Arnold D. Kates Film Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Kates, Arnold D.
label: Names
content: Advertising Federation of America
label: Names
content: Association of Young Advertising Men
label: Names
content: Bush Terminal Building
label: Names
content: Railway Express Agency.
place: label: Place
content: Lincoln Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
label: Place
content: White House (Washington, D.C.)
label: Place
content: Washington (D.C.) -- 1930-1940
label: Place
content: New York (N.Y.) -- 1930-1940
topic: label: Topic
content: United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.) -- 1880-1890
label: Topic
content: Washington Monument (Washington, D.C.)
label: Topic
content: Urban Life
label: Topic
content: Associations, institutions, etc.
label: Topic
content: Automobiles -- 1920-1930
label: Topic
content: Railroads
label: Topic
content: Ships -- New York (N.Y.)
label: Topic
content: Boats -- New York (N.Y.)
label: Topic
content: Harbors -- New York (N.Y.)
label: Topic
content: Monuments -- Washington (D.C.)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Arnold D. Kates, 1983.
creator: label: Creator
content: Kates, Arnold D.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Arnold D. Kates Film Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Arnold D. Kates was an officer in the Association of Young Advertising Men of New York in the 1930s.  As an officer, he visited Washington, D.C., to attend the annual meeting of the Advertising Federation of America and took home movies of the capital, including a formal reception at the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial.  Additional film footage includes scenes on a ship, cityscapes and industrial landscapes of New York City.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Arnold D. Kates was an officer in the Association of Young Advertising Men of New York in the 1930s.  As an officer, he visited Washington, D.C., to attend the annual meeting of the Advertising Federation of America and took home movies of the capital, including a formal reception at the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial.  Additional film footage includes scenes on a ship, cityscapes and industrial landscapes of New York City.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Film reel
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1929-1931, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0259
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
label: Type
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Type
content: Cityscapes
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by C. Jeremy Barney, July, 2007; supervised by Wendy Shay, archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Motion pictures (visual works) -- 1930-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Cityscapes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Four small reels, combined into a single compilation reel by Archives Center staff, of 16mm black and white, silent, camera original reversal motion picture film.  One film depicts scenes of Washington, D.C., including a receiving line at the White House for the annual meeting of the Advertising Federation of America.  A second film shows people on a boat, people in a car, and a woman with a calf.  The third depicts a Manhattan, New York cityscape, docks and ships, industrial buildings, rail yards and railcars, and shipping trucks.  Trucks from the Railway Express Agency and the Bush Terminal Co. appear, as well as buildings possibly owned and/or operated by the Bush Terminal Co.  Lastly, the fourth film contains images of automobiles and individuals outside of a building possibly identified as the Cypress Hills Hotel Abbey.

Arnold D. Kates dated the film contents to 1931 based on writing on the boxes the films were contained in when he donated the films.  An examination of the Eastman Kodak film stock codes gives dates of 1929 and 1930 for the actual film stock.  The four films have been combined into a single compilation reel based on the film stock chronology.  The first three films have stock dating 1929 and the final film's stock on the compilation reel dates 1930.  No other chronological linkages could be determined.