Gale Archives Unbound

Gale Archives Unbound is a suite of collections, each devoted to a particular topic, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The collections include primary, unpublished historical documents and draw from institutional sources, governmental sources, and private collections. Search all of Archives Unbound or individual collections using the links below.

 

Film History Collections

Hollywood, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968 

• The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Production Code Administration Files collection documents forty years of self-regulation and censorship in the motion picture industry. The five hundred titles selected were chosen by the staff of the library's Special Collections Department, with advice from film historian Leonard J. Leff.

FBI File: Hollywood and J. Edgar Hoover: Investigations of Actors and Directors, 1922-1961  

• A collection of documents from the FBI's investigation of Hollywood

FBI File: Hollywood and J. Edgar Hoover: Communists in the Motion Picture Industry,1925-1961 

• A collection of the FOIA files related to a variety of subjects under FBI surveillance due to their alleged Communist activities.

"Through the camera lens" : the Moving picture world and the silent cinema era, 1907-1927 

• Moving Picture World was an important film trade publication that ran through the early years of American cinema (1907 to 1927). It set a standard for the broadest possible coverage, by reviewing current releases and published news, features, and interviews relating to all aspects of the film industry.

D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation 1915

• The Birth of a Nation (1915) in its first exhibited form at Clune's Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. The collection does not provide the film in its totality, but provides a shot-by-shot analysis, with annotations, that establishes as accurate an appreciation as possible of the film in its earliest exhibited state.

FBI File: Howard Hughes

• A collection of FBI reports on billionaire Howard Hughes, ranging from 1941-1981

 

Social / Cultural History

African American Studies

• U.S. Military Activities and Civil Rights: The Little Rock Integration Crisis, 1957-1958
• Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations, 1933-1945 

American Studies

• American Urban Life and Health, 1883-1914

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

• Women Organizing Transnationally: The Committee of Correspondence, 1952-1969
• Women's Periodicals: Social and Political Issues - Note that this collection spans 1786-1933, so ensure you filter by date

Latin American and Caribbean Studies

• Feminism in Cuba: Nineteenth through Twentieth Century Archival Documents
• Foreign Relations Between the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean States, 1930-1944

To search all of Gale or a collection select Advanced Search. To browse their collections, select the collections icon.

Connect Search Terms with Boolean Operators  

Enter search terms on separate lines e.g., enter title of film on the top line, director's last name below, to articulate your search request. Use Boolean Operators to improve your search: 

• AND (narrows your search e.g., Paramount and Hepburn) 
• OR (widens your search e.g., blacklist or communist, MGM or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) 
• NOT (exclude results that include this term) 
• Quotations marks (search for  specific phrases, e.g., "It Happened One Night", "Audrey Hepburn", "studio system") 
• Asterisk (wildcard truncation e.g., Canad* = Canada, Canadian, Canadians, Canadiana) 

Limit Search

Limit the scope of your search by only searching certain collections or by limiting the dates.

To filter the results, select one of the document types at the top or one of the other options on the right side of the page. If you want to filter by a collection, select revise search.

Save your source by selecting “Send to” or “Download”. Remember this does not save the citation information, so remember to save that as well.

To view the details needed for the citation, select “View Full Citation” on the left-hand side. You can also have gale auto-generate a citation by selecting “Cite” on the top, right. Remember that auto-generated citations are not always accurate, and it is your responsibility to check for accuracy.