Historical Marker · No. 834
Development of Motion Pictures
Stanford, Santa Clara County · California
Erected by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Stanford Historical Society, Stanford ECV Alumni, and the Mountain Charlie Chapter No. 1850, E Clampus Vitus, 1983
The bronze repeats the version Muybridge went to court over. It calls the study conceived and directed by Leland Stanford, which is how Stanford's 1882 book, The Horse in Motion, written by his friend J. D. B. Stillman, framed it, crediting Muybridge only in passing. London's Royal Society of Arts then withdrew its offer of funding, suspecting plagiarism. Muybridge sued Stanford, and the suit failed. Even the electric shutters were contested: John D. Isaacs, a railroad engineer, built the devices, and Muybridge patented them. Nothing of the experiment's track remains here.
What the plaque says
Development of Motion Pictures In commemoration of the motion picture research conducted in 1878 and 1879, by Eadweard Muybridge, at the Palo Alto Stock Farm, now the site of Stanford University. This extensive photographic experiment portraying the attitudes of animals in motion was conceived by and executed under the direction and patronage of Leland Stanford. Consecutive instantaneous exposures were provided for by a battery of 24 cameras fitted with electro-shutters. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 834 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Stanford Historical Society, Stanford ECV Alumni, and the Mountain Charlie Chapter No. 1850, E Clampus Vitus. April 30, 1983.
Where it stands
37.42466, -122.18235 · Directions
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