Going to the Show: Lesson Plans

Image Analysis through the use of photographs, postcards and illustrations of the Bijou Theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina in the early 1900s

Introduction  |   Activities 1 - 2  |   Activities 3 - 4  |   Learn More

Learn more about early movies:

The Great Train Robbery - a tremendously popular and widely-shown early narrative film, made in 1903. Available via the Library of Congress American Memory project web site at: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+2443s1))

The Little Train Robbery, made in 1905, was a parody on the Great Train Robbery which employed a cast of child actors. Available via the Library of Congress American Memory project web site at: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+2570s1))

The American Memory Collection - Library of Congress Picture & Television Reading Room
http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/ndlmps.html
Provides links to early motion pictures in:

• America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915
• American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920

Audio-Visual Conservation at the Library of Congress
The Library is home to more than 1.1 million film, television, and video items. With a collection ranging from motion pictures made in the 1890s to today's TV programs, the Library's holdings are an unparalleled record of American and international creativity in moving images.
http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/

Moving Images Collection website:
http://mic.loc.gov/

Field Trip
Visit the Audio-Visual Conservation Packard Campus theater to view a film.
Description, Schedule and Directions can be found at:
http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/index.html

For additional background information on Wilmington, North Carolina in the early 1900s and its business and government offices, you may consult the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce publications:

1902 Wilmington Chamber of Commerce "Up To Date"
http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/uptodate/uptodate.html

1907 Wilmington Chamber of Commerce City Directory
http://www.archive.org/details/wilmingtonncdire1907hill

1911/1912 Wilmington Chamber of Commerce City Directory
http://www.archive.org/details/wilmingtonncdire1911hill

Related Pages:

The North Carolina mountains in the early 1900s through the writing and photography of Horace Kephart (https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/anchor/)

In this lesson for grade 8, students will analyze photographs and writings of Horace Kephart to gain a better understanding of life in the North Carolina mountains in the early 1900s.

Related Topics:
American history, North Carolina, North Carolina history, freewriting, history, photography analysis

Introduction  |   Activities 1 - 2  |   Activities 3 - 4  |   Learn More