George E. Van Guysling (d.1946) Collection, ca. 1850-1957
Finding aid created by Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County staff using
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Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
2015
900 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007-4057
(213) 763-3359
seavercenter@nhm.org.
http://www.nhm.org/site/research-collections/seaver-center
Title: George E. Van Guysling (d.1946) Collection, ca. 1850-1957
Dates: 1855-1957
Collection Number: GC 1340
Creator/Collector:
Extent: (Boxes: 1 legal, 2 letter, 1 ov, 2 ov folders)
Repository:
Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, California 90007-4057
Abstract: Primarily an assortment of documents relating to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company and the British Mutoscope and
Biograph Company. Circa 1850-1957, undated. Bulk is 1898-1926.
Language of Material: English
Research is by appointment only
Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder
George E. Van Guysling (d.1946) Collection, ca. 1850-1957. Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County
Biography/Administrative History
Van Guysling managed the New England office of American Mutoscope and Biograph in 1901. By 1904 he became General Manager
of the New York office. Various sources cite the establishment of a Los Angeles branch in late 1905 or early 1906 whereby
Van Guysling, his brother Archibald, and another associate, Otis M. Gove, ran the West coast operation. Their early film
association in Los Angeles preceded the better-known work of the Selig Company, and the collection contains six photographs
and a handbill for the little-known first moving pictures made in Los Angeles in 1906.
Scope and Content of Collection
Primarily an assortment of documents relating to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company and the British Mutoscope and
Biograph Company. There are items pertaining to incorporation matters for both companies, catalogs, and the related film
industry. There are mutoscope cards and a scrapbook of press clippings, 1898-1900, with photo event coverage including the
Second Boer War in South Africa. There is a continuous 15-foot band for a peep show. Other non-moving picture items in the
collection include Abraham Lincoln prints, a Civil War-era wet collodian negative, Brady negatives and prints, a Millard Fillmore
print (housed in the mc folder) and large-size tintypes. Circa 1850-1957, undated. Bulk is 1898-1926. See also P-26 for
kinetoscope strip images and portraits of Van Guysling, his brother Archibald and Otis M. Gove.
Camera, early photography & moving pictures
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
British Mutoscope and Biograph Company