Publications

Links in bold are to online copies or downloadable PDFs

Books and edited journals

Picturegoers: A Critical Anthology of Eyewitness Experiences (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2022)

Breaking the News: 500 Years of News in Britain (London: The British Library, 2022) [co-editor with Jackie Harrison]

Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925 (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2013)

Shakespeare on Film, Television and Radio: The Researcher’s Guide (London: BUFVC, 2009] [co-editor with Eve-Marie Oesterlen and Olwen Terris]

Moving Image Knowledge and Access: The BUFVC Handbook (London: BUFVC, 2007) [co-editor with Cathy Grant]

Virgilio Tosi, Cinema Before Cinema: The Origins of Scientific Cinematography (London: BUFVC, 2005) [editor]

Living Pictures: The Journal of the Popular and Projected Image Before 1914, Special Issue: Colour, vol. 2 no. 2 (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 2003) [editor]

Yesterday’s News: The British Cinema Newsreel Reader (London: BUFVC, 2002) [editor]

John Turner, Filming History: The Memoirs of John Turner, Newsreel Cameraman (London: BUFVC, 2001) [editor]

The Wonders of the Biograph (Griffithiana 66-70, special edition) (Gemona: Cineteca del Friuli, 1999/2000) [co-editor with Mark van den Tempel]

A Yank in Britain: The Lost Memoirs of Charles Urban, Film Pioneer (Hastings: The Projection Box, 1999) [editor]

Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema: A Worldwide Survey (London: BFI, 1996) [co-editor with Stephen Herbert]

Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive (London: BFI, 1994) [co-editor with Olwen Terris]

Topical Budget: The Great British News Film (London: BFI, 1992)

Articles, essays and reviews

‘Constance Bromley‘. In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2024. https://doi.org/10.7916/rwvv-rg96>

‘Elsie Cohen‘. In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2024. https://doi.org/10.7916/2zg7-8z70

‘“Proof Positive of Things as They Are”: British Newsreels and Official Propaganda in the First World War‘, previously unpublished paper first written in 2004, published online 4 March 2024

‘Panoramic Space and the Mesdag Show’, in Ian Christie (ed.), Spaces: Exploring Spatial Experiences of Representation and Reception in Screen Media (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024)

‘Muriel Alleyne and Christabel Lowndes-Yates‘. In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2023. https://doi.org/10.7916/94qy-c160

‘Introduction to the Topical Budget Collection’ and ‘Topical Budget Biographical Index’ in British Newsreels, 1911-1930: Culture and Society on Film, Adam Matthew Digital, 2023 [institutional subscription access only]

‘Stephen Herbert obituary‘, Other Lives, The Guardian, 22 September 2023; printed edition 16 October 2023

‘Filming Windrush‘, Representology, issue 5, Summer 2023 [print version] and ‘Filming Windrush‘, Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, 22 June 2023 [web version]

‘Alice Rosenthal.’ In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2023. https://doi.org/10.7916/z78r-4e59

‘Victorian Film Audiences’, in Victorians on Film: Entertainment, Innovation and Everyday Life, Adam Matthew Digital, 2022 [institutional subscription access only]

(with Yann Ryan), ‘Converting the British Library’s Catalogue of British and Irish Newspapers into a Public Domain Dataset: Processes and Applications‘, Journal of Open Humanities Data, 7, January 2021, http://doi.org/10.5334/johd.23

‘Abby Meehan.’ In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2020 https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-xm0b-w77

‘The Newsreel Audience’, in Ciara Chambers, Mats Jönsson, Roel Vande Winkel (eds.), Researching Newsreels Local, National and Transnational Case Studies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)

‘The Lives of the Characters in Dickensian’, in Ian Christie, Annie van den Oever (eds.), Stories: Screen Narrative in the Digital Era (Amsterdam University Press, 2018, e-book)

‘The Colours of War’, Sight and Sound, April 2018

‘Audiovisual Archives and the Web’, Journal of Film Preservation, no. 96, April 2017

‘Play On: Shakespeare in Silent Film‘, South West Silents blog, 14 July 2016

David Cleveland and Brian Pritchard, How Films Were Made & Shown (David Cleveland, 2015) [review], Viewfinder no. 103, June 2016

‘Searching for Mary Murillo’, in Christine Gledhill and Julia Knight (eds.) Doing Women’s Film History: Reframing Cinemas, Past and Future (Urbana/Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2015)

‘A Century of British Cinema’, OUPblog, 2 June 2015

‘In the Land of the Head Hunters’ [review], Journal of Film Preservation, no. 92, April 2015

‘The Epic of Everest’ [review], Journal of Film Preservation, no. 91, October 2014

‘The Newsroom’, Viewfinder, no. 95, June 2014

‘Regard neuf sur Olympia 52’ [review], Journal of Film Preservation, no. 90, April 2014

‘Opening up Speech Archives’ [written with Mari King], in Jan Heegård and Peter Juel Henrichsen (eds.), New Perspectives on Speech in Action. Proceedings of the 2nd SJUSK Conference on Contemporary Speech Habits, Copenhagen Studies in Language 43 (Frederiksberg, Samfundslitteratur Press, 2013)

‘”What is Restoration?” FOCAL International Conference Report, Journal of Film Preservation, no. 89, November 2013

‘Intelligent speech’, Viewfinder, no. 92, October 2013

‘Ada Aline Urban.’ In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013 https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-t53x-pv31

‘Jessica Elvira Borthwick.’ In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013 https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-btdw-yx73

Contributed texts to Olympics through Media (Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum, 2012)

‘Links in the chain: early newsreels and newspapers’ in Angel Quintana and Jordi Pons (eds.), La construcció de l’actualitat en el cinema des orígens / The construction of news in early cinema (Girona: Museu del Cinema/Ajuntament de Girona, 2012)

‘Just a Brixton Shop Girl’, The Keaton Chronicle, vol. 19 issue 3, Summer 2011

‘Niranjan Pal and British film studios of the silent era’ in Kusum Pant Joshi and Lalit Mohan Joshi, Niranjan Pal: A Forgotten Legend & Such is Life (London: South Asian Cinema Foundation, 2011)

‘Rituals and Records: The Films of the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games’, European Review, vol. 19 no. 4, 2011, made available here by kind permission of Cambridge University Press © 2011 Academia Europæa

‘”The British Library must include moving images”‘, Archive Zones, issue 78, summer 2011

‘James Joyce and the Volta Programme’ and ‘Volta Filmography’ in John McCourt (ed.), Roll Away the Reel World: James Joyce and Cinema (Cork: Cork University Press, 2010)

XXIII IAMHIST Conference, Aberystwyth, Wales, July 8-11, 2009: Social Fears and Moral Panics – A Personal View, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, vol. 30 no. 1, March 2010 [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘Jessica Borthwick’, ‘Mary Murillo’ and ‘Ada Aline Urban’, Women and Silent British Cinema (January-March 2010)

‘”The modern Elixir of Life”: Kinemacolor, royalty and the Delhi Durbar’, Film History, vol. 21 no. 2, 2009 [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘Newsreels: Form and Function’ in Richard Howells and Robert W. Matson (eds.), Using Visual Evidence (Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009)

‘A Fury for Seeing: Cinema, Audience and Leisure in London in 1913’, Early Popular Visual Culture, vol. 6 no. 3 (November 2008) [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘A New Focus: Moving images in the Sound Archive’, Playback: The bulletin of the British Library Sound Archive, Winter 2008 [Please note this is 14.5MB]

‘UK Film and Television Resources for American Studies’, Resources for American Studies, issue 61, 2008

‘Cinemagazines: The Lost Genre’, in Emily Crosby and Linda Kaye (eds.), Projecting Britain: The Guide to British Cinemagazines (London: BUFVC, 2008)

‘Blogging the Silents’, Early Popular Visual Culture vol. 6 issue 1, April 2008 [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘XXII IAMHIST Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 18-21, 2007: Media and Imperialism – A Personal View’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, vol. 28 no. 1, March 2008 [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘”A Complete and Fully Satisfying Art on its Own Account”: Cinema and the Shakespeare Tercentenary of 1916’, Shakespeare, vol. 3 issue 3, December 2007 [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘Charles Urban’, Viewfinder 69, December 2007

‘Robert A. Rosenstone, History on Film/Film on History’ [review], in Viewfinder 67, June 2007

‘John Turner’ [obituary], The Guardian, 24 March 2007

‘The Edwards Archive’, Archive Zones, Spring 2007

‘”Only the Screen Was Silent”: Memories of children’s cinema-going in London before the First World War’, Film Studies issue 10, Spring 2007 (PDF, 273KB) [freely available via Internet Archive]

‘Diverting time: London’s cinemas and their audiences, 1906-1914’, The London Journal, vol. 32 no. 2, July 2007. Available for downloading by kind permission of Maney Publishing, publishers of The London Journal

‘The Familiarity of the New: The Emergence of a Motion Picture Industry in Late Nineteenth-Century London’, Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, 33/2, Winter 2006

‘Lost Worlds’, Viewfinder 63, June 2006

‘Shooting Shakespeare’, Viewfinder 62, March 2006

‘What I Did at the Weekend’, Times Educational Supplement, 16 December 2005

‘Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers’ [review], in Viewfinder 61, December 2005

‘The Brighton School and the Quest for Natural Colour’, in Simon Popple and Vanessa Toulmin (eds.), Visual Delights – two: Exhibition and Reception (Eastleigh: John Libbey, 2005)

‘Shooting Stars’, in Brian McFarlane (ed.), The Cinema of Britain and Ireland (London: Wallflower Press, 2005)

‘Arthur Elton’, Viewfinder 59, June 2005

‘Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema’, Early Popular Visual Culture, vol. 3 issue 1, 2005

‘Motion and Time’, Viewfinder 57, December 2004

‘Roger Smither, This Film is Dangerous: A Celebration of Nitrate Film’, Viewfinder 54, March 2004

‘A History of the British Cinemagazine’, British Universities Newsreel Database website, 2004

‘James Joyce’s Cinema’, Film & Film Culture, vol. 3 , 2004

‘Aufbruch in die Lüfte: Die Anfänge des Filmens und Fliegens’, in Die Kunst zu Fliegen in Film und Fotografie (Düsseldorf: NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, 2004) [Downloadable version in English (PDF, 67KB)]

Introduction to ‘Kinemacolor versus “Colour” Cinematography’, Living Pictures: The Journal of the Popular and Projected Image before 1914, vol. 2 no. 1 (2003)

‘Newsfilm Online’, Viewfinder 53, December 2003

‘Thorold Dickinson’, Viewfinder 53, December 2003

‘“The Finest Cinema Performers We Possess”: British royalty and the newsreels, 1910-1937’, The Court Historian, vol. 8 no. 1, July 2003

‘Jonathan Burt, Animals in Film’ [review], Viewfinder 50, March 2003

‘Propaganda, Patriotism and Profit: Charles Urban and British official war films in America during the First World War’, Film History vol. 14 nos. 3-4, 2002 [2003] [available online through restricted academic services only]

‘Scoping ITN’, Viewfinder 49, December 2002

‘BUND: The British Universities Newsreel Database’, History Today, December 2002

‘Derek Jones (ed.), Censorship: A World Encyclopedia’, Viewfinder 48, October 2002

‘The American Invasion and the British Film Industry, 1894-1903’, in Alan Burton and Laraine Porter (eds.), Crossing the Pond: Anglo-American Film Relations Before 1930 (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 2002)

‘Putting the World Before You: The Charles Urban Story’, in Andrew Higson (ed.), Young and Innocent? The Cinema in Britain, 1896-1930 (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2002)

‘John Turner’, Viewfinder 45, December 2001

‘Denis Gifford, The British Film Catalogue [3rd edition]'[review], Viewfinder 45, December 2001

‘Reconstructing the News: British newsreel documentation and the British Universities Newsreel Project’, Film History vol. 13 no. 2 (2001) [with Nicholas Hiley]

‘Useless if Delayed? The Newsreel Databases of the British Universities Film & Video Council’, in The BUFVC Handbook (London: BUFVC, 2001)

‘A Short History of Film Archiving’, AHRB Centre for British Film and Television Studies website, April 2001

‘Daniel Rosenthal, Shakespeare on Screen and Eddie Sammons, Shakespeare: A Hundred Years on Films’ [review], Viewfinder 42, March 2001

‘“That Slick Salesman in the Silk Hat”: Charles Urban Arrives in Britain’, in Simon Popple and Vanessa Toulmin (eds.), Visual Delights: Essays on the Popular and Projected Image in the 19th Century (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 2000)

‘Bambini nella nursery: Il cinema muto inglese’ in Gian Piero Brunetta (ed.), Storia del cinema mondiale: Volume terzo – Europa: Le cinematografie nazionali (Turin: Einaudi, 2000) [online text is English language original, ‘Children in the Nursery: British Silent Cinema’]

‘Paolo Cherchi Usai, Silent Cinema: An Introduction’ [review], Viewfinder 41 (December 2000)

‘Just a Shop Girl from Brixton’, The Damfinos: The International Buster Keaton Society website (no longer available on Keaton site but reproduced here with additional images at https://lukemckernan.com/2020/03/25/just-a-brixton-shop-girl>), October 2000

‘A Scene – King John – Now Playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre’, in Linda Fitzsimmons and Sarah Street (eds.), Moving Performance (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 2000)

‘The Great White Silence: Antarctic Exploration and Film’, in South: The Race to the Pole (London: National Maritime Museum, 2000; second edition, 2018)

‘Why Film Must Take Up the Baton’, Independent on Sunday, 16 July 2000

‘Reeling Back the Years’, Archive Zones, Summer 2000

‘Making History’, Viewfinder no. 39 (May 2000)

‘Twentieth Century Treasure Trove: The British Universities Newsreel Project Database’, Sconul Newsletter, Spring 2000

‘John Barnes, The Beginnings of the Cinema in England 1894-1901’ [review], The Journal of Popular British Cinema, no. 2 (February 2000)

‘Kenneth Rothwell, Shakespeare on Screen’ [review], Viewfinder no. 38 (February 2000)

‘How to Make Ben Hur Look Like an Epic’, in Alan Burton and Laraine Porter (eds.), Pimple, Pranks & Pratfalls: British Film Comedy Before 1930 (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 2000)

‘A History of the British Newsreels’, in booklet accompanying British Universities Newsreel Project Database CD-ROM (BUFVC, 2000)

‘The Projection Box’, Viewfinder no. 36 (May 1999)

‘Frank Gray, The Hove Pioneers and the Arrival of Cinema’ [review], The Journal of Popular British Cinema, no. 1 (1999)

‘Lo Sport Nel Cinema Muto/Sport and the Silent Screen’, Griffithiana 64, October 1998

‘Newsreels in the Silent Era’ in Clyde Jeavons, Jane Mercer and Daniela Kirchner, ‘The Story of the Century’: An International Newsfilm Conference: Papers, Presentations and Proceedings (London: BUFVC, 1998)

‘Cose assolutamente meravigliose: i film muti da Shakespeare’ in Emanuela Martini (ed.), Ombre che camminano: Shakespeare nel cinema (Bergamo: Lindau, 1998)

‘Cherokee Cockney’, Bianco e Nero 3, 1997 [Eurowestern issue]

‘Programming Victorian Cinema’, Journal of Film Preservation, no. 53 (November 1996)

‘Roger Smither and Wolfgang Klaue (eds.), Newsreels in Film Archives: A Survey Based on the FIAF Newsreel Symposium (1996)’, Viewfinder 28, November 1996

‘Urheilu ja ensimmäiset elokuvat’, Filmihullu 6/96 (1996)

‘Topical Budget’ in Roger Smither and Wolfgang Klaue (eds.), Newsreels in Film Archives: A Survey Based on the FIAF Newsreel Symposium (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 1996)

‘The Arrival of British Movies’ in Colin Sorensen, London on Film: 100 Years of Filmmaking in London (London: Museum of London, 1996)

‘Sport and the First Films’ in Christopher Williams (ed.), Cinema: The Beginnings and the Future (London: University of Westminster Press, 1996)

‘Royal Remembrances: la collection des films Will Day’, Cinémathèque 8 (Autumn 1995)

‘Witnessing the Past’, in James Ballantyne (ed.), Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels Vol. III (London: BUFVC, 1993)

‘A Year in the Life of a Topical Budget Cameraman’, in James Ballantyne (ed.), Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels Vol. III (London: BUFVC, 1993)

‘“The Supreme Moment of the War”: General Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, vol. 13 no. 2 (1993) [revised version published in Yesterday’s News: The British Cinema Newsreel Reader (London: BUFVC, 2002)]

‘Further News on Beerbohm Tree’s King John’, Shakespeare Bulletin, vol. 11 no. 2 (Spring 1993)

‘Beerbohm Tree’s King John Rediscovered: The First Shakespeare Film, September 1899’, Shakespeare Bulletin, vol. 11 no. 1 (Winter 1993)

‘Topical Budget’, Bulletin Fiaf 45 (October 1992)

Filmographies

Women Silent Filmmakers in Britain (1990s/2007)

British Silent Comedy: Viewing Copies in the National Film and Television Archive (1999) [co-compiler with Bryony Dixon] [National Film and Television Archive’s Filmographies series] (no longer available on BFI site, but outline version can be found on the Internet Archive)

The Boer War (1997, second edition 1999) [National Film and Television Archive’s Filmographies series]

The Spanish Civil War (1996) [National Film and Television Archive’s Filmographies series] (no longer available on BFI site, but outline version can be found on the Internet Archive)

News and Current Affairs: Films and television programmes in the National Film and Television Archive (1996)

Contributions to reference works

Editorial board member for British Newsreels, 1911-1930: Culture and Society on Film (Adam Matthew Digital, 2023, online, subscription access only)

Consultant editor for Victorians on Film: Entertainment, Innovation and Everyday Life (Adam Matthew Digital, 2022, online, subscription access only)

‘Shakespeare and Online Video’, in Bruce R. Smith (ed.), The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016)

Entries on Jessica Borthwick, Ada Aline Urban, Abby Meehan, Alice Rosenthal, Muriel Alleyne and Christabel Lowndes-Yates, Elsie Cohen, Constance Bromley for Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta (eds.), Women Film Pioneers Project (New York: Columbia University Libraries, 2013-2024)

Entries on Newsreel and History of Cinematography for Wolfgang Donsbach (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication (WileyBlackwell, 2008)

Entries on various themes for Robert Murphy (ed.), Directors in British and Irish Cinema: A Reference Companion (London: British Film Institute, 2006)

Entries on Newsreels (UK), Cinemagazines, and Charles Urban for Ian Aitken (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film (New York/London: Routledge, 2006)

Entries on various subjects for Gian Piero Brunetta (ed.), Dizionari dei registi del cinema mondiale (Torino: Giulio Einaudi, 2005)

Entries on various themes for Richard Abel (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema (Abingdon/New York: Routledge, 2005)

Entries on William Haggar, Ernest Lindgren, Arthur Pearson, George Pearson, G.B. Samuelson, Albert E. Smith, F. Percy Smith and Charles Urban for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 -)

Background texts on newsreel material for British Film Institute’s Screenonline website (www.screenonline.org.uk, 2003)

Colour, Dance, London, Newsreels, Royalty, Theatre and other entries, in Brian McFarlane (ed.), The Encyclopedia of British Film (London: Methuen, 2003; revised second edition 2005; revised third edition 2008) [also one of three editorial ‘vetters’ for this work]

Film (Newsreels), in Nicholas J. Cull, David Culbert and David Welch (eds.), Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2003)

Consultant, Chronicle of the Cinema (London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995)

Checker and Consultant, Reader’s Digest Illustrated Dictionary of Essential Knowledge (London: The Reader’s Digest Association, 1995)

Specialist Consultant, When, Where, Why & How it Happened (London: The Reader’s Digest Association, 1993)

Videos

South & the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film (BFI, 2022) [DVD/Blu-Ray, includes audio commentary recorded for 2000/2002 releases of South, below]

Kinemacolor and Other Magic / Kinemacolor e altre magie (Cineteca Bologna, 2017) [DVD, co-curated with Mariann Lewinsky, booklet notes] [Italy]

Secrets of Nature (British Film Institute, 2010) [DVD, booklet notes] [UK]

Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (British Film Institute, 2006) [DVD, sleeve notes] [UK]

South: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Glorious Epic of the Antarctic (British Film Institute, 2002) [DVD, commentary] [UK]/South: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition (Milestone, 2000) [DVD, commentary] [USA]

Silent Shakespeare (British Film Institute, 1999) [videotape, compiled/sleeve notes] [UK]/Silent Shakespeare (Milestone, 1999) [videotape, compiled/sleeve notes] [USA]

South: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Glorious Epic of the Antarctic (British Film Institute, 1998) [videotape, sleeve notes] [UK]

Topical Budget: The Great British News Film (National Film Archive, 1992) [videotape, compiled/sleeve notes] [UK]