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  • Let's Go to the Movies
  • Early Movies
  • Silent Era
  • Golden Age

The Movies

Silent Era

The National Museum of American History is known for cinematic treasures such as Dorothy's Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz (1939), but it also holds a remarkable collection of silent film artifacts. Made from the 1890s to the late 1920s, silent films lacked synchronized sound; live music and shots of printed text conveyed emotion and dialogue. These selected artifacts offer a glimpse into the early days of cinema as a global art and entertainment form.


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  • Remove Date: 1920s close

Charlie Chaplin

Rudolph Valentino

Charlie Chaplin

Dolores del Rio

Mary Pickford

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin

Mary Pickford

Stakkels Johanne

Mary Pickford

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford

Buster Keaton L'Opérateur

Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino

L'Aigle Noir

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

Douglas Fairbanks as the Gaucho

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

Clara Bow

Lillian Gish

Lillian Gish

Gloria Swanson

Gloria Swanson

D. W. Griffith

D.W. Griffith

John Gilbert

John Gilbert

Harold Lloyd

Harold Lloyd

Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney

Greta Garbo

William Surrey Hart


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