''Ringling Brothers Parade Film'' is a 1902 short subject film produced by

William Nicholas Selig William Nicholas Selig (March 14, 1864 – July 15, 1948) was a pioneer of the American motion picture industry. In 1896 he created one of the first film production companies, Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago. Selig produced a string of co ...

. The three-minute film captures a

Ringling Brothers Circus Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows is a circus founded in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers: Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John, and Henry. The Ringling brothers were sons of a Ge ...

parade featuring elephants, camels, and caged lions in

downtown Indianapolis Downtown Indianapolis is a neighborhood area and the central business district of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Downtown is bordered by Interstate 65, Interstate 70, and the White River, and is situated near the geographic center of Ma ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. Onlookers are visible along the route as the parade moved south on Capitol Avenue, past the

Indiana Statehouse The Indiana Statehouse is the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Indiana. It houses the Indiana General Assembly, the office of the Governor of Indiana, the Indiana Supreme Court, and other state officials. The Statehouse is located in ...

, then east on Washington Street. The film was thought lost until 2011 when an

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, couple donated an unmarked canister containing the film to the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. After the film was researched, identified, and restored, it was uploaded to YouTube in October 2020. In 2021, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and was inducted into the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. It was chosen because it depicted a rare glimpse of a northern Black community in the early 20th century. As of December 2021, it is the eleventh oldest film in the registry.

References

External links

* * 1902 short films African-American history of Indianapolis United States National Film Registry films Rediscovered American films 1900s rediscovered films 1902 in Indiana Films shot in Indiana Films shot in Indianapolis Films set in Indianapolis {{Short-silent-documentary-film-stub