The Kemp Niver collection spans the years 1894-1989 and encompasses 2.7 linear feet. The collection contains books on film history and criticism, periodicals, and miscellaneous film history material. The latter includes William Farnum's 1916 income tax return; clippings, programs, and correspondence regarding D. W. Griffith; clippings regarding David Horsley; clippings regarding Thomas Ince with a cataloging reference sheet (including synopses) for several Ince films; and the Mabel Normand "Liberty" magazine article published in 1930. Hundreds of biographical and historical reference books on the pioneers of cinema and the motion picture industry are included, with emphasis on the period from 1890 to 1920. Among the rare periodicals are the first volume of "Moving Picture World" from 1907, which was the motion picture industry's first trade publication, and early runs of "Nickelodeon," "Motography," and "Motion Picture News." Among the general files are a photostat of the first edition of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company 1902 picture catalog; a transcript for Thomas A. Edison vs. American Mutoscope Company regarding the Kinetograph 1897 patent; a Biograph cast notebook compiled by Niver containing photographic material of Biograph players arranged alphabetically (including periodical clippings, frame enlargements, and stills); Biograph production records from 1899 to 1912; photocopies of Edison Films catalogs; and an American Mutoscope and Biograph scrapbook compiled by Niver with photostats of "Biograph Bulletin" (and other source material) from 1904 to 1911. Among the oversize material of interest is the first issue of "The American Cinematographer" in 1920 and several framed editions of "Biograph Bulletin." Many of the periodicals have been integrated into the Library's core collection and may be requested at the reference desk. They include issues of "American Cinematographer," "American Photography," "Cinema Journal," "Cinema News," "Griffithiana," "Image," "International Photographer," "Moving Picture News," "Motion Picture Story Magazine," "Motography," "Moving Picture World," "New York Dramatic Mirror," "The Nickelodeon," "Reel Life," "The Screen," and "Wid's Weekly."

Kemp R. Niver (1911-1996) was born in Los Angeles. He served in the Navy during World War II and worked as an investigator for the Los Angeles district attorney's office and as a freelance bodyguard and private investigator. Niver is best known for his work on the Library of Congress paper print collection. The paper prints were contact prints made from original nitrate films. Prior to 1912 these prints were the only way through which filmmakers could secure copyright protection. The collection was originally under the supervision of Howard Walls, a former curator for the Library of Congress film division. Walls had been hired by the Academy in the fall of 1947 to supervise the conversion of the Library of Congress paper print collection to celluloid under the auspices of the Academy Foundation. Due to lack of funding, however, little progress had been made by the time Walls left the Academy in the fall of 1953.

Niver, who had met Margaret Herrick in the early 1950s as a private investigator, took over the project and received funding from the Academy through 1956. He created the Renovare process to transfer the paper print films to 16mm film. Niver developed an optical step printer with a variable aperture to copy each paper print frame by frame (the printer later was donated to the UCLA film archive). More than 3,000 titles were processed through 1965 (pictured, left to right: Kemp Niver, Academy Governor Claire Trevor, and Academy Film Library Committee Chairman Fred Metzler with the first 200,000 feet of restored film). For his efforts, Niver received a 1954 Honorary Academy Award. Niver was president of Renovare Productions and also ran companies known as Locare and Historical Films. He was often aided by researcher Bebe Bergsten. Writings include "Motion Pictures from the Library of Congress Paper Print Collection," "In the Beginning: Program Notes to Accompany One Hundred Early Motion Pictures," "The First Twenty Years: A Segment of Film History," "Biograph Bulletins," 1896-1908, and "Early Motion Pictures: The Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress." At one time Niver was museum curator for the American Society of Cinematographers and also taught film history at Loyola Marymount University.