FilmHistory,Volume7, pp. 322-324, 1995.
CopyrightO JohnLibbey&Company
A new source
history
BoleslasMatuszewski
Paris,March25, 1898
Sir,
Allowme to call yourattentionto a project,an
outlineof which follows,which is ready to be
executedand inwhichIhope to interestyou. It
is a questionof giving a location of general
interestto a collectionof cinematographicdo-
cuments,collected undervery particularcir-
cumstances, which have been most
favourably received in the select circles in
whichI had the opportunityto show them.
I would be very grateful if you would com-
municateto me, throughyour newspaper or
otherwise,any criticismsor new suggestions
thatthisprojectmightsuggestto you, and Iam
at yourdisposalwithany supplementaryinfor-
mationthatyou may desire.
B.M.
Placeof animated photographyamong the
sources of history
It is wrongto believe thatall the variouskinds
of illustrateddocumentsthatcome to the aid
of Historyhave a place in Museumsand Li-
braries. Next to prints,medals, figuredpot-
tery,sculpture,etc., etc., which are collected and
classified, photography, for example, does not
have a special department.Truly,the documents
furnishedby photographyare only rarelyof note-
worthyhistoricalinterest,and above all thereare
too manyof them!Someday,however,portraitsof
men who have had a markedinfluenceon their
timeswill be classed by series. Butthiswill be only
a backwardmove, because fromthis point it is a
questionof moving even furtherin this direction;
ISSN:0892-2160. PrintedinGreatBritain
of
and, in official spheres, the idea has been wel-
comed to create in Parisa CinematographicMu-
seumor Depository.
Thiscollection, of necessity restrictedin the
beginning, will expand more and more, in the
measurethatcinematographicphotographers'cu-
riositymoves frommerelyentertainingor whimsi-
cal scenes to actions and spectacles of a
documentaryinterest,and fromhumorousslices of
lifeto slices of publicand nationallife. Fromsimple
pastime,animatedphotographywill thusbecome
an agreeable method for studying the past; or
rather,since it will give a directview of the past, it
will eliminate,at least on certain pointsof some
importance, the necessity of investigation and
study.
Moreover, animated photography could
become a singularlyefficaciousteaching process.
How many lines of vague descriptionin books in-
tended for young people will be rendered un-
necessary,theday we unrollin frontof a classroom
in a precise, movingpicturethe moreor less agi-
tated aspect of a deliberativeassembly;the meet-
ing of Heads of Stateabout to ratifyan alliance;a
departure of troops or squadrons; or even the
changing, mobile physiognomyof the city! But
necessarilya good deal of time mustpass before
we can have recourseto thisresourceforteaching
History.Inorderto unfoldgraphic,externalhistory
beforethe eyes of thosewho did notwitnessit, it is
necessaryfirstto store it.
One difficultymight briefly give us pause:
namely, that a historicalevent does not always
appear where one expects it. Itis farfromthecase
thatHistoryis composedsolelyof scheduledsolem-
nities,organized in advance and readyto pose in
frontof the lenses. Itis the beginnings,initialmove-
ments,unattendedfacts thatavoid captureby the
A new source of history323
history
photographiccamera ... just as they escape in-
quiry.
Withoutdoubthistoricaleffectsare alwaysea-
sier to seize than causes. Butthe two shed light
upon each other; these effects brought into the
broad daylightof cinematographywill cast bright
flashesof lightuponcauses lying in theirshadow.
And to secure not all there is, but all that can be
secured, is alreadyan excellentresultforany type
of inquiry,scientific or historical. Even oral ac-
countsand writtendocumentsdo not deliverto us
all the class of factsto whichtheycorrespond,and
neverthelessHistoryexists,trueafterall in itsbroad
outlines,even if its detailsare distorted.And then,
thecinematographicphotographeris indiscreetby
profession;always lying in wait, his instinctvery
oftenenables himto divinewherethose eventswill
pass thatwillbecome historicalcauses. Itis necess-
ary moreoftento check hisexcesses of zeal thanto
deplore his timidity!Sometimesthe naturalcurios-
ityof the humanspirit,sometimesthe lureof profit,
oftenthetwo sentimentscombinedmakehiminven-
tive and daring. Authorizedin somewhatofficial
circumstances,he willcontriveto slipunauthorized
into others,and mostoften will know how to find
the occasions and places where the historyof to-
morrow is unfolding.A popular movement,the
startof a riotdoes notscare him,and even in a war
one can well imagine him aiming his lens in the
same way a soldierdoes his gun, and seizing at
leasta piece of the battle.Everywherea rayof light
gleams, the photographergoes as well ... If,forthe
FirstEmpireand the Revolution,for example, we
only had reproductionsof scenes that animated
photographycould easily bring to life, imagine
what uselesstorrentsof inkcould have been saved
with regardto questionsthat,thoughperhapssec-
ondary,are neverthelessinteresting,even thrilling!
Thusthe cinematographicprint, in which a
thousandnegativesmake up a scene, and which,
unrolledbetweena lightsourceand a whitesheet,
makes the dead and gone get up and walk, this
simpleribbonof imprintedcelluloidconstitutesnot
only a historicdocument,buta piece of history,a
historythathas notvanishedand needs no genie to
resuscitateit. It is there, scarcely sleeping, and -
like those elementaryorganismsthat, living in a
latentstate, reviveafteryears given a bit of heat
and moisture- itonly requires,to reawakenitand
323
relivethose hoursof the past, a littlelightpassing
througha lens in the darkness!
Particularcharacterof the cinematographic
document
Perhapsthe cinematographdoes not give history
in its entirety,but at least what it does deliver is
incontestableand of an absolute truth.Ordinary
photographyadmitsof retouching,to the pointof
transformation.Buttry to retouch,in an identical
way foreach figure,these thousandor twelvehun-
dred, almostmicroscopicnegatives... ! One could
say thatanimatedphotographyhas a characterof
authenticity,accuracyand precisionthat belongs
to it alone. Itis the ocularevidence that is truthful
and infalliblepar excellence. It can verify oral
tradition,and, if humanwitnessescontradicteach
otheron some matter,it can bringthemto accord,
shuttingthe mouthof whoever would dispute it.
Suppose a discussionbegan about a militaryor
naval manoeuvrewhose steps had been recorded
by the cinematograph;it would soon be settled...
Itcan give with mathematicalexactitudethe dis-
tance between points in the scenes it has fixed.
Mostoftenitattestswithveryclearsigns thetimeof
day, season, and climacticconditionsinwhichthe
eventtookplace. Evenwhatescapes theeyes - the
imperceptibleprogress of moving objects - the
lens seizes, fromtheir distantbeginnings on the
horizonto the pointclosestto the fore-planeof the
screen. Inshort,one wishes thatotherhistoricdo-
cuments had the same degree of certitudeand
clarity.
Establishmentof the depositoryof
historicalcinematography
We need to accord thisperhapsprivilegedsource
of Historythe same authority,the same officialex-
istence, the same access that already established
archives have. This is a concern in the highest
spheresof the State, and moreoverthe ways and
meansdo notseem hardto find. Itwouldsufficeto
assign to cinematographicprintsthat have a his-
toricalcharactera section of the Museum,a shelf
inthe Library,a cabinetintheArchives.Theofficial
depository would be installedeitherat the Biblio-
theque Nationale or thatof the Institut[National],
324
324
in the keepingof one of the Academiesconcerned
with History,or at the Archives,or, again, at the
Museede Versailles.We will choose among these
and decide. Once the foundationis established,
consignmentswill not fail to arrive,as free dona-
tions or even frominterestedparties.The price of
thecinematographiccamera,likethatof filmstock,
very high in the earlydays, decreases rapidlyand
will tend to come withinthe reach of simpleama-
teurphotographers.Manyamongthem,notinclud-
ing professionals,will begin to take an interestin
the cinematographicapplication of this art and
would like nothingbetterthan to contributeto the
makingof History.Thosewho do not supplytheir
collections now will gladly make a bequest of
them. A competentcommitteewill accept or dis-
card the proposed documents after having ap-
praised theirhistoricvalue. The rollsof negatives
thatare accepted will be sealed in cases, labelled
and catalogued; these will be the standardsthat
will remain untouched.The same committeewill
determinethe conditionsunderwhichthe positives
will be presentedand will place in reservethose
which, for certainreasonsof propriety,cannot be
released untilaftera certainnumberof years have
elapsed. The same is done at other archives. A
curatorfromthe chosen establishmentwill care for
this new collection,smallto begin with, and a fu-
tureinstitutionwill be founded. Pariswill have its
Depositoryof HistoricalCinematography.
Firstbases of the projectedfoundation
Thisis an establishmentthatis absolutelyessential,
and itwill take place sooneror laterin some large Translated
Europeancity. I would like to contributeto its en-
dowmentin this city where I have been received
with suchgood grace. And here I ask modestlyto Notes
enterthe picture.
As photographerto the Emperorof Russia,I
was able, on the express orders of His Majesty
himself,to capturewiththe cinematographas they
other curiousviews, important
happened, among
scenes and intimateeventsof thevisitto Petersburg
by the Presidentof the FrenchRepublicin Septem-
ber 18971.
These negatives, which an initiativefromon
high gave me permissionto take, were projected
BoleslasMatuszewski
Boleslas Matuszewski
for his eyes; afterwhich I was able, in some sixty
consecutivesessions,to offerthe same spectacleto
soldiersin the Parisbarracks.I was surprisedand
charmedby the effectproduceduponthese simple
souls, to whom I gave the opportunityto learn
about the physiognomyof a foreign people and
country,about the organizationof official events
so new to them,and finallyabouta great national
spectacle.
Iproposethisuncommonfirstseriesof cinema-
tographic negatives as the base for the estab-
lishmentof the new Museum.Iwas fortunateto win
to my pointof view some personsof considerable
authority,and, withtheirinfluence,I may soon be
able to see this new kind of archive founded in
Paris.
I have statedwhy I predictan easy and rapid
developmentforthese archives.Iwillcontributeto
them myself. Other than the scenes I have men-
tioned, I already have by my accountmanymore
to offer,relatingto the coronationof HMNicholas
II,the travelsin Russiaof two otheremperors,the
Jubileeof the Queen of England.InrecenttimesI
have been able to capture portionsof events in
Paristhatwere mostunexpectedand breathtaking.
I intendto gather throughoutEuropeand send to
the futureDepositoryreproductionsof all scenes
thatseem to me to be of historicalinterest.
My example will be imitated... if you would
liketo encourage thisvery simple but novel idea,
suggest it to otherswho will carryit through,and
above all liberallygive the publicitynecessaryfor
itto be livelyand fruitful.
by Laura
U. MarksandDianeKoszarski
1. Theprojection of one of thesefilmswas found
indisputably fromabroad,
torefutea falseassertion
touchingon a misconduct thatwas supposedly
perpetrated duringthat juncture. Doubtlessthe
eventhas itslittle
importance,but itisonly
ultimately
an of the servicesthatanimatedphoto-
example
graphycan renderto the truth,verifyinghuman
testimony.Thisisa wholeanecdotal sideof History
thatuntilnowhasescapedtheimagination of nar-
rators.