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THE CASE RESEARCH LAB MUSEUM |
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-The Birthplace of Sound Film- Theodore Willard Case, an Auburn native, founded the Case Research Lab with his father, Willard Case, in 1916. It is on this site where the first commercially successfully system of sound film was invented. The Case Research Lab Museum exhibits the working spaces of the darkroom, chemistry lab, and recording studio; the first sound camera; experimental recording equipment; and a history of the commercialization of sound film including such ventures as Phonofilms, Fox-Case Company Movietone, and Fox Films (now 20th Century Fox). |
 Theodore Willard Case (1888-1944) on the steps of the Case family's summer estate at Owasco Lake. |
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The Case Research Lab
Museum and Carriage House The research, restoration, and
interpretation of the buildings and archives of the lab began in 1990. Since
then, a great deal of history has been unearthed from dozens of notebooks,
thousands of pages of correspondence, many other lab archives, and outside
sources. The interpretation of the Case Research Lab's place in history
continues to be an ongoing process. The next phase of our long-term building
plan involves the complete restoration of the Carriage House complex. The
first floor will be returned to its former glory as a community theater and
cinema, and the second floor will further interpret the fascinating story of
how Ted Case's backyard movie studio changed the world forever.
Take a virtual tour of the Case Research Lab
All rights reserved. © Cayuga Museum 2002 - 2008 |
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On
the right is the building which houses the Case Research Lab Museum. The
second floor of the carriage house on the same site housed the sound film
studio for the lab. It is here that the lab recorded hundreds of films
including those of prison reformer, Thomas Mott Osborne, vaudeville
performers Gallagher & Shean, Gus Visser and his singing duck, and other
local performers including Theodore Case.