The Cinema Museum in London is a non-profit charity that displays film industry memorabilia and artifacts dating back to the 1890s. The museum is run entirely by volunteers and offers guided tours, occasional special events, and a library of film resources. Co-founders Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries have been collecting film-related artifacts for many years. The museum is located in a building that once housed young Charlie Chaplin during a desperate era of his childhood. The museum can be rented as a venue for events, and guided tours can be booked in advance.
The Cinema Museum, which houses collected film industry memorabilia and artifacts dating back to the 1890s, is a non-profit charity in London open to the public for guided tours. It’s inside a building that, in its former incarnation as a workhouse, once housed young Charlie Chaplin during a desperate era of that movie star’s childhood. This archive of film-related memorabilia is also home to an extensive library of film resources. The Cinema Museum is run entirely by volunteers.
The Cinema Museum houses a variety of cinematic artifacts, ranging from posters and other advertising materials to items found within old cinema buildings, such as uniforms, carpets, seats, projectors, and ashtrays. Also included in the collection are ephemera like popcorn cartons and 3D viewing glasses. The museum offers occasional special events, such as Q&A sessions with film industry veterans.
Co-founders Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries have been collecting film-related artifacts for many years. Grant began his connection to the film industry at age 15 when he was hired as an apprentice projectionist in the 1950s. The first artifacts in his personal collection were a set of discarded lob cards. He later recovered a number of items from demolished movie houses in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the film objects in the current Museum of Cinema archives are from Grant’s private collection.
Founded as a non-profit charitable organization in 1984, the Cinema Museum was originally located in Brixton, England. It was moved in 1986 to a building that had previously been a fire station. In 1998, the founders took the opportunity to lease part of the Lambeth workhouse, with its link to cinematic history through the former residence of Chaplin and his family. As of 2011, the museum had started a campaign to raise funds for the purchase of the hospice building.
A primary source of income for the Cinema Museum, which is not publicly funded, is the syndication of archival materials to magazines and newspapers. This library of film resources includes film-related photography, sheet music, books, and periodicals. Archived materials are available for research use by journalists, academics, archivists, and historians. As an additional means of financing, the Cinema Museum can also be rented as a venue for events ranging from book presentations to festival or exhibition screenings.
Guided tours can be booked in advance. The Cinema Museum can be reached by train or bus and parking for vehicles is available at the museum with limited numbers. This property is accessible to those with mobility restrictions.
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