Edison kinetoscopic record of a sneeze / taken & copyrighted by W.K.-L. Dickson, Orange, N.J.

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.