The Bailey Theatre was opened in 1911 in Camrose, AB as the David Theatre, named after its original owner, Camille David. In its original incarnation, the theatre hosted live theatre and vaudeville performances, film screenings, meetings, and boxing matches. In 1919, David sold the theatre to Stan Bailey, who re-named the theatre after himself and focused more on film screenings while still offering live performances. The theatre became a film theatre exclusively sometime after the Second World War and remained as such until the 1990s, when competition from a local multiplex theatre forced the venue to close.

In 1998, Landmark Cinemas donated the building to the Bailey Theatre Society, a non-profit organization devoted to restoring the theatre and once again providing a venue for live performances and film screenings in downtown Camrose. After several years of fundraising and restoration work, the Bailey Theatre re-opened in 2011 and is managed by the Bailey Theatre Society.

The fonds consists of lobby cards for silent films that were shown in the Bailey Theatre in the 1920s. The films depicted in the lobby cards consist of comedies, dramas, short films, and feature-length films. Some of the films were produced by major production companies such as those run by Mack Sennett, Carl Laemmle, D.W. Griffith, and William Fox. Actors depicted in the lobby cards include major stars of the era such as William Desmond, Tom Mix, Mary Astor, Douglas Fairbanks, Pola Negri, Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, and Lillian Gish.

The film reels are all silent films on nitrate stock. The first reel is a compilation of clips from different films. The first clip is an unidentified, silent Western film on Gevaert nitrate film stock from Belgium. The second clip is an unidentified, silent melodrama film on 1924 Kodak nitrate stock. The third clip is also an unidentified, Western film with sound on 1932 Kodak nitrate stock.

The second reel is likely a fragment of The Devil’s Twin, a 1927 silent Western film directed by Leo Maloney and produced by Pathepicture. The reel consists of DuPont/Pathé nitrate stock dated between 1924 and 1931.

The third and fourth reels are near-complete versions of a two-reel, 1919 silent comedy directed by Mack Sennett entitled The Village Smithy. The reels consist of 1919 Kodak nitrate stock.