Reanimating the History and the Forgotten Characteristics of the Zoetrope

This article aims to reanimate and expand on the often-neglected details of the zoetrope’s history, offering new insightful evidence from archival sources about this 19th-century optical toy’s genealogy. From its theorizing by William G. Horner in 1834 to its commercialization in 1867, this new study of the zoetrope’s original patents and archival materials suggests that all the three patents, filed in the same year, months apart from one another, in England, the United States, and France, are connected to the Milton Bradley Company. The historical investigation extends to the forgotten characteristics of the zoetrope, bringing them to light in combination with a hands-on approach through the lens of experimental media archaeology. This includes experiments with ‘zoetropic editing’, allowing for a recontextualization of its imaginative potential and playability through the combination of two different strips. From this animation practitioner and researcher’s point of view, the contributions shared in this article can expand and challenge the way we play with, teach about, and produce animations for the zoetrope today.