Conditions Governing Access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Albert E. Smith papers
Creator:
Smith, Albert E.
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2004
Physical Description:
18 Linear Feet
(15 boxes, 6 oversize boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1897-1933
Abstract: Albert E. Smith (1875-1958) co-founded the Vitagraph Company of America as the Reader, Smith, and Blackton Combination in
1894. He invented the Vitagraph, one of the first successful motion picture projectors, in 1896. The collection consists of
correspondence, scrapbooks, albums, photographs, auditor's reports, and trade agreements pertaining to the business of the
Vitagraph Company of America, of which Smith was co-founder.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains processed audiovisual materials. All requests to access digital materials
must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Albert E. Smith papers (Collection 2004). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lucile Smith, 1959.
Processing Information
Processed by Manuscripts Division staff, 1997.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they
could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special
Collections.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Smith was born in 1875 in Faversham, England; co-founded the Vitagraph Company of America as the Reader, Smith, and Blackton
Combination in 1894; Vitagraph producer, writer, and executive with actor and director J. Stuart Blackton until sale of the
company to Warner Brothers in 1925; invented the Vitagraph, one of the first successful motion picture projectors, in 1896;
had a wife, Lucile, and 6 children; died August 1, 1958 in Los Angeles.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, albums, photographs, auditor's reports, and trade agreements pertaining
to the business of the Vitagraph Company of America, of which Smith was co-founder. Runs of ephemeral publications, Vitagraph
releases (1916-1920) and six bound volumes of the
Vitagraph Bulletin (1906-1916) complete the Vitagraph documentation. There are 17 reels of audiotapes recorded by Smith on the subject of motion
picture history, as well as a copy of his autobiography.
Organization and Arrangement
Collection arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Motion picture industry -- History -- Archives.
Motion picture producers and directors -- United States -- Archives.
Scrapbooks.
Photographs.
Audiotapes.
Blackton, James Stuart
Smith, Albert E.--Archives.
Vitagraph Company of America--Archives.
Vitagraph Company of America.