So far, the principal sources for collecting synopses and iconographic materials have been film periodicals from 1907 to 1921, which include:
Kinematograf (The Cinematograph), Rostov-on-Don, 1915
Kinematograf (The Cinematograph), St. Petersburg, 1915–1916
Kinematograficheskii teatr (The Cinematograph Theatre), St. Petersburg, 1910–1911
Kine-zhurnal (Cine-Journal), Moscow, 1910–1917
Kino (Cinema), Riga, 1916
Kino-kur´er (Cine-Courier), St. Petersburg, 1913–1914
Kino-teatr (Motion Picture Theater), Moscow, 1918–1919
Kur´er sinematografii (The Cinematography Courier), Revel (now Tallinn), 1913
Mel’pomena (Melpomene), Odessa, 1918–1919
Mir ekrana (Screen World), Moscow, 1918
Pegas (Pegasus), Moscow, 1915–1917
Proektor (Projector), Moscow, 1915–1918
Sine-Fono (Cine-Phono), Moscow, 1907–1918
Vestnik kinematografii (The Herald of Cinematography), Moscow, 1911–1917
Vestnik zhivoi fotografii (The Herald of Living Photography), St. Petersburg, 1909
Zhivoi ekran (The Living Screen), Rostov-on-Don, 1912–1917.
Images published in these periodicals are in the public domain. Librettos and reviews are also free of copyright since they were published anonymously. Periodicals listed above have already been investigated by the research team, and several thousand images have been found in them and uploaded to the database. However, the work on librettos published in these images is still in progress and requires more time and effort.
In the future, it is necessary to turn to European and American film periodicals that also have some information on pre-Soviet films as many of them were distributed externally. The team will have a much longer list of periodicals, but work on each issue should take much less time since data on Russian films published in these periodicals is limited. The initial list of film periodicals to review includes the following titles:
Kinematographische Rundschau (Austria)
Filmen (Denmark)
Bio (Finland)
Ciné-Journal (France)
Kinematographische Wochenschau (Germany)
La Cine-fono e la rivista fono-cinematografica (Italy)
Nowiny Sezonu (Poland)
Biografen (Sweden)
The Bioscope (UK)
Motion Picture News (USA)
Moving Picture World (USA)
These are just examples of periodicals that should be reviewed to expand the database. A more complete list may be found on the Domitor Journal Project webpage. It is especially important to review Western periodicals that were published in countries that were parts of the Russian Empire before the October Revolution such as Poland and Finland as they often provide more detailed information on pre-Soviet film.
Furthermore, it is essential to look for materials (both images and texts) in European and American archives, museums, and libraries. If it turns out possible to work with Russian museums and archives, this will be very helpful, too. However, many researchers have already worked with Russian collections investigating pre-Soviet cinema and made a lot of materials accessible. That is why it might be even more interesting to focus on Western collections since they have rarely been sources for research on pre-Soviet cinema.
Russian archival sources include:
Central State Film Museum (Moscow). Samuil Benderskii, Aleksandr Levitskii, and Aleksandr Michurin’s collections.
The Gerasimov State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) archive. Collection of intertitles for early Russian films.
Gosfilmofond of Russia (the Russian State Film Archive). Nikolai Boloban, Vera Khanzonkova, Veniamin Vishnevskii, and Svetlana Skovorodnikova papers.
The National Library of Russia. Vladimir Gardin and Vladimir Gaidarov’s collections.
Russian State Archive for Literature and Art (RGALI). Arsenii Bibikov, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Aleksandra Orlova, Olga Preobrazhenskaia, Yakov Protazanov papers.
European and American sources include:
NYU. Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Jay Leyda and Si-Lan Chen Leyda Papers.
Columbia University Libraries. Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European Culture.
Cinémathèque Française
Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation
The Danish Film Institute
The British Film Institute.
When it comes to creating video clips for extant films, the team will use films released on DVD in the first place. Posting these short clips for educational and non-profit purposes will fall under fair use. If the team gets funding for ordering digitized copies from archives, it will be possible to upload clips from rare films, too.