SOURCES

The information contained in the London’s Silent Cinemas Map was gathered from a wide range of sources. These include:

Local histories

Including published histories of cinema exhibition in London boroughs and histories of individual venues. See the Bibliography page for a full list of titles. These studies often make use of local newspapers and the resources held by London’s local borough archives.

City council records

Especially the records of the London County Council (LCC) held at the London Metropolitan Archives. The LCC was the local government body for the administrative County of London. The LCC Theatres and Music Halls Committee kept a close eye on venues showing films from the time of the earliest moving-picture shows. From 1910, it was responsible for issuing cinematograph licences to cinemas in the County of London. After 1931, this task was taken over by the LCC Entertainments (Licensing) Committee. Details about the cinema licences issued by the LCC and details of the day-to-day regulation of the cinema business in London are contained in the bound volumes of the Theatres and Music Halls Committee minutes and presented papers. The Map draws on the Committee minutes for 1906-1930, as well as a sample of presented papers from this period. The LCC Architect’s Department also contains documents relating to early cinema buildings, including surveyors’ reports and architects’ plans. Some of the relevant statistics on early cinema exhibition collected by the LCC were published in London Statistics Volume Twenty-one, 1910-11 and London Statistics Volume Twenty-two, 1912-13 (London: London County Council).

Film trade directories

Including The Bioscope Annual and Trades Directory (published 1910-1915) and the Kinematograph Year Book (published 1914-1970, consulted 1914-1930). These directories listed cinemas by location, and often included names of cinema managers and an estimate of the number of seats a venue had. The Map draws on these sources of information, especially for cinemas in the London suburbs, which were regulated by different local councils, and so don’t appear in the LCC’s records. It also borrows from these directories’ inclusive definition of the ‘London’ area. The Kinematograph Year Book, Program Diary and Directory for 1914 is available to download as a pdf file on the British Film Institute website. Other digitised editions of the Kinematograph Year Book are listed on the Media History Digital Library website.

Weekly film trade journals

Including The Bioscope and Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly (later Kinematograph Weekly). Trade journalists regularly reported on new cinema openings, building refurbishments and changes in management. They covered developments across the UK, but often included special sections on London, such as The Bioscope’s ‘Metropolitan Notes’ or the Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly’s ‘Our Weekly Visit to London Shows’. The Map draws on a sample of issues of both these publications taken from across the period 1914-1930.

Cinema programmes

Including material held in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, University of Exeter, the Cinema Museum, London, the University of Westminster Archives, and a number of London’s local borough archives.

Government and police records

Especially reports on early cinemas preserved by the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police, held at the National Archives. Particularly useful are the report issued by the LCC to the Home Office on cinematograph displays in unlicensed premises from February 1908¹ and the reports from the Metropolitan Police to the Home Office and the LCC in March and November 1909.² Both the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police continued to be involved in surveying and regulating behaviour inside London’s cinemas into World War I and beyond.

Online databases

Including Cinema Treasures, a guide to historic cinema buildings, and The London Project, which includes information about cinemas and film businesses in London, 1894-1914. The Map has drawn on these sources, especially to clarify confusion caused by venue and street name changes. See the Bibliography for more useful websites.

 

The process of locating cinemas in London involved consulting:

Historic maps

Including the Ordnance Survey ‘County Series’ (1:2,500) maps of London. The first Ordnance Survey ‘County Series’ maps were completed in 1890. The third revision of this series, which began in 1911, identified ‘Picture theatres’ or ‘Cinemas’, along with other landmarks and places of entertainment. This revision was never completed, owing to the disruptions caused by World War I and post-war austerity.³ Some historic maps of London are available (through participating UK universities and colleges) on the Digimap website.

City plans

Including the fire insurance plans published by the company Charles E. Goad Ltd. The first Goad fire insurance plans of London were produced in 1886, and the company revised and extended their plans over the subsequent decades.⁴ The revisions for some areas of London in the years 1922-1928 identified cinemas (among other buildings likely to be a fire risk). Copies of the Goad plans are held in the British Library Maps collection.

Street directories

Including editions of the Post Office London Street Directory and Post Office London County Suburbs Directory (London: Kelly’s Directories). A complete set of the ‘Kelly’s Directories’ for this period is held on microfilm at the London Metropolitan Archives. Digitised versions of some editions are available as part of the University of Leicester Special Collections Online website.

Web-based maps and mapping tools

Including Google Earth. This was used to find the geographic coordinates for cinema locations on the Map. As street numbering systems and the street layout of London has changed since the early twentieth century, locations will inevitably be approximate in some instances.⁵

Requests for more information on how the London’s Silent Cinemas Map was created are welcomed via the Contact page.