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Smith (Albert E.) Papers
LSC.2004  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • 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

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9929769273606533 

    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.