Time Travel with Pathé Baby: The Small-Gauge Film Collection as Historical Archive

<p>Even before Pathé launched its 9.5mm 'Pathé Baby' films in 1923 and Eastman Kodak its 16mm 'cinegraphs' in 1927, collectors were purchasing and acquiring small-gauge film prints to project in their homes. Focusing on European collectors of the 1930s, this essay argues that historians must consider the private film collection's status as an archive and a source for film historiography. Individuals and families viewed reduction prints of theatrical motion pictures in 'living room cinemas', programmed alongside the original amateur productions called 'home movies'. Surviving private film collections bear traces of nontheatrical viewing practices, which remains a gap in the knowledge of film history.</p>