Aberaeron - Alban Square

From the collection of

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive

Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.

Aberaeron - Alban Square

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive
Aberaeron
1929-01-01
Silent
12m

Aberaeron's pharmacist, with ready access to film, takes a camera out with his family and records them in town, on the beach and by the river.

Could this film, one of a small collection shot by pharmacist Evan John Thomas, be amongst the earliest footage of Aberaeron in existence? Thomas came to the town in 1924 and, with ready access to film, recorded his family at the seaside (donkey, merry-go-round), along by the river and in Alban Square. There are also shots of various animals including a farm's bull. Thomas was Chair of Cardiganshire Civil Defence Committee, for which service he received an OBE in 1963.

Pioneers of Personal Film

At the dawn of the cinema age, these trailblazing early adopters brought filmmaking technology into the home.

Home moviemaking is older than the first cinemas: we've been filming ourselves for well over a hundred years. The birth of the cinematograph in 1895 inspired a plethora of inventions pitched at the domestic market: Kinoras, Kammatographs, Pictorialographs, Birtacs and Biokams - all cameras designed for amateurs and enthusiasts to film and project in the home. This collection celebrates the earliest home movies preserved in Britain, and bears witness to the dawn of the amateur's long-standing fascination with family, travel and community. "The object in introducing this apparatus is to endeavour to popularize this extremely fascinating branch of photography.... [I have] always looked forward to the time when animated photography would be within the reach of every one" - filmmaker/inventor Birt Acres, on his Birtac camera, 1898.