Enoch J. Rector (October 9, 1863 – January 26, 1957) was an American boxing film promoter and early cinema technician. He was a partner in

Woodville Latham Major Woodville Latham (1837–1911) was an ordnance officer of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and professor of chemistry at West Virginia University. He was significant in the development of early film technology. Woodville Lath ...

Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that woul ...

Exhibition Company (later the Lambda Company) during the mid-1890s, working with Latham and his sons Otway and Grey, as well as fellow cinema technicians

William Kennedy Laurie Dickson William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (3 August 1860 – 28 September 1935) was a British- American inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison. Early life William Kennedy Dickson was born on 3 Augu ...

and

Eugene Lauste Eugène Augustin Lauste (17 January 1857 in Montmartre, France – 27 June 1935 in Montclair, New Jersey) was a French inventor instrumental in the technological development of the history of cinema. Life By age 23 Lauste had filed 53 French pat ...

. Cinema historian

Terry Ramsaye Terry Ramsaye (November 2, 1885, Tonganoxie, Kansas – August 19, 1954, Norwalk, Connecticut) was a journalist, film producer and film historian, the author of ''A Million and One Nights: A History of the Motion Picture hrough 1925' (New Yor ...

later claimed that Rector, during his association with Latham, invented the '

Latham loop The Latham Loop is used in film projection and image capture. It isolates the filmstrip from vibration and tension, allowing movies to be continuously shot and projected for extended periods. Invention of the Latham loop is usually credited to fi ...

', a key feature of modern cinema cameras and projectors, in 1895. However, in 1927 Dickson stated unequivocally that Lauste was responsible for this important invention. Using this technique, Rector created the 90-minute documentary film ''

The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (1897), filmed in an early

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

process in 63mm film, with an

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

of about 1.75:1.

Biography

He was born near

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in Wood County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's List of municipalities in West Virginia ...

in 1863. He later attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

. He married Jesse Fremont Leach (1871-1956), a designer of glass furniture. She was named after her mother's friend at boarding school, Jessie Benton, later wife of Charles Fremont. Jesse had a sister, Anna Russell Leach (1860-1952), a writer for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. He had a daughter,

Anne Elizabeth Rector Anne Elizabeth Rector (June 26, 1899 – February 17, 1970) was an American artist. Rector was the daughter of Enoch J. Rector and she attended the Art Students League of New York studying under John French Sloan. Ann also studied landscape ...

(1899-1970) who was married to

Edmund Duffy Edmund Duffy (March 1, 1899 – September 12, 1962), was an American editorial cartoonist. He grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, eventually moving to metropolitan areas. Duffy did not attend high school, but instead went into the Art Students ...

References

External links

West Virginia & Regional History Center The West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC), is the largest archival collection housing documents and manuscripts involving West Virginia and the surrounding central Appalachian region. Because of name changes over the years, it is someti ...

Enoch Rector, Papers
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rector, Enoch 1863 births 1957 deaths 19th-century American inventors Film directors from West Virginia People from Parkersburg, West Virginia Missing middle or first names West Virginia University alumni