Cartoon Roots, Vol. 2: The Bray Animation Studios

Tom Stathes was a former a student of mine from CUNY Queens College and has since graduated to become a recognized film archivist and historian on silent animated films. Last winter, Stathes released a DVD and Blu-ray collection of silent film cartoons from a personal archive that he has amassed over many years.

For a second act, Tom is putting together a second DVD and Blu-ray set in the Cartoon Roots collection. The collection will feature the works of Bray Studios, an early New York City–production company in operation between 1913 and 1927.1 To raise the money to properly produce this videodisc set, he has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

In the annals of silent film history, animation is often overlooked except for a handful of production companies in operation at the time. Tom’s diligent collecting, curating, and finally publishing the works he has collected over the years provides a fresh look at films produced a century ago to round out our understanding of silent film and animated film. Please consider contribute to this campaign.

Contribute to Bray Studios Animation!


  1. Like many others, the studio folded in the late 1920s concurrent with the coming of sound, which was an immensely disruptive transition for the film industry. 

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