2013 Essays

Frances Taylor Patterson

Polan, Dana

Most biographical details for Frances Taylor Patterson unfortunately are unknown, but she holds an important position in early American cinema history through her efforts on behalf of pedagogy. Specifically, Patterson was one of the earliest university lecturers on motion pictures. After the very first lecturer, Victor Freeburg, left for military service in 1917, Patterson took over his course on Photoplay Composition at Columbia University in New York and taught it over several decades. There has been some suggestion, as yet unconfirmed, that Patterson was Freeburg’s graduate student. She had gotten a Bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Connecticut in 1914 and may have come to New York to pursue further studies.