NWFA was behind the survey conducted on Merseyside to track down films left in town halls and council chambers.
Their findings will be aired at Liverpool University on March 2 as well as showings at Birkenhead Town Hall on February 16, Southport Studio Theatre on February 20, and St Helens Citadel Theatre on March 3.
Other films broadcast for the first time feature one of the first promotional films for Southport, entitled Wish You Were Here, and film footage of the last launch of a cruise liner from the Cammell Laird ship yard.
But it is the perrying ceremony that caught the archivists' attention.
Merseyside historian Steve Binns said the ceremony had the hallmarks of a 13th or 14th century tradition.
Mr Binns said: "An interesting point of film-making in the 1920s was the move towards Mass Observation where the focus switched to documenting everyday life rather than just grand occasions.
"And because of a certain aspect of English medieval law Prescot had some very unusual procedures.
"Prescot is older than Liverpool and was a very important settlement.
"In the 20s there was a revival of a lot of old traditions. For example, in Liverpool there was a ceremony where the city was married to the sea. A ring was thrown into the Mersey from the pier to mark the consummation of the marriage. The revival of folk law was a reaction to the end of the first world war to return to older customs."
Article
