The Ithaca College Library is partnering with The Ithaca Motion Picture Project to highlight a unique collection of images housed in the College Archives. The Ithaca College Library is partnering with The Ithaca Motion Picture Project to highlight a unique collection of images housed in the College Archives.
The Archives holds approximately 180 sepia prints of photographs taken by Archelaus “Chad” Chadwyck. These photographs depict movie sets that Chadwyck designed for the Wharton Studios. The studios were located in Ithaca in the 1920’s. While some of the images include actors, many document the artistry of the movie sets. Chadwyck was a local photographer and artist who excelled in set design. He also taught set design at the Ithaca Conservatory and Affiliated Schools/Ithaca College from 1925 to 1939.
Svante Myrick, Mayor of Ithaca, has declared October 2012 to be Silent Movie Month. Several community activities are scheduled, under the auspices of the Ithaca Motion Picture Project, in support of this celebration. The Ithaca College Library has digitized the Chadwyck image collection and posted the images on the Picasa image sharing website. The Library is encouraging the public to view the images and post comments. We hope that viewers will identify the actors and/or movie sets that are depicted in the images. The Library plans to create an online exhibit of the images with the added metadata using Omeka, an open source web-publishing platform.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20121010074511477