How the Movies
Got a Past
A Historiography of American Cinema,
1894–​1930
Dimitrios Latsis
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART I : HISTORIOGRAPH Y
1. A Vivisection: Writing the History of an Emergent Medium
19
2. The First Canonical Histories: Ramsaye, Rotha, and Beyond
73
3. Finding Its Voice?: Sound and the (Re-​)writing of Film History
104
PART I I : ME TA- H
​ ISTORY
4. Through a Glass Darkly: Early Nonfiction Films about the
History of Cinema
137
5. Programming the Classics: Revivals, the Little Theater
Movement, and the Emergence of a Canon
166
6. The Future-​Past of Moving Images: Toward a Prehistory
of Film Archiving
183
7. Exhibitions and Museums: The Past of Cinema on Display
204
8. Invented Traditions: Commemorations and Anniversaries
225
9. Learning and Earning: Film History Enters the
University Curriculum
251
Conclusion
Appendix: Silent Nonfiction Films Related to the History of Cinema Notes Bibliography Index 275
281
283
375
385