Research guides: Cinema Studies: Primary Source &amp; Archival Materials

Contributions

Many thanks to Philip Bardach (MI 2018) for his contributions to research and compiling these resources.

Free Primary Source Resources

Media Digital History Library (Lantern)
Reviews in publications from 1850-1996. Lantern is the search platform for the collections of the Media History Digital Library, an open access initiative. The Media History Digital Library (MHDL) digitizes collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access.
Media Digital History Library - Book Collection
A free online resource, featuring books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.
Library of Congress Archives
Gateway to primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States, organized into thematic collections. Including: public domain image resources, audio, video, and archived Web content.
Motion Picture Periodicals, Books, and Pamphlets: Margaret Herrick Library
The digital collection of Periodicals, Books, and Pamphlets contains complete issues of various publications from the library’s collections. The library’s published holdings include industry trade publications, fan magazines, technical and scholarly books and journals, and studio house organs and myriad other rare publications.
MPPDA Digital Archive
(1922-1939) This database contains records of the General / Business Correspondence files of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc. These documents describe "... the organization and operation of the industry's trade association, and include extensive correspondence and other documentation relating to industry policy and public relations, distributor-exhibitor relations, censorship and self-regulation. The great majority of this material is unavailable from other sources."
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo tracks online box office revenue and offers its published data.
Online Silent Film Periodicals (Bioscope)
List of international silent film periodicals that are available online via different European projects.

Film Reviews (Open Access)

Movie Review Query Engine
Search engine that brings together complete reviews of popular films in theatres, DVD and online, from newspapers, journals and internet sources. Access by title, director, or actor.
Media Digital History Library (Lantern)
Reviews in publications from 1850-1996. Lantern is the search platform for the collections of the Media History Digital Library, an open access initiative. The Media History Digital Library (MHDL) digitizes collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access.

Research Guides

Cinema Studies

Contributions

Free Primary Source Resources

Film Reviews (Open Access)

Library links

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