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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Film Studies
  5. Primary sources for historical film research

Film Studies

This guide is an introduction to the resources for Film Studies at Dartmouth. If you are interested in Television, see the separate research guide for Television.
  • Introduction
  • Basic information on film
  • Finding a specific film title
  • Streaming film services
    • Readings on streaming video
  • National cinemas This link opens in a new window
  • Course guides for Film & Media Studies
  • Starting your research ...
  • Researching early films
  • Film history through the decades
    • 1960's film history
    • 1970's film history
  • Books about film
  • Film reviews
  • Journals & magazines about film
  • Film theory
    • Feminist film theory
    • Auteur theory
  • Film criticism
    • Feminist film criticism
  • Box office information
  • Film audiences
  • Mass media Industry
  • Primary sources for historical film research
    • Cinema Pressbooks from the Original Studio Collections
    • Congressional Hearings & Communism
    • Film Daily
    • Herrick Library Digital Collections
    • Hollywood and the Production Code
    • Media History Digital Library
    • Moving Picture World
  • Themes
  • Acting
  • Racial & ethnic representation on film
    • African American diaspora
    • Asian American diaspora
    • Hispanic American diaspora
    • Native American & Indigenous peoples diasporas
    • Examples on film
  • LGBTQIA+
    • Examples on film
  • Women on/in/creating Film
    • Examples on film
  • Film genres This link opens in a new window
  • Film & society
  • Screenwriting
  • Film adaptations
    • Shakespeare on film
    • Television to Film adaptations
  • Color in film
  • Film music
  • Film festivals
    • A short list of film festivals
  • Film awards
  • Disney
  • Hitchcock
  • Internet resources
  • Future of Media
  • Back to Film & Media
  • Scholarly communication This link opens in a new window
  • Video Help

Subject Librarian

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Lucinda M. Hall
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Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
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Hanover, NH 03755
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Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
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Subjects: Film and Media Studies, Geography, Polar Studies

Getting started

Primary resources are first person accounts of events. The recounting may be an autobiography, an interview, a diary or corporate documents. Newspapers, magazines and journals published during the time you are researching are also primary documents. This page highlights not only contemporary (of the time) publications, but also special collections focused on particular topics or events within cinema.

Film indexes

The American Film Institute Catalog covers the time period 1893 to the present. This catalog is exclusively American films. Film Index International is the British Film Institute's catalog. This catalog is international in scope and covers 1900 through the present. Both catalogs include citations to reviews, industry and scholarly articles about the films. These bibliographies are good starting places for finding information about specific films.

  • Resource logoScreen studies collection by ProQuest
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    A comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute.

Newspapers

  1. Major metropolitan newspapers are a good source for movie reviews and information.
  2. You can also limit your searching to "reviews" in most of this group of databases.
  3. These newspaper archives go back before the early days of film making them an excellent source of information for early filmmaking.
  • Resource logoProquest historical newspapers by ProQuest
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    • Newspaper
    Call Number: Electronic resources
    A collection of major regional and ethnic newspapers from their beginning date to a date in the near past. The New York Times goes until 3 years ago, while the Boston Globe only goes to 1989. The Chicago Defender goes from 1905 to 1975.

Other library source(s)

Any and all newspapers, directories, yearbooks, magazines and journals published during the time period you are researching are primary sources. Some examples follow:

  • International motion picture almanac by Quigley Publishing Company
    • Book
    Call Number: Library Depository PN 1993.3 .I55 1937/38-2014
    This indispensable reference work for those in the motion picture industry and for all others who want to know the facts about its people, its product and the organizations which make it function. The almanac also includes statistics for that year covered.
  • Photoplay magazine by Photoplay Publishing Company
    Call Number: Library Depository 4895R 1916-1940
  • Issue cover artPhotoplay by Media History Digital Library
    • Open Access Icon
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The leading Hollywood fan magazine of the 1920s and 1930s. Photoplay offered readers portraits of their favorite movie stars and stories about their into personal lives. The magazine played an important promotional function for the Hollywood industry, but its editors and reviewers could also be highly critical of Hollywood. [Range: 1914-1943] ...
  • Variety by ProQuest Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic journal
    This database covers Variety from 1905 to 2000.
  • Variety by Screen Studies Collection
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic journal
    This database covers Variety from 2000 to the present.

Production Code Administration

Find more information here.

  • History of cinema. Series 1, Hollywood and the production code by Margaret Herrick Library, Acadamy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
    Call Number: Library Depository #5076r reels 1 - 33
    ISBN: 9781578033546
    There is an accompanying guide.
  • Resource logoHollywood, censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968 by Archives Unbound (GALE)
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    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 Production Code was written in 1929 by Martin J. Quigley, an influential editor and publisher of motion picture trade periodicals, and Reverend Daniel A. Lord, a Jesuit advisor to Hollywood filmmakers.
  • Resource logoProduction Code Administration records by Motion Picture Association of America (Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections)
    • Open Access Icon
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    Full documentation from a selection of 500 film titles in the Motion Picture Association of America Production Code Administration records. Will Hays, as president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) in 1930, introduced the Production Code, a document designed to help the industry regulate itself by following certain moral principles and guidelines. Hays chose Joseph Breen to oversee the administration of the Code in 1934. ...

Primary sources

To find primary sources relating to film, you can do a keyword search for "s:sources and s:motion pictures." Click here to see the entire list of items in the online catalog. Check the online catalog for locations. The guides to these collections may be in a different place.

  • Cover artAn autobiography of British cinema: as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it by Brian McFarlane
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1998.2 .A98 1997
    ISBN: 9780413705204
    This volume of first-hand reminiscences, celebrating 50 years of British filmmaking, records the Golden Age of British Cinema as remembered by 180 great and best-loved names of the British cinema, including Lindsay Anderson, Dirk Bogarde, Julie Christie, Alec Guinness, Thora Hird, Richard Attenborough, Glenda Jackson, Sarah Miles, Richard Todd, Michael Caine, Moira Shearer and Norman Wisdom, plus a whole new generation of British filmmakers and actors like Sally Potter, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jarman, Peter Greenaway, Emma Thompson and Stephen Frears.
  • Entertainment industry magazine archive
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    An archival resource containing 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 included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles.
  • Cover artFilm and propaganda in America: a documentary history by Richard Wood; David Culbert, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .U6 F47 1990 v.1-4
    ISBN: 9780313208584
    During World War I, the medium of film took on a worldwide role. Capitalizing on its potential for persuasion, governments made unprecedented use of film to record actual fighting, help train combatants, sway neutral opinion, and make civilians on the home front aware of the need for sacrifice and patriotic commitment. ...
  • Cover artThe film factory: Russian and Soviet cinema in documents by Richard Taylor; Ian Christie, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .R9 F47 1988
    ISBN: 9780674301252
  • Istoriia otechestvennogo kino: dokumenty, memuary, pisma by V.S. Listov, E.S. Khokhlova, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .R9 I786 1996 vyp.1
    ISBN: 9785856460239
  • Resource logoMedia history digital library by Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research
    • Open Access Icon
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The Media History Digital Library digitizes collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan them for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning.

    The Collection feature extensive runs of several important trade papers and fan magazines.
  • The Moscow Lenin Order Mosfilm Studio (1938-1945 = Moskovska︠i︡a kinostudi︠i︡a "Mosfilʹm" (1938-1945) by Moskovska︠i︡a kinostudi︠i︡a "Mosfilʹm"
    Call Number: Library Depository 4920r reels 1-12 + guide
  • Motion picture code: adopted code to govern the production of motion pictures by Will H. Hays; Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry Oversize 809.23 A239
    Copy of the censorship code of the Hays Office of the Motion Picture Association of America.
  • The movies in our midst: documents in the cultural history of film in America by Gerald Mast, ed.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .U6 M69 1982
    ISBN: 9780226509815
    Publication Date: 1983-06-01
  • Papers, 1934-1988 by Wendell Triller
    Call Number: Rauner Manuscript MS-779
    These are the papers of Wendell Triller relating to his work with the Dartmouth Eye Institute, his career in physiological optics, his work as an optician, and research on "Aniseikonia." The manuscripts include Dartmouth Eye Institute administrative papers as well as a copy of the motion picture film, "Aniseikonia."
  • The Papers of Mario Puzo
    Call Number: Rauner Special Collections Library
    This Dartmouth News story highlights this impressive gift from Diana and Bruce Rauner.
  • Primary cinema resources: an index to screenplays, interviews and special collections at the University of Southern California by Chistopher S. Wheaton; Richard B. Jewell, comp.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry Z 5784 .M9 W5
    ISBN: 9780816111985
    This book details special screenplays, interviews and special collections at the University of Southern California. The short foreword talks about the importance of preserving documentation in the film industry.
  • Resource logoProquest historical newspapers by ProQuest
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    • Newspaper
    Call Number: Electronic resources
    A collection of major regional and ethnic newspapers from their beginning date to a date in the near past. The New York Times goes until 3 years ago, while the Boston Globe only goes to 1989. The Chicago Defender goes from 1905 to 1975.
  • Relationship between the story department and the animation director: from Dave Hand's talk of May 28, 1937 by David Hand
    Call Number: Rauner Scripts #2374
    Transcript of a meeting in which the animation director for Walt Disney Productions fielded co-workers' questions.
  • Cover artRussian writings on Hollywood by Ayn Rand; Michael S. Berliner, ed.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .U6 R36 1999
    ISBN: 9780962533631
  • Cover artWerkstatt Film: Selbstverständnis und Visionen von Filmleuten der zwanziger Jahre by Rolf Aurich and Wolfgang Jacobsen, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1994 .W425 1998
    ISBN: 9783883775975

Keeping up with Film Studies journal literatuer

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

  • << Previous: Mass media Industry
  • Next: Cinema Pressbooks from the Original Studio Collections >>
  • Last Updated: May 15, 2025 12:13 PM
  • URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmstudies
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Subjects: Film and Media Studies
Tags: Arts, box office, festivals, FILM, film aesthetics, film color, film criticism, film music, film reviews, film studies, future of media, genres, LGBTQIA+, media industry, primary resources, queer cinema, representation in film, screenwriting, streaming film services, themes, women in film

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