Every Filmmaker owes a debt of gratitude to the people in “The Industry” who have come before them. Every creative or technical decision you make on your film, TV show, webisode, short film or documentary has probably been made a multitude of times in the past. The “Bolt of Lightning” idea that struck you in the middle of the night has most assuredly been thought of and implemented during the last 100+ years of Filmmaking.

We stand on the shoulders of giants and I take every chance I can to learn more about the history of filmmaking. The Media History Digital Library has just launched their search platform Lantern which contains 800,000+ pages of digitized texts from publications of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound. Brew some coffee and timewarp into the past to learn more about every aspect of Filmmaking than you could possibly imagine!

Lantern – The search engine for 800,00+ pages of Filmmaking history

The Lantern search engine is broken down into specific categories including:

1. Hollywood Studio System
2. Broadcasting
3. Early Cinema
4. Fan Magazines
5. Non-Theatrical Film
6. Technical Journals
7. Year Books
8. Global Cinema
9. Recorded Sound

 

Imagine reading an American Cinematographer (1942) Gregg Toland interview

American Cinematographer 1942 – Gregg Toland

 

or The Cine – Technician (1935) when Alfred Hitchcock had black hair!

Journal of the Association of Cine – Technicians

 

This is a non-profit initiative dedicated to digitizing collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan them for scanning and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning.

My profound thanks to the Media History Digital Library and The University of Wisconsin – Madison (Department of Communications Art) for providing everyone this most spectacular and ever-growing collection.

Please share this resources with everyone who appreciates Film History and prepare yourself for endless hours of enjoyment!

Lantern

Until next time…


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