ABSTRACT
Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) roles as film archive, research center, and film "gallery" expanded the horizons of film culture for scholars and cinephiles alike. Historians have usually described the high/low cultural divide as a reflection of class, rather than gender, division. The desire to create a new museum dedicated to modern art was an expression of dissatisfaction with the conservative exhibition policies of the Metropolitan MoMA among a core of activist women. Despite the Film Library's important work abroad, the close relationship between MoMA and Hollywood guided the library's archival and exhibition activities toward American cinema. Harry Alan Potamkin, greatly influenced by the construction of a film school in the Soviet Union, published numerous articles and pamphlets in support of film education. The Film Library directed its educational program to those who already had either an academic or a professional interest in cinema. The laughter of audiences was not only due to the perceived obsolescence of silent film technology.
