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Music for Silent Film: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

Moving Image Research Center

In addition to actual film reels, the Moving Image Research Center holds a number of paper and manuscript items related to silent film. These materials include continuities, scripts, tie-in-books, scrapbooks, press releases, newsreel summaries, publicity notebooks, press books, lobby cards, theater programs, production notes, and much more.

By far the largest collection of materials is the Inventory to Archival Boxes collection.

For more information on using the resources in the Moving Image Research Center, consult their own research guide or contact them through Ask A Librarian.

About the Moving Image Research Center

The Library of Congress began collecting motion pictures in 1893 when Thomas Edison and his brilliant assistant W.K.L. Dickson deposited the Edison Kinetoscopic Records for copyright. However, because of the difficulty of safely storing the flammable nitrate film used at the time, the Library retained only the descriptive material relating to motion pictures. In 1942, recognizing the importance of motion pictures and the need to preserve them as a historical record, the Library began the collection of the films themselves; from 1949 on these included films made for television. Today the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS) is responsible for the acquisition, cataloging and preservation of the Library's motion picture and television collections.