Bill McFarland from Grand Rapids, Mich., found his great-grandfather’s collection in his family’s old trunk
NEED TO KNOW
- Bill McFarland discovered his great-grandfather’s nitrate film collection in a deteriorating trunk in Grand Rapids, Mich.
- One reel was a lost 1897 film by Georges Méliès featuring cinema’s first depiction of a robot
- McFarland’s great-grandfather was a traveling showman who screened early films and magic lantern slides in small towns
A family has found a lost 1897 film in an old trunk owned by their ancestor.
In September, retired educator Bill McFarland, 76, from Grand Rapids, Mich., handed over a collection of his great-grandfather’s nitrate film rolls to the Library of Congress’ National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Virginia, according to The Kansas City Star.
McFarland found the items inside a degenerating family trunk. The collection consisted of around 10 reels of film that were in bad condition…