Skip to Main Content

Research Guides

CIN201: Film Cultures 1: Art & Industry

A comprehensive guide to for finding the best primary source materials (1895-1968) for your Cinema Studies assignment.

Primary Sources VS Secondary Sources

The goal of this assignment is for you to have the experience of being the investigator and seek connections between primary sources, instead of reading other people's interpretations.  Remember if only use the facts and the content instead of the arguments and analysis within secondary sources. If you aren't sure how to approach that, connect with your TA or the Cinema Studies Librarian to discuss search strategies.  

Search Tips for Secondary Sources

Books, Newer Magazines or Journals, Films can be found in the UofT Cinema Studies Guide. 

 

PRIMARY SOURCES

 

SECONDARY SOURCES

(Use carefully or Avoid)

"A primary source is a document that was created at the time of the event or subject you've chosen to study, or by people who were observers of, or participants in that event or topic."
- E.H. Brown - Writing about History, UofT Writing Advice

For example, articles and reviews published at contemporary time to a film’s release are primary sources. 

To find primary sources, remember you need to restrict your search results to materials published close to the time of your film or event. If they are published later, they are secondary sources.  

Secondary Sources are documents and creative works (images, film, audio) that analyze primary source materials and provide context on the circumstances that surround them. 

Look for facts, keywords or citations that you can use to search for primary source materials and avoid the insights made by authors. 

Use secondary sources to find reproductions of primary sources (diaries, letters, photos, business documents) and finding the citation information. or your assignment.

AVOID using the secondary author's analysis or commentary on the topic you are examining.

Focus on facts, reproduced text or images of the primary source materials in these secondary sources. 

 

Examples (materials from your chosen time period): 

Personal Documents:

Letters, Diaries, Interviews, Speeches

Memoirs and Autobiographies (written with someone else)

  • Use these resources to find primary source content (e.g. diaries, photos, letters, storyboards).
Audiovisual Materials
  • Photographs, artwork, illustrations
  • Motion Picture Films, News Footage
  • Audio Recordings 
Production and Marketing Materials
  • Scripts, Storyboards
  • Press Kits, Film Posters
  • Advertisements, Toys, Lobby Cards
Business Documents
  • Contracts, Annual Reports, Invoices
  • Memos, letters
Professional Association Documents
  • MPAA Production Code Administration Files
  • Audience Research Reports 
Government & Legal Documents
  • Reports, Court Cases
  • Documents in Archival Collections, e.g., J. Edgar Hoover and Radicalism in Hollywood (Media Commons in microfilm or online via Archives Unbound Collections)
Popular Publications from that time period
  • Newspapers, Trade Magazines, and Fan or Popular Magazines (articles, original film reviews, photos, advertisements, etc.) 

Examples of Using Secondary Sources:

Newspapers, Trade Magazines, and Fan or Popular Magazines published later than time period that you are studying 

Books (including Biographies)

  • If you must look at books that have primary source content (e.g. diaries, letters, storyboards), be sure that they are properly cited and unaltered. Contact the librarian to see if the content can be found a different way.
  • Avoid connections or analysis made by the book's author. 
  • Remember CITED your sources.  

Government & Legal Documents or Professional Association

  • AVOID materials published later than time period that you are studying and provide a retrospective on a topic from the past.

 

Use Scholarly Resources to find Primary Sources

UofT's Cinema Studies Research Guide has search tips to help you search for current Cinema Studies resources through UofT Libraries or the web. Be sure to sign in to LibrarySearch: 

Remember if you encounter a message asking you to pay for access to an online resource, visit the UofT Libraries Website and search for the resource.

If you can't find it:

Databases for Contemporaneous Film Resources (magazines, newspapers, film reviews)

1. ProQuest (1800-current date, depends on the publication)

ProQuest is a platform containing 116 databases. ProQuest contains publications (i.e., magazine, journal and book titles) in different subjects areas including film. Remember you might find content in a non-film related resource from your time period - i.e., newspapers, business or tech magazines

  • Enter search terms on separate lines e.g., enter title of film on the top line, director's last name below, so as 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)
    • Quotations marks (search for  specific phrases, e.g., "It Happened One Night", "Audrey Hepburn", "studio system")
  • Sort your results (relevance, date) 
    • Sort by Date: It may be useful to arrange the results chronologically (oldest first) in order to follow the entire production process of a particular film, from gossip about potential stars to reviews and box-office grosses.
  • Narrow your search results using filters on left sidebar
    • Source Type (e.g., Historical Newspapers)
    • Publication Title (e.g., New York Times)
    • Document Type (e.g., Feature, Front Page/Cover Story, Article or try excluding advertisements)

2.  Media History Digital Library (1856-1996, depends on the publication)

An essential source of primary historical information on film covering the period before, during, and after 1928-1960. Includes digitized versions of Film Daily (1918-1948), Motion Picture Herald (1931-1948), Photoplay (1914-1943), American Cinematographer (1921-1942), Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1916-1954) and many more.

  • The search platform is called Lantern 
  • Great free online resource but it doesn't have many options for narrowing down your search results.
  • Quotations marks (search for  specific phrases, e.g., "It Happened One Night", "Audrey Hepburn", "studio system")
  • Avoid using "and", "or", "the" because database searches every word in every scanned publication. Instead use the advanced search option.

3. AFI Catalog (1893+) 

This resource for detailed production information on specific films (incl. release dates and other production-related information) as well as citations to contemporaneous reviews from newspapers (e.g., New York Times); trade & industry publications (Variety); popular magazines (Motion Picture Herald, Photoplay); and review publications (Monthly Film Bulletin), among others. Every film produced on American soil or by American production companies is indexed from the birth of cinema to the present day. 

  • Scroll down the record and often you will find information about the production of the film and citation information for different reviews and articles about the film.
  • N.B. There are no direct links to online content from AFI Catalog. See How to Find Journal Articles, for instructions on how to use a citation to find a journal article.

4. Film Index International (1900+) 

This is a major information resource for entertainment films and personalities produced in collaboration with the British Film Institute. With a scholarly, inclusive approach to all areas of film studies - from the very first silent movies, to art house classics or the latest blockbusters - Film Index International provides truly international coverage, indexing films from over 170 countries.

  • Scroll down the record and often you will find information about the production of the film and citation information for different reviews and articles about the film.
  • N.B. There are no direct links to online content from Film Index International. See How to Find Journal Articles, for instructions on how to use a citation to find a journal article.

5. Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (1880-2000)

This database contains scans of "... the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. The core US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater are all included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles."

  • This is a ProQuest database so use the tips mentioned earlier. 

6. Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections  

This digital collection contains a complete run of Academy Awards ceremony programs, posters, and rules books, as well as selected photographs and ephemera from the library's extensive holdings.

  • Click on Advanced Search link beside the Search Button.
  • The default is to search all digital collections, but you can select specific collections by clicking on Add or remove collections (to the right o the search window). 
  • Be sure to limit your search result to the time period for your topic. Click on Search by Date under the advance search window and enter the time range. 
chat loading...