History

Apprentice projectionist Ronald Grant, at work c.1953.

The Museum’s unique collection is the result of a lifelong fascination with cinema-going. Co-founder Ronald Grant began collecting as a child, and at the age of 15 he started work as an apprentice projectionist with Aberdeen Picture Palaces Ltd, an associated company of James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. Ronald moved to London in the 1960s and worked at the British Film Institute and the Brixton Ritzy, but a fortuitous trip back to his home city led to him saving from destruction a significant quantity of artefacts from the James F. Donald cinemas. These memorabilia from Aberdeen remain at the heart of the collection. In the following audio clip, Ronald Grant talks about the Donald cinemas:

Listen: James F. Donald Aberdeen Cinemas

The collection grew far beyond its origins as an enthusiast’s treasure trove to become an extensive archive of historical and social importance, and Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries established the Cinema Museum in 1986 to safeguard its future. They have worked together throughout to build up and look after the collection, and continue to oversee the Museum to this day. It has been a long journey, but the enterprise has made tremendous progress, and it has attracted the help and goodwill of a great many cinephiles along the way.

As the Museum now establishes its permanent home in the Victorian magnificence of the old Lambeth Workhouse, where Charlie Chaplin spent time as a child, it is interesting to look back some of the successes and challenges of the past…

See also our archive of Past Events.