early film clips from the Library of Congress, with substantial supporting information. Includes turn-of-the-century views of New York, the origins of American animation, American variety acts, views from the Spanish-American War, and the most recent addition, the Theodore Roosevelt collection (an accompanying essay, T.R. on Film, credits Charles Urban as the donor of some of these films). - British Pathe
British Pathe are the owners of the newsreel library of Pathe Gazette and Pathe News, a collection which stretches from 1896 to 1970, though the newsreel itself began in 1910. All 3,500 hours of the main Pathe library are now available as free low resolution downloads, thanks to money from the New Opportunities Fund. There are many titles for the pre-1914 period, including some rogue fiction items. It is an unparalleled online resource. The films can also be accessed through the British Universities Newsreel Database and through ITN Source, which manages the British Pathe collection. - Gaumont Pathé Archives
Database of the French Gaumont, Pathé and Éclair newsreels, from 1896, searchable by keyword and date. It has large number of streamed video copies of the newsreels, of excellent quality. Catalogue text in French and English, the latter somewhat quaintly translated. - Haddon Home Page
Named after the pioneering ethnographer A.C. Haddon, whose 1898 expedition to the Torres Straits took a cine camera, this is an "online catalogue of archival ethnographic films and film footage shot during the first half-century of cinema". Many of the films listed come from the BFI's National Film and Television Archive. - ITN Source
ITN hold a number of British newsreels, including the Gaumont Graphic reel which began in 1910, as well as earlier topical material going back to 1896, accessible through an online database which is primarily designed for footage researchers. Since April 2003 the site has included the British Pathe collection as well, with downloadable low resolution copies of the entire British Pathe newsreel library. - Ivo Blom's Home Page
Dutch film archivist's home page, which includes an account written for the Dutch trade paper Der Kinematograaf in 1918 by cameraman Anton Nöggerath Jr of a trip he took to Iceland in 1901, filming for the Warwick Trading Company. Nöggerath, the son of an Amsterdam showman, worked for Urban at Warwick between 1897 and 1904. The site (in English) is in HTML and Flash versions (the latter with surprise sound effects). - IWM Collections
The Imperial War Museum's online catalogue covers its film, sound and documentation records. The film records include its unmatched holdings for First World War film, as wel as some earlier material, such as Boer War footage. - Lumière et le Japon
Accompanying a touring exhibition of films shot in Japan in the 1890s by the Lumière cameramen François-Constant Girel and Gabriel Veyre, this comprises an excellent essay on the first films and filmmaking in Japan by Hiroshi Komatsu, including local production by Katsutaro Inabata, Einosuke Yokota and others, and filmographies. In French, with redundant colour illustrations. - Newsplayer
Commercial site, which for £25 per year, offers access to 10,000 streamed newsfilm clips from 1896 to the present day (using Windows Media Player). Most of the clips cover more recent times, and little thought has gone into the presentation of the material or explaining its provenance, but it is nevertheless a remarkable resource.