Curated OER
National Park Service: Dison National Historical Site: The Invention Factory
This terrific interactive site from the National Park Service describes the different buildings on Thomas Edison's West Orange, New Jersey's laboratory facility. After exploring the buildings, follow Edison's invention and application of...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Magic Lanterns, Magic Mirrors
Like fun house mirrors, motion pictures over the past one hundred years have reflected, challenged, influenced, and altered our visions of ourselves and the world in which we live. This virtual Exhibition was produced by the Photographic...
Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Thomas Edison's Inventive Life
This site is a complete resource for learning about Edison's life, his inventions, and electricity. If you like experimenting, there are instructions included for how to make your own light bulb. Good photos.
Library of Congress
Loc: Early Motion Pictures, Sound Records of Edison Companies
The Library of Congress provides information on Thomas Edison's profound contribution to the music industry.
Other
Museum of the Moving Image: Optical Room
Take a tour through the history of moving images from the earliest times into the mid-1910s. The tour begins with pre-cinema devices and practices, including shadow plays and optical toys, and covers film and photography pioneers and...
Other
Brockton Historical Society: Thomas Alva Edison
Site devoted completely to the achievements of Thomas Edison. Includes a detailed biography, inventions, photo gallery, and quotes.
Rutgers University
Thomas Edison Papers: Motion Pictures
From the collection of Thomas Edison's papers at Rutgers University is this description of Edison's involvement in the development of motion pictures in conjunction with his assistant, W.K.L. Dickson.
Rutgers University
Guide to Motion Picture Catalogs: The Peephole Kinetoscope
A brief description of the peephole kinetoscope which Thomas Edison unveiled at the Columbian Exhibition in 1893.
American Movie Classics Company
The Film Site: Film History Before 1920
A storehouse of information about early film history, which discusses the development of the science and art behind motion picture technologies. Also looks at the how films were exhibited, the first feature-length films, early stars, fan...