Working on marginalised cinema audiences with the Jewish historical press website: illustrated on the quest for Jewish patrons of the palace venue in 1920s Warsaw

Abstract

ABSTRACT As is widely acknowledged in film studies and beyond, Jewish entrepreneurs and artists contributed significantly to the rise of cinema in the US and many European countries. However, apart from some research in the American and British contexts, the extent to which Jewish cinemagoers attended screenings is largely unknown. To stimulate greater scholarly interest in this topic, this paper discusses the broad applicability of the Historic Jewish Press digital collection, which contains newspapers printed in 16 different languages, reflecting the range of languages used by Jewish communities worldwide. Using the example of the search for Jewish patrons of the Palace Cinema in 1920s Warsaw, the paper shows how digital research can be used to extract information about marginalised Jewish audiences. Finally, it demonstrates how these sources can be used for new investigations and research perspectives.