[D0935-F]

https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/folder/D0935-F

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Part Of: Document File Series -- 1909

[D0935-F] (D-09-35) Motion Pictures -- Censorship

This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the activities of the Board of Censorship of Programs of Motion Picture Shows and its successor, the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures. Established in 1909 in response to a resolution passed by the Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors of New York, the Board of Censorship issued rulings that were considered mandatory for all Association members. The National Board was established later that year under the auspices of a civic organization known as the People's Institute. Included are letters concerning the organization of censorship activities, deteriorating relations between the National Board and the motion picture manufacturers, and efforts to promote the use of motion pictures in the public schools. There are also numerous reports to the Motion Picture Patents Co. that "pass," "condemn," or require modifications in individual films. A sample of these reports has been selected. Among the correspondents are John Collier, secretary of the Board of Censorship; Walter Storey, censorship secretary of the National Board; Charles Sprague Smith, managing director of the People's Institute; Frank L. Dyer, president of the Motion Picture Patent Co. and vice president of the Edison Manufacturing Co.; George F. Scull, secretary of the Motion Picture Patent Co. and assistant to the vice president of the Edison Manufacturing Co.; Carl H. Wilson, general manager of the Edison Manufacturing Co.; and Horace G. Plimpton, manager of negative production in the Kinetograph Department.

Approximately 50 percent of the documents have been selected. The items not selected consist primarily of additional reports by the censorship boards and related correspondence.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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