| Before the Nickelodeon |
| Foreword |
| Acknowledgments |
 | 1 Introduction |
| 2 Porter's Early Years. 1870-1896 |
| 3 Edison and the Kinetoscope: 1888-1895 |
| 4 Cinema, a Screen Novelty: 1895-1897 |
| 5 Producer and Exhibitor as Co-Creators: 1897-1900 |
| 6 The Production Company Assumes Greater Control: 1900-1902 |
| 7 A Close Look at Life of an American Fireman: 1902-1903 |
| 8 Story Films Become the Dominant Product: 1903-1904 |
 | 9 Articulating an Old-Middle-Class Ideology: 1904-1905 |
| • | American Themes and Values: Family and Society |
| • | The Country and the City |
| • | Society and Its Outcasts |
| • | The Edison Comedies |
| • | Actualities and Short Subjects |
| 10 Elaborating on the Established Mode of Representation: 1905-1907 |
| 11 As Cinema Becomes Mass Entertainment, Porter Resists: 1907-1908 |
| 12 Edison Lets Porter Go: 1908-1909 |
| 13 Postscript |
| Appendix A Edison Manufacturing Company Statements of Profit and Loss: 1893-1911 |
| Appendix B Kleine Optical Company Accounts |
| Appendix C Credits and Key To Quotations in the Documentary Film Before the Nickelodeon: the Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter |
| Notes |
| List of Abbreviations and Primary Sources |
| Credits for Illustrations |
| Subject and Name Index |
| Film Title Index |