Research Guides: CIN201: Film Cultures 1: Art & Industry: Resources Organized by Format

Newspapers

Content found in Newspapers
Historical Newspaper Databases

UofT Newspaper Research Guide
Each section includes links to historical archives for newspapers across the globe.
> Organized by location (e.g., Canada, United States, Latin America & the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia)
> Check the date range carefully. Look for "HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS" in the navigation menu on the left side.

Don't forget that you can explore newspapers from different countries, regions, and cities. Newspapers have a long history of being the first place where people could find out what was going on in the world or their local community.

Different Types of Articles
- Cover / Front page articles
- Feature articles
- Film reviews
- Gossip or industry news columns
- Editorials (written by the editor of the publication), opinon pieces
Letters to the editor
Advertisements, classifieds
Cartoons, Photographs
Listings of events or screenings
National Audiences

Library of Congress - Moving Image Research Center - Digital Moving Image Collections

Jump to Top

Proquest Historical Newspapers
Searches all titles included in Proquest Historical Newspapers. International with strong American focus.
African American Newspapers
(1827-1998) Database providing online access to more than 350 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. Includes historically significant papers from more than 35 states.

Independent and Revolutionary Mexican Newspapers
Open access collection of newspapers documenting the evolution of Mexico from 1807 to 1929.
World Newspaper Archive, Africa

Specific Newspapers

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times (1851-2014)

ProQuest: Los Angeles Times
(1881-1996) A search tool for the Los Angeles Times within ProQuest's historical newspaper collection.
Proquest - The Chicago Defender
(1910-1967) The historical full-text of one of the most influential black newspapers in the United States.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Wall Street Journal

Socialism on Film: Module II Newsreels and Cinemagazines
Documentaries, newsreels and features that cover Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, British and Latin American filmmakers pertaining to socialist life.

Magazines (Fan, Trade / Industry, Popular Culture)

The following links will connect you with online collections, but please visit Research Tips by Database (see leftside menu) to learn how to build effective searches using these search interfaces.

Early logo of Billboard magazine

Fan magazine
Popular culture and general society
Trade magazine
Images
Articles
Quizzes
Opinion pieces

Jump to Top

Media History Digital Library - Global Cinema Collection
(1904-1957) Global fan magazines spanning China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Latin America, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Media History Digital Library - Fan Magazine Collection
(1911-1963) Archive hosting a number of fan magazine runs. "Fan magazines gave audiences a way to experience the magic of the movies beyond the theatre. The magazines also gave producers a way to promote their stars and coming films."
Youth and Popular Culture Magazine Archive
(1940s - present) Contains periodicals (magazines, etc.) that highlight trends in youth culture and showcase the portrayal of youth in US, Canada & UK.

"Through the camera lens" : The Moving Picture World and the silent cinema era
(1907-1927) Moving Picture World reviewed current releases and published news, features, and interviews relating to all aspects of the industry. News items, the best reviews and feature articles, including advertisements published each week.
Media History Digital Library - Extensive Publication Runs
This page lists the publications that MDHL has extensive runs (10 or more issues) and provides links to browse the individual issues of each publication.
Variety
(1905-2000) Proquest's historical archive of Variety magazine. 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.
The Hollywood Reporter
(1930-2015) Proquest's historical archive of The Hollywood Reporter. 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.
Monthly Film Bulletin
(1934-1991) Proquest's historical archive of Monthly Film Bulletin.
Sight and Sound
(1932-2000) Proquest's historical archive of Sight and Sound magazine. Published by the British Film Insitute (BFI)
Film Quarterly
(1958-2017) Previously this publication was the Quarterly of Film, Radio, and Television, v. 6-11 (1951-1957) and before that it was Hollywood Quarterly, v. 1-5 (1945-1951)
Films and Filming
(1956-1987) The archive of this publication is available only in person at Robarts Library.

Life Magazine
Archive of the early years of Life Magazine, a light entertainment magazine well-known for its photographs and illustrations.
Women's Magazine Archive
A searchable archive of leading women's interest magazines, dating from the 19th century through to the 21st. Subject coverage includes consumer culture, economics/marketing, family life, fashion, gender studies, health and fitness, home/interior design, popular culture, and social history.
The Magazine Rack
The Internet Archive's collection of digitized magazines and monthly publications. Huge amount of material, although filters and search can help narrow it down (make sure to select "Text contents" rather than "Metadata" to perform a specific search).

Audiovisuals

Still of a movie monster carrying a woman

Film / Video
Audio
Photographs
Marketing materials

Jump to Top

National Film Board of Canada Search
A search tool to find films available online through the National Film Board of Canada, you can apply a date range to see films within the period of the assignment. Date range: 1939+
Black Film Archive (BFA)
(1915 -1979) Accessed via the Web as "living register of Black films", BFA is an "evolving archive dedicated to making historically and culturally significant films ... about Black people accessible through a streaming guide with cultural context." Scroll down to find films grouped by decade.
George Eastman Museum - Digitized Films Online
(1898-1994) Digitized selections preserved in the George Eastman Museum's Moving Image collections.
George Eastman Museum - Moving Image
(1800s+) The George Eastman Museum's collection of film prints, not digitized.
Rarebit Early Animation Wiki
The Early Animation Wiki is a collaboration between faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at the University of Toronto and AnimationResources.org. A project for gathering and sharing information on the early years of animation, its initial focus is on the United States but expanding to international materials. The wiki offers biographical information on animators, historical data on animation studios, and an extensive bibliography of sources on animation and related topics.
The Library of Congress - Origins of American Animation
Collection of animated films tracing the development of animation and the animation industry. Date range: 1900-1921.
The Library of Congress - National Film Registry
Small selection from the LoC's National Film Registry, which contains films deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant," considered works of enduring importance to American culture.
Media History Digital Library - Non-Theatrical Film Collection
(1918-1973) "The educational possibilities of motion pictures were recognized early in the development of motion pictures and by the 1920s the "Visual Education" movement was established and extremely active. Spurred by the introduction of the cheaper to use, nonflammable 16mm format in 1923, the reuse of existing films for education and creation of new films for the classroom were part of a parallel motion picture industry."
The Library of Congress - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
The Library of Congress - America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915
Early motion pictures of Americans engaging in work, school, and leisure activities, from the Library of Congress. Date range: 1894-1915.
Lost Films
"LOST FILMS is a new internet portal aimed at collecting and documenting film titles, which are believed or have been declared "lost". The ARCHIVE currently contains over 3500 entries, a number of which are extensively illustrated with surviving documents contributed by archives and individuals worldwide. The IDENTIFY section contains images and short video clips of around 50 unknown or unidentified films, which face the danger of also becoming lost if not identified by members. The aim of LOST FILMS is not to produce a definitive list of lost films but to provide a platform where members can frequently - and freely - exchange, add and update information."
Schlemmer Frame Collection
"Although many film archives hold such collections, it was the first case of a historical frame collection of this kind that received detailed attention from researchers, followed by a full digitization and presentation to the public in 2007. The collection is distinguished by the innovative methods employed as well as by its content: many of the represented, i.e. "excerpted" films from the 1910s and 20s are now considered lost."

National Museum of American History - Let's Go to the Movies
(1800s+) Digitized objects and images related to film and television history.
Calisphere - Los Angeles Examiner Collection
(1920-1961) The Los Angeles Examiner Photographs Collection consists of approximately 1.4 million prints and negatives from the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper.
George Eastman Museum - Photography
(1800s+) A selection of photographs from the George Eastman Museum collection.
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
"The Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection contains images from the 1850s to the present, documenting all aspects of life in Southern California, with an emphasis on Los Angeles."
Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections - Academy Awards Collection
(1927+) 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.
Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections - Spotlight on Hollywood Portraits
This digital collection showcases portraits of Hollywood actors and actresses, as well as other Hollywood luminaries including directors, writers, executives and craftspeople.
Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections - Spotlight on Casting Directories
(1923-1938) A selection of early casting directories from the Library’s core collections. "This digital collection features early issues of The Standard and the Academy Players Directory considered the “casting bibles” of their time. These bound directories include actor headshots, names, studios, and film titles, and provide researchers with a visual overview of studio casting history."
Archives of Ontario - Motion Picture Censorship Theatre Inspection Branch - Images
- Archives of Ontario's RG 56-11 Theatre photographs of the Motion Picture Censorship Theatre Inspection Branch of the Government of Ontario
- Digitized images of movie theatres across Ontario that were "as visual proof of compliance with safety standards" (hosted on Wikimedia)
Archives of Ontario's GLAM Wiki project (Digitized Media)

Silent Film Sound & Music Archive
(1895-1930) Archive of silent film-era cue sheets, music sheets, and related materials.
Recorded Sound Research at the Library of Congress
All Library of Congress collections that include digital audio recordings.
Margaret Herrick Library - Sheet Music collection
The music in the collection is often from, related to, or inspired by a film, and many covers contain images of film stars, often tied to a film company or specific production. The earliest piece is "Let’s Go in to a Picture Show," copyright 1909.

CineFiles Digital Collections
See CineFiles (UC Berkeley) tab in Film Industry Section. It contains links to marketing materials including press kits, exhibitor manuals, distributors materials. CineFiles (UC Berkeley) CineFiles is an ongoing project of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)'s Film Library and Study Center.
Margaret Herrick Library - Spotlight on Lobby Cards
(1913-1994) Lobby cards were placed in theatre windows to attracted passersby to the films currently being shown.
Harry Ransom Center Movie Posters Collection
(1910s-1970s) Collection containing thousands of movie posters advertising musicals, epics, westerns, horror, and counter-culture films.
Media History Digital Library - Pressbooks Collection - United Artists
(1914-1953) Pressbooks were deployed to theatres by distributors to aid with the marketing of their films. Materials included range from posters, to lobby cards, to advertisements meant to be shared with newspapers.
Warner Brothers Pressbooks
(1930-1952) This Warner Bros collection of digitized materials are held within Internet Archive.

Research Guides

CIN201: Film Cultures 1: Art & Industry

Ask a Librarian Chat - click to start a chat session

Contact with Research Help at Innis College Library

Newspapers

Specific Newspapers

Magazines (Fan, Trade / Industry, Popular Culture)

Audiovisuals

Libraries

Policies

Connect