Photographs, 1895 - 1949
Scope and contents note
Terry Ramsaye (1885 - 1954), former editor of the Motion Picture Herald and author of A Million and One Nights, an early history of the motion picture industry, was a prolific writer and respected film historian. His papers, comprising 5 boxes (6.75 linear feet), are arranged in six series: a Dope File Series, Individual Series, Subject Series, Manuscripts Series, Photographic Series, and Personal Series.
Items of interest indexed in Terry Ramsaye's papers are a TLS by Wm. Kennedy Laurie Dickson, 1 TLS by George Eastman, 2 TLS by Thomas Edison, and TLS by Frank Dyer, Edison's attorney, and Wm. Meadowcraft, Edison's assistant. Terry Ramsaye's papers are, of course, of great value to those interested in the early history of the motion picture. But they are also fascinating to those who wish to explore how history is written. They represent a painstaking compilation of information which Terry Ramsaye collected to write A Million and One Nights and continued to collect until his death in 1954. His correspondence with Thomas Armat, Billy Bitzer, members of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, and others presents a picture of a man continuously struggling and researching in order to "get the facts straight" and end the myths which were continuously reappearing about early motion picture history and who invented what when. Researchers interested in Terry Ramsaye may also wish to look at Georgetown University's Martin Quigley Collection or copy of A Million and One Nights or Harvard University's collection in the Baker Library which Ramsaye mentions in his correspondence with the Harvard Business Historical Society.
Dates
- 1895 - 1949
Conditions Governing Access
Most manuscripts collections at the Georgetown University Booth Family Center for Special Collections are open to researchers; however, restrictions may apply to some collections. Collections stored off site require a minimum of three days for retrieval. For use of all manuscripts collections, researchers are advised to contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections in advance of any visit.
Extent
From the Collection: 5.65 Linear Feet (4 boxes and 1 oversized folder)
Language of Materials
English
Container Summary
The Photographic Series contains film clippings of some of the earliest film footage ever produced, such as Little Egypt (1895), the Webster Kiss (1896), and the Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight at Carson City, Nevada (March 17, 1897). It also includes photos of some of the early inventors and entrepreneurs in the motion picture industry, such as Thomas Edison, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, Herman Casler, E.B. Koopman, Eugene Lause, William Rock, Walter Wainwright, and John P. Harris. Some of the most interesting photos are contact prints of scenes from "Sweet Nell of Old Drury" (1900), a "Biograph Positive" of a view of Niagara Falls taken by Wm. Kennedy Laurie Dickson in 1896, a negative of the Prince of Wales taken by Joseph mason in 1901, and photos which are reproduced in A Million and One Nights such as the may Irwin-John C. Rise Kiss, the first screen kiss (1896). The Photographic Series is unique in its collection of photos and negatives of scenes, inventions, and people (including Terry Ramsaye himself) which spans the first half-century of motion pictures.
Creator
- From the Collection: Ramsaye, Terry, 1885-1954 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository
Lauinger Library, 5th Floor
37th and O Streets, N.W.
Washington DC 20057
speccoll@georgetown.edu