Luke McKernan

Biography

Luke McKernan is a media historian. Now retired, he has worked at the British Film Institute (cataloguer), the British Universities Film & Video Council (Head of Information) and the British Library (Lead Curator, News and Moving Image). His publications include Topical Budget: The Great British News Film (BFI, 1992), Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive (BFI, 1994) [co-editor with Olwen Terris], Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema: A Worldwide Survey (BFI, 1996) [co-editor with Stephen Herbert], Yesterday’s News: The British Cinema Newsreel Reader (BUFVC, 2002), Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897–1925 (University of Exeter Press, 2013), Breaking the News: 500 Years of News in Britain (British Library, 2022) [co-editor with Jackie Harrison] and Picturegoers: A Critical Anthology of Eyewitness Experiences (University of Exeter Press, 2022). Databases he has developed, or managed, include News on Screen (bufvc.ac.uk/newsonscreen), The International Database of Shakespeare on Film, Radio and Television (learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare) and The London Project (londonfilm.bbk.ac.uk). His websites include The Bioscope (thebioscope.net), Charles Urban, Motion Picture Pioneer (charlesurban.com), Picturegoing (picturegoing.com), Theatregoing (theatregoing.com) and Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema (victorian-cinema.net). He publishes regularly online through his personal site, lukemckernan.com.