DESCRIPTION

The Story of the Mitchell & Kenyon Collection

The movies included on this disc were filmed between 1900 and 1913, shown in various venues, and then forgotten. In 1922, Mitchell and Kenyon packed their negatives into barrels and placed them under the floorboards of their Blackburn shop. There they remained until 1994 when they were discovered when the building was being prepared for demolition. A very luck find, since none of the 28 hours of film, over 800 rolls of nitrate negatives, that was discovered had been preserved in any film archive.

These slice-of-life films are fascinating. Portraying everyday events, masses of people walking to work in a factory, children going to school, parades and the like, they show a lifestyle that no longer exists. Since these films were mainly shown at fairs and in music halls, working class forms of entertainment, they focus on workers. This is a segment of society, especially at the time, that was largely ignored. These films are a rare opportunity to see how these people worked and lived.