"Local films for local people"

July 2, 2014 9:49 AM

"The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon": In 1994, workers demolishing a toy shop in Blackburn, England stumbled on hundreds of films of Edwardian-era daily life made and collected by Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon. This BBC series describes their rediscovery and historical significance, revisits filming locations, and includes interviews with relatives of some of the films' subjects.

A few samples from the Mitchell and Kenyon collection:

Electric Tram Rides from Forster Square, Bradford (1902)
Blackpool Victoria Pier (1904)
Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front (1901)
Jamaica Street, Glasgow (1901)
Cunard Vessel at Liverpool (1901)
North Sea Fisheries, North Shields (1901)

Mitchell and Kenyon previously on Metafilter

posted by ryanshepard (7 comments total)

These are local films. For local people. There's nothing for YOU here!
posted by Naberius at 10:13 AM on July 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Man in the white hat in the last clip is cruisin' for a bruisin'.

My grandmother was born in Liverpool, and watching the Cunard clip I think are my great grandparents on that boat? Their neighbors? People they knew?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:12 AM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is great.

Part 6 mentions people went to war to escape the factories which were so bad the average life expectancy was 46 for workers. WWI was bad but it appears factories did more damage for longer, the war was like a symptom or outgrowth of the means of production.
posted by stbalbach at 12:38 PM on July 2, 2014

The Mitchell and Kenyon films are moving for me as they show the kind everyday life most of our forebears lived. The world of stiff sepia photos made human.
posted by Thing at 12:57 PM on July 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

ryanshepard: "North Sea Fisheries, North Shields (1901) "

Oh man, where is the sound for this fedora-bopping exchange???
posted by boo_radley at 1:05 PM on July 2, 2014

In the Morecambe seafront (I'll have to google where that even is), it took a full minute before I saw some scamp waving at the camera. Followed a short while later by the two little boys who ran along, waving, until at the end they disappeared once again into the past.**

I've mentioned many times my fascination with the idea of time travel. But photos, and even more, video is really a form of it.

(**And for a moment, a slightly older girl seemed to start to run with those boys, but was perhaps called back by someone? Not a proper activity for a young lady?)
posted by NorthernLite at 3:41 PM on July 2, 2014

A drop in the bucket of Lost Films, but nevertheless wondrous. Thanks.
posted by xtian at 6:25 PM on July 2, 2014