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GIFT TO LIBRARY TO PRESERVE SILENT FILMS

The Library of Congress has received gifts totaling $40,000 from the family of motion picture pioneer Edwin Thanhouser to establish two funds for the preservation of silent motion pictures. The goal of these funds is to preserve pre-1920 silent movies and provide greater access to them for film scholars and the general public.
Speaking on behalf of his mother and two sisters, Edwin W. Thanhouser of Portland, Ore., grandson of silent movie pioneer Edwin Thanhouser, stated, "My family and I are pleased that the Library of Congress has agreed to accept these gifts and place an emphasis on the preservation and study of films produced by our grandparents and their contemporaries."
The Chief of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Robert Saudek, accepted the gift from the Thanhouser family on behalf of the Library of Congress.
"Mr. Thanhouser and the film company he founded represent a direct link between the popular theater at the turn of the century and the new motion picture industry. Edwin Thanhouser took profits from the sale of his theaters in Chicago and his touring theatrical company and invested in the new burgeoning motion picture industry. He chose New Rochelle, a New York City suburb favored as a residence for theatrical families, as the location of his studio. Researchers interested in the transition from stage to screen will find the Thanhouser films specially interesting," Mr. Saudek said. "The generous contributions of the Thanhouser family will make it possible for this unique heritage to survive."
The Thanhouser Company, founded in 1909 by Thanhouser in New Rochelle, New York, produced more than 1,000 silent films which were distributed throughout the United States and Europe. Thanhouser motion pictures were acclaimed for their story content, photography, and artistic content. Some time after the Thanhouser company closed its doors in 1917, Edwin Thanhouser was presented with a rather sizable bill for the continued storage of the highly volatile nitrate negatives which represented the remaining assets of the company. "Bah! They are worthless-Burn 'em!" was his reply. Thanhouser died in 1956 still believing his efforts in the motion picture business as an independent film producer would be of little value or interest to future generations.
Thanhouser films have been found in private collections in the United States, and in film archives in England and Holland. Copies of these films will be purchased by the Library for its growing collection of films made before 1920. The acquisition and preservation of films from the developing years of the motion picture have encouraged researchers in the United States and abroad to begin new studies of these films, the growing film industry and the people who made and saw films. This rediscovery of a neglected era of cinema's history has been made possible by a national and international effort to locate and preserve a cinema heritage that was nearly lost.
Researchers, lovers of cinema, and interested friends of film preservation are encouraged to contribute to this endowment program which will be used to locate surviving original films, make new copies on safety film, catalog them and make them available to scholars through both screening programs and the Library's research facilities. Persons interested in contributing to this fund should send contributions to M/B/RS, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540. Checks should be made payable to the Motion Picture Preservation Endowment, The Library of Congress.
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PR 89-174
10-17-89