As a result, filmmakers can better understand the original material. A lthough scholars interested in business and economic history and in the history of technology have not made extensive use of these catalogs, researchers will find them a valuable resource for studying the economic and technological aspects of the motion picture industry. Equipment catalogs offer rich insight into the ways that projection technology adapted to the changing needs of the industry. Projecting machines from this period are rare and many pieces were modified after their initial purchase. While printed patents can provide invaluable information, they do not indicate whether an invention was adopted by the industry or in what form.
Catalogs thus can serve as unique documentary resources for historians of technology.
They can also be a principal source of information about business enterprises as well as about changes in the scale and commercial methods in the industry. M otion picture catalogs can also serve as an important source for social and cultural historians. While researchers concerned with American life at the turn of the century have drawn upon motion pictures as a resource, they likely will turn increasingly to film catalogs for verbal and visual documentation of prevailing social and cultural attitudes. A deeper understanding of early cinema is obtainable by researching both written records and films. With such an approach, film catalogs become a key resource.