The opening of Preface
Motion Pictures, 1912-1939, is a cumulative catalog listing works registered in the Copyright Office in Classes L and M between August 24, 1912, and December 31, 1939. Prior to that period motion pictures were registered in the category of photographs. These earlier works have not been included in this catalog because of the difficulty of identifying the motion pictures so registered.
The information given in each entry for the motion pictures in this catalog has been obtained from the record books of the Copyright Office, the original application for the registration of the copyright claim, and descriptive material deposited with the application and film in the Copyright Office at the time of registration. In addition, when these sources indicated that a particular motion picture was based on a published book or story or on a previously existing dramatic work, the name of the author and the title of such work have been verified, when possible, by reference to the records of the Copyright Office and the Official Catalog of the Library of Congress.