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Animation Station: The Beginning of Cartoons

YOUmedia Miami

Join us for a deep dive into early animation history, featuring animation from the Library’s Special Collections and Archives collection of 16mm films! From cave paintings to Snow White, event will explore how traditional 2D animation evolved as artists discovered new ways of creating the “illusion of movement.” This presentation will be followed by a screening of animated films. Registration required. For more information, please contact 305-420-1732 or otaolan@mdpls.org. Ages 14 yrs.+

Films to be screened: 

• Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914, 14 mins.

From American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay, Gertie was the animated film to feature a dinosaur, and the third film to ever depict one. McCay initially presented the film before live audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act.

• Opus, 1921, 5 mins.

Created by German Filmmaker Walter Ruttmann, this is the oldest fully abstract motion picture, as well as the first one to be publicly screened. Ruttman animated geometric shapes, flowing forms, and integrated light and dark with hand-colored frames to a score by Max Butting.

• Steamboat Willie, 1928, 7 mins.

This is Mickey Mouse's first cartoon and one of the world's first synchronized sound cartoons. Mickey works and sings on a steamboat, with Walt Disney providing the film's little dialogue and noises himself.

• Superman, 1941, 10 mins.

Produced by Fleischer studios, this is the first installment in a series of seventeen animated short films based on the comic-book character Superman. The "Man of Steel" fights a mad scientist who attempts to destroy Metropolis with an energy cannon.

...more films to be announced!

About the Series

Animation Station, a YOUmedia Miami club, celebrates the history of animation by collaborating with the Library's Division of Special Collections & Archives to bring notable early animations to light. This is the first session of a three-part series, covering animation history up until 1941.

About the Film Collection

The 16mm film collection has been part of the Library's holdings for over 55 years. It began in the 1960s, and its first films were part of the City of Miami’s public library before there was a county library. When MDPLS was formed, the County supplemented its local funding for films with Federal LSCA (Library Services and Construction Act) grants. Apart from leased feature films, all films were purchased for free exhibition for the life of the print. Subjects within the collection include experimental/avant-garde art films, non-narrated films, children’s films, Black history, Floridiana, and local history. Today, there are over 4,000 films within the collection. 

About the Division of Special Collections & Archives

Miami-Dade Public Library System's Division of Special Collections & Archives holds rare and irreplaceable historical documents for the benefit of the public and scholarly community. They oversee the Helen Muir Florida Collection, 16mm Film Collection, Cuban Collection of Rare Books & Ephemera, Genealogy Collection, Vasari Project, and rare & antiquarian books from as early as the 17th century. The Division's primary goal is to provide the public with the contents of the vault at their request. Its collections include rare books, original manuscripts, over 18,000 photographs, prints, artifacts, audiovisual resources, and electronic media.

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