The opening of Preface
Motion Pictures, 1950-1959, is a cumulative catalog listing works registered in the Copyright Office in Classes L and M from January 1, 1950, through December 31, 1959. The series of cumulative catalogs began in 1951 with Motion Pictures, 1912-1939, and continued with Motion Pictures, 1940-1949, published in 1953. A third volume, Motion Pictures, 1894-1912, was published also in 1953 (though not as a part of the series); it lists works copyrighted prior to 1912 which were identified as motion pictures by Howard Lamarr Walls. These four volumes, together with the current issues of the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Parts 12-13, Motion Pictures and Filmstrips, comprise an unbroken record of the copyright registration of motion pictures and, also, an extensive although not complete record of motion picture production in the United States through the entire history of the industry.