114 American mutoscope and biograph company Images: LOC's Public Domain Archive Public Domain Search

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Duel scene, "By right of sword"

Opens on a stage with a painted backdrop of a lake surrounded by forest. A bearded man wrapped in a dark cloak and wearing a dark fur shako--apparently the novel's character of Major Devinsky--stands stage left... More

A trip to Berkeley, Cal. / - Public domain portrait print

Shot from a moving streetcar, this film shows portions of north Berkeley and the adjacent University of California campus, circa 1906. The Oakland and Berkeley Rapid Transit Company began operating in 1891 and ... More

Arrival of emigrants [i.e. immigrants], Ellis Island /

Depicts scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island. Appears to show, first, a group of immigrants lined up to board a vessel leaving the island, then another group arriving at the island ... More

Fougère motion picture - movie film screenshot

Opens on a stage with a painted backdrop of what appears to be clouds or rolling waves. From the left of the frame enters Eugenie Fougère, shot in profile but with her face turned toward the camera. She wears ... More

Chimmie Hicks at the races - movie film screenshot

On a bare stage backed by a dark curtain, a man dressed in a three-piece suit and overcoat holds a racing program and excitedly watches a race supposedly taking place offstage. With enthusiastic jumping and oth... More

Parade of floats, St. Louis Exposition /

One of the parades of floating craft held in the waterways of the St. Louis Exposition is shown in this film. The cameraman placed equipment on shore at a distance to include each of the competing craft. Photog... More

Coil winding section E, Westinghouse works /

Rows of women are shown at tables with winding machines. They wind using material from spools behind them, apparently putting the finished products on the table in front of them. Various supervisory staff, male... More

Birth of the pearl - A black and white photo of a woman in a shell

Frame enlargements showing women in tights opening a curtain, an oyster shell with a sleeping woman in a flesh colored body suit, and the woman standing in the shell. Item in: Birth of the pearl / American Muto... More

Interior of Coney Island club house

Photograph shows clubhouse seating and scaffolding with camera equipment and crew for the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. 841 Broadway, N.Y. 74289 U.S. Copyright Office. No. 1. Copyright Nov. 13, 1899 by Ame... More

Jeffries-Sharkey pictures - under the direction of William A. Brady & ...

Early motion picture poster showing scene from the boxing match between James J. Jeffries and Tom Sharkey on November 3, 1899. Caption continues: The greatest motion photographs ever taken by the American Muto... More

Bargain day, 14th Street, New York /

The film shows hundreds of tightly packed people crowding into the front door of the Rothschild Co. 5 and 10 cent store. They are so closely packed it is difficult to tell one from another. The view is from acr... More

Elevated railroad, New York / - movie film screenshot

Taken from the front end of a locomotive following an express train at high speed around the high curves of the Ninth Avenue Elevated, from the 104th to 116th Street station. This section, with its reverse curv... More

Scenes in San Francisco, [no. 2] /

Panoramas filmed in the ruins of downtown San Francisco and outlying refugee camps following the 1906 earthquake and fire. A scene-by-scene description of the film: [Frame: 0102] Begins with a long, pan of down... More

Logging in Maine / motion picture

The subject is the movement of cut timber from the forest to the mill. The few scenes that make up the film are loggers performing the various operations necessary to prevent logs from jamming together. The men... More

The sculptor's nightmare / motion picture

At a political club, the members debate whose bust will replace that of Theodore Roosevelt. Unable to agree, each goes to a sculptor's studio and bribes him to sculpt a bust of the individual favorite. Instead,... More

From show girl to burlesque queen

Frame enlargements showing woman in dressing room, undressing beside a screen. Item in: From show girl to burlesque queen / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. United States : American Mutoscope and Biogr... More

General Wheeler and Secretary Alger /

"This picture was taken in front of Gen. Wheeler's headquarters at Camp Wikoff during Gen. Alger's tour of inspection of the camp. The two distinguished military men are seen overlooking the immense camp ground... More

Wagons loading mail, U.S.P.O. /

"The photographer placed his camera to encompass as much of the loading ramp of a mail delivery building as possible. As the film begins, several horse-drawn postal transportation vehicles are backed up to the ... More

Broadway & Union Square, New York /

A horse-drawn street car with a sign for Broadway pulls away from the camera with a full compliment of passengers. Another approaches the camera position and they pass. The first car stops to pick up and drop o... More

Comedy cake walk - vaudeville film

Five African Americans--three men and two women--perform an exaggerated cakewalk in fancy evening clothes. Two of the men wear formal black tie in tuxedos with tails, while the third wears a gray tux of shiny m... More

Princess Rajah dance - vaudeville film

"An Oriental dance which was one of the features of "Mysterious Asia," a Concession on the Pike, St. Louis Exposition. Length 72 feet"--Kleine Optical Co. catalog. Princess Rajah performs an "Oriental" or belly... More

Funeral of Hiram Cronk / - movie film screenshot

The film shows a city thoroughfare lined with crowds of people watching a military parade. The first group to come into view is a marching band [Frame: 0120], then a large formation of soldiers in the uniform o... More

From show girl to burlesque queen

Skating on lake, Central Park /

The view is of a frozen lake in Central Park crowded with ice skaters. The film is of such poor quality that it is difficult to tell if the apparent "snow" is real or just scratches on the film. H21313 U.S. Cop... More

Cake walk - vaudeville film - movie film screenshot

Five African Americans--three men and two women--perform a cakewalk, a dance featuring fancy strutting that was named after the prize awarded in the original contests. The dancers wear rather formal attire, wit... More

A perilous proceeding / motion picture

The film follows a group of approximately ten men who are suspended on the cable of a large crane atop a building under construction. As the men are lifted over the site and gradually lowered, they wave to the ... More

The chimney sweep and the miller

Opens on a stage with a painted backdrop of a lake and forest. From opposite sides of the stage enter a chimney sweep, covered from head to toe with black soot and carrying a folding broom and black sack, and a... More

Parade of horses on Speedway / - movie film screenshot

The film is of a parade of fine horses and fashionable carriages taken along what is now the Harlem River Drive, in the Highbridge section of northern Manhattan. The view is from the Manhattan side of the river... More

Parade of "exempt" firemen / - movie film screenshot

The film shows a large group of people watching the approach of a color guard followed by a number of elderly marching firemen [Frame: 1734] pulling antique fire equipment [2486]. In the background is the white... More

Arnold Genthe - Scene in Chinatown / motion picture

This film was shot in an alley of San Francisco's Chinatown on Saturday, September 15, 1900, at midday. The topography of the site (sloping down to the far street), the width of the alley, the location of utili... More

Madison Square, New York - movie film screenshot

"Madison Square, New York is shown just after the turn of the century. There is normal traffic consisting of streetcars and horse-drawn vehicles"--Early motion pictures. H33285 U.S. Copyright Office Copyright: ... More

Roosevelt's Rough Riders / motion picture

"A charge full of cowboy enthusiasm by Troop "I," the famous regiment, at Tampa, before its departure for the front"--Biograph picture catalogue. H32832 U.S. Copyright Office Copyright: American Mutoscope & Bio... More

Women of the ghetto bathing / - movie film screenshot

The subject is a group of women and girls in a public swimming pool wearing turn-of the-century bathing attire. Many women and girls are playing in the pool, while others climb out and jump into the pool. The w... More

Rural wagon delivering mail, U.S.P.O. /

"The subject is the delivery of the U.S. mail in a rural area. The camera was positioned in full sight of a standard rural free delivery post box located in front of a well-kept house and garden. A small boy an... More

As in a looking glass - movie film screenshot

Opens on a split stage set of two rooms with a door and wall between them. In the living or dining room on the left of the frame, an elderly, bearded man sits at a table, reading the newspaper. In the bedroom o... More

Asia in America, St. Louis exposition /

"The film begins with a wide shot of an area crowded with people, some riding elephants, others marching in procession in front of a structure with the sign "Asia" on it. The people are wearing various costumes... More

Latina, contortionist - vaudeville film

A woman wearing a light-colored leotard, gathered at the waist, and tights stands against a black background. Although she is filmed in a long shot, her feet are cut off in the frame. She opens with a flourish ... More

Departure of Peary [and the] "Roosevelt" from New York /

The camera pans to show the schooner "Roosevelt" docked at a covered pier on the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side. Then, from a camera position on board, men in straw hats and fashionably dressed ladies ar... More

Excavating for a New York foundation /

The scene is an excavation pit at an unidentified New York City construction site. A crew of six men can be seen shoveling dirt into a four-wheeled wooden cart. Then a full cart is slowly lifted out of the pit ... More

Panorama, Union Square, San Francisco / during American Civil War

This film shows the crowd gathered in San Francisco for the dedication of the Dewey Monument in Union Square, on Thursday, May 14, 1903, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. The Monument, which is still in place, commem... More

Delivering newspapers / motion picture

The film shows a group of about fifty pre-adolescent boys running and crowding around a one-horse paneled newspaper van that pulls up in the foreground of the picture. On the side of the van is a sign reading "... More

From show girl to burlesque queen

Betsy Ross dance - vaudeville film

Opens on a bare stage with a painted backdrop of an interior theater wall and pillar. From screen right, a woman in a short, ruffled dress and sash, tights, and ballet slippers, with long, dark hair worn in cur... More

Panorama of Flatiron Building /

This shows a view looking south from Madison Square, across the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-third Street, to New York's famous skyscraper, the Fuller (or "Flatiron") Building, with a pano... More

Hyde Park School, room 2 / - movie film screenshot

Four rows of pre-adolescent children, both boys and girls, are standing in front of a blackboard on which the words "Kansas City, Missouri" can be seen. Each boy and girl has a pair of Indian clubs and for the ... More

Auto boat race on the Hudson / - movie film screenshot

"The new-fangled high-speed launches which are now the fad of sporting millionaires make an admirable subject for the moving picture camera, and this film shows the best of them in a race for the American champ... More

Basket ball, Missouri Valley College /

"The subject is a basketball game played between teams of girls. The film shows a section of a basketball court in the foreground, the backboard, and the basket. In the background is a three-story brick schoolb... More

Birth of the pearl - movie film screenshot

71st Regiment, Camp Wyckoff / - movie film screenshot

"Of the thousand and more men who left New York for the Cuban Campaign, scarcely three hundred were able to shoulder their rifles to march before the Biograph camera at Camp Wikoff. The picture shows many of th... More

A wake in "Hell's Kitchen" - movie film screenshot

Takes place on a rather plain room set, with a single religious picture and a coat hanging from the plain, white walls. An open coffin sits in the center of the room, with its lid leaning against the back wall.... More

An historic feat / motion picture

"Gen. Franklin Bell's famous mule pack train swimming the Agno River in Northern Luzon. This is one of the most notable incidents of the Philippine War. The picture has made a decided sensation wherever it has ... More

Boys diving, Honolulu / motion picture

A large group of small boys stand on a pier, sillhouetted against the sky. In the distance, six large clipper ships can be seen at anchor. The boys jump and dive into the water, apparently to retrieve coins tha... More

Buffalo Bill's wild west parade /

The film shows a parade down Fifth Avenue, New York. In the foreground many children, both black and white, can be seen following alongside the parade. The participants in the parade include cowboys, Indians, a... More

Panorama of beach and Cliff House /

This film is an afternoon panorama of weekend crowds at the north end of Ocean Beach, the western shore of San Francisco near the famed Cliff House. The film postdates the nearby Dutch Windmill (1902) and preda... More

Birth of the pearl - movie film screenshot

Karina motion picture - movie film screenshot

On a bare stage with a black background stands a woman with short, curly hair, wearing a dark dress with a sleeveless top, low-cut bodice, mid-calf length skirt, and layers of petticoats. Smiling at the camera,... More

The dandy Fifth / motion picture

"Taken during the land parade in honor of Admiral Dewey, just before the turn into 72nd Street, with Grant's tomb and decorated residences in the background. This entire series of pictures [of the Dewey land pa... More

Brook trout fishing / motion picture

The camera shows a small waterfall and a stream. Across the stream on the bank is a man with a fishing pole in one hand and a retrieving net in the other. During the course of the film, he makes the normal move... More

Ameta - vaudeville film motion picture

Two large squares of white fabric completely cover a woman standing on a stage with a paneled wall as a backdrop. The fabric is supported in front and back of her by some sort of flexible poles along the top ed... More

Pres. Roosevelt's Fourth of July oration /

President Theodore Roosevelt eats and then speaks to a crowd who have gathered to hear him. From another camera position, the crowd bids him farewell as Roosevelt and his party enter a horse-drawn carriage and ... More

High school field exercises, Missouri Commission /

The cameraman placed his equipment on the side of an athletic field adjacent to a high school. During the course of the film, teen-age boys exhibit their skill at high jumping, pole vaulting, shot putting, disc... More

Peace envoys at Portsmouth, N.H. /

The Japanese and Russian peace envoys arrive and depart in automobiles, horse-drawn vehicles, or steam yachts, with arbitration groups from the United States. Neutral areas are designated for the conference, th... More

Launch, U.S. battleship "Kentucky"

View from the James River of the launching of the battleship Kentucky at Newport News, Va. Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, the Kentucky is launched shortly after the U.S. battleship... More

Jamestown Exposition, 1907 - movie film screenshot

Scenes of Theodore Roosevelt at the Jamestown Exposition in Norfolk, Virginia, in April and June, 1907, participating in Jamestown's tercentennial celebration on April 26, its opening day, and later on Georgia ... More

A Tough dance - vaudeville film

From either side of a white, apparently outdoors, setting enter a man and woman, both wearing ragged street clothes and caps. As they approach center stage, the man grabs the woman's arm and pulls her to him, t... More

Alphonse and Gaston, no. 3 - movie film screenshot

Opens on a set of a saloon or tavern with a long bar and pictures on the wall that include boxers, a ballerina, and a reclining female. At the end of the bar stands the bartender, reading a newspaper. Two men d... More

The lost child - movie film screenshot

A woman brings a small boy into the backyard of a house in the suburbs. She puts him on the ground to play and returns later to find him missing. Unaware that the baby has crawled into the dog house, she admoni... More

Fights of nations motion picture

"Mexico and Spain": a man dressed as a Mexican peasant spies on a happy young woman and her Spanish suitor. The jealous peasant rises from his hiding place to stab his rival, but the woman grabs his arm and sto... More

The serenaders motion picture - movie film screenshot

Opens on a stage set of a two-story brick building. Two street serenaders in rather shabby clothes stand outside the building, one playing a trombone and the other what appears to be a clarinet. A young woman a... More

Foxy Grandpa and Polly in a little hilarity

Opens on a stage with a stone fence and a painted backdrop of a forest or garden. Husband and wife team of Hart and DeMar as cartoon characters Foxy Grandpa and Polly enter hand-in-hand from behind the fence. G... More

Loading sugar cane / motion picture

"The short length of this films leaves much to be desired to give proper description. However, it is possible to see a large receiving car in a cane brake where several people are visible chopping cane and carr... More

Cleveland fire department / motion picture

The subject is the activities of a fire department that can be seen coming out of the fire engine house located across the street from the camera position. The action must have been a drill or rehearsal as the ... More

A ballroom tragedy motion picture

Opens on a set of a sitting room, apparently off a ballroom where dancers occasionally can be glimpsed through a curtained entrance stage right. Near the entrance, a young couple in formal attire talk--perhaps ... More

San Francisco disaster / motion picture

This film shows the partial burning of a small-scale model of downtown San Francisco in an early attempt at simulating the 1906 disaster. The model is seen in aerial view from above the South-of-Market district... More

McKinley and party / motion picture

"This picture has been very popular wherever it has been shown on the Biograph. To begin with, the film is unusually fine photographically, and the picture is taken from a point of view which shows the immense ... More

Latina, dislocation act - vaudeville film

Opens with a repeat of the last scene in "Latina, contortionist." In a medium shot from the bust up, Latina faces the camera and interlaces her fingers with her arms held out in front of her, palms towards the ... More

The skyscrapers of New York / - movie film screenshot

The story involves a construction foreman who fires one of his crew for fighting, which leads the disgruntled employee to steal. He then cause the blame to be put on the foreman, who is finally exonerated when... More

Wounded soldiers embarking in row boats /

"This picture was taken after the Battle of Las Guaymas [i.e., Las Guásimas], and shows a large number of wounded soldiers embarking in a rowboat from an extemporized dock, on their way to the hospital ship "O... More

25th Infantry / motion picture -

"Gen. Frederick D. Grant and Gen. A.S. Burt [commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment] returning from Mt. Ariat [sic], at the head of the famous 25th Infantry, colored"--Biograph picture catalogue. H17963 U.S. C... More

Panorama from the tower of Brooklyn Bridge /

The view was taken from the tower on the Brooklyn side of the bridge. As the film begins, the camera is looking southwest, towards the southern tip of Manhattan (the Battery). The camera pans very rapidly north... More

Bass fishing / motion picture - movie film screenshot

"Virginia. Taken for the U.S. Fisheries Commission to illustrate the benefits of stocking inland waters. A well-known fisherman, Mr. Henry Talbot, is seen casting in a picturesque pool for bass. He gets a strik... More

2 A. M. in the subway - movie film screenshot

Opens on a set of a subway platform, with two tracks on either side and stairs leading up to the exit. A policeman stretches wearily and sits on a box, as a uniformed conductor awaits a train. A subway car arri... More

Expert bag punching motion picture

A man stands on a stage with a painted backdrop of a forest, as if performing a vaudeville act. To the right of the frame is a sign on an easel identifying him as "Gus Keller, Novelty Bag Puncher, New Polo A.A.... More

A frontier flirtation motion picture

Opens on a stage with a painted backdrop of a forest or garden. On a park bench center stage sits a well-dressed woman with a dark veil obscuring her face, holding an open parasol overhead and a closed fan in h... More

Happy Hooligan motion picture - movie film screenshot

Opens on a stage set of a house exterior, complete with a door, window, and ivy on the walls. In front of the house, an organ-grinder plays as Happy Hooligan listens and claps along merrily. The Hooligan charac... More

The society Raffles motion picture

Opens on a set of a nicely-decorated living room, with a door stage left and a settee in front of an open window in the foreground. A middle-aged man with greying hair and a mustache, wearing formal evening clo... More

Governor Roosevelt and staff / - movie film screenshot

From the Biograph picture catalogue: 65 feet. Taken during the land parade in honor of Admiral Dewey, just before the turn into 72nd Street, with Grant's tomb and decorated residences in the background. This en... More

"Teutonic" and "Nördland" - Public domain image of steamship

The "Nordland," and "Teutonic," two well-known transatlantic steamers proceeding out of New York Harbor at full speed, bound for their trip across the Atlantic ocean. The dash of the water about their bows is s... More

The President's carriage / motion picture

This film shows President Roosevelt in San Francisco, passing in the arrival parade on Market Street on Tuesday, May 12, 1903. The camera view is from the north side of Market Street, just east of Grant Avenue.... More

Excavation for subway motion picture

"The film was photographed from a single camera position, elevated to make possible a good view of the excavation of what appears to be a large tunnel. There are cranes, horse-drawn vehicles, as well as electri... More

Parke Davis' employees / motion picture

Photographed from a single-camera position, this film encompasses a scene of a large number of people either walking or riding bicycles as they leave what appears to be a factory. The title indicates they are e... More

A nymph of the waves - movie film screenshot

"This is a double-printing picture combining a view of Mlle. Cathrina Bartho in her celebrated "Speedway" dance, with one of the Whirlpool Rapids of Niagara Falls, the resulting effect being that the dancer app... More

"Reliance" vs. "Shamrock III", Aug. 20

"The camera was approximately 550 yards from the race course track line. The first action is the bowsprit of the leading contender entering the picture. The remainder of the film includes a full photograph of t... More

Lower Broadway / motion picture

The film shows a view which appears to be looking north on Broadway at the intersection of Wall Street, in front of Trinity Church. The sidewalk along Broadway is crowded with people, and the traffic in both st... More

Levi & Cohen, the Irish comedians

Opens on a vaudeville or variety stage with a flat painted curtain of a stone fence and garden. On the right side of the stage sits a sign that reads "Zuzu Daffy, Singing Soubret." A boy in an usher's uniform c... More

Living pictures - movie film screenshot

Four previously released films, posed by artists and representing well-known works of art. Each film, comprised of two "living pictures" is shown as it would have appeared live in vaudeville theaters of the ti... More

Scenes in San Francisco, [no. 1] /

Views and pans among the ruins of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire. A scene-by-scene description of the film: [Frame: 0100] The camera, positioned at the southwest corner of Mission and 5th streets, ... More

Adventures of Dollie - movie film screenshot

After an altercation with her father, a vengeful gypsy kidnaps little Dollie from her family's yard. She is placed in a barrel which travels down a stream and over a waterfall. As her father searches frantical... More

"Grandrepublic" passing "Columbia" motion picture

As the film begins, America's Cup defender, Columbia can be seen. From camera right comes a large sidewheel propelled passenger excursion boat, completely obscuring the Columbia; but, as the film ends, the Colu... More

From show girl to burlesque queen

Opens on a dressing room set with a mirror, dressing table, and chair center stage and a folded dressing screen on the left. A smiling, dark-haired woman enters through the door on stage right, unbuttoning a fu... More

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