The Howard Walls collection spans the years 1851-1967 (bulk 1947-1953) and encompasses 2.1 linear feet. The collection consists of professional records created during Walls’s tenure as Curator of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the majority of which pertain to the conversion of the Library of Congress’s paper film prints to film. The collection contains subject files, which are further categorized as either general or research files. The general subject files contain material on the early history of film and film apparatus, such as the Kameraphone, Mutoscope, Praxinoscope, Stroboscope, and the Thaumatrope. The general files also contain acquisition, preservation, and exhibition information. The research files are comprised of notes, photographs, and synopses of specific early films. Of note are patents for three early film projectors and photographic material from EDISON KINETOSCOPIC RECORD OF A SNEEZE (1894).

Howard Walls (1902-2003) was born in Beckley, West Virginia, and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1933 with degrees in English and journalism. He was first appointed to the staff of the Library of Congress in 1939. As a copyright clerk in the U.S. Copyright office, he contributed to the preparation of the Catalog of Copyright Entries. In 1942, Walls was compiling and reorganizing the copyright records when he rediscovered more than 3,000 paper film prints that had been deposited in the U.S. Copyright office between 1894 and 1912. Appointed assistant in charge of Motion Picture Archives in 1943, these paper film prints came under his jurisdiction. Walls realized that the paper film collection documented the beginnings of the motion picture industry, and the library began a preservation project of re-copying the material back to celluloid film. When the library's Motion Picture Division was created in 1944, Walls was appointed curator, a position he held until 1947 when the Division was liquidated due to budget cuts. In order to keep the paper film print project going, Walls solicited the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy agreed to sponsor the preservation project. Walls was appointed Curator of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1947 to spearhead the project. Under the auspices of the Academy Foundation, arrangements were made for the Library of Congress to provide the Academy with the paper film prints from their collection and Walls was to supervise their conversion. He remained at the Academy until 1953. The collections of Thomas H. Ince and Mack Sennett were acquired by the library during his tenure.