Thomas Edison was born on February 11th, 1847. As the inventor of the phonograph (1877), the kinetoscope (1891) (the first motion pictures), and the first talking motion pictures (1913)–not to mention his significant contributions to the commercial use of electricity–it is fair to say that the Archive would not exist as it does today without him. As a birthday tribute we present this selection of early Edison films:

• Feeding Doves (1896)
• Annie Oakley (1894)
• Kissing (1900)
• What Happened at 23rd street (1901)
• Trapeze Disrobing Act (1901)
• San Francisco Earthquake Aftermath (1906)
• Frankenstein (1910)