Library Holdings

Special Collections materials from the Margaret Herrick Library.

Books and Pamphlets
The library collects books in English on motion pictures, as well as important foreign language reference sources and a few selected books in allied fields such as television, radio, theater and music. It is international in scope and encompasses the early pre-cinema years to the present.  The books include the cinema history of many countries as well as the United States; biographies of film personnel (writers, directors, producers) and actors; and genre studies from action/adventure films to Westerns.  The collection also includes works on every technical aspect vital to the filmmaking process, from screenwriting to marketing and exhibition.  Recent additions to the collection focus on the latest video/digital filmmaking processes currently in use.  Among the many rare items included in the collection are Eadweard Muybridge's 1881 first edition of Attitudes of Animals in Motion, Moving Picture Annual and Yearbook for 1912 and a copy of the novel Gone with the Wind, autographed by all of the film's principal cast members as well as its producer and director. To find books in the library's collection, search the Online Catalog.

Periodicals
The periodical holdings cover all aspects of filmmaking from the first decade of the century to the present. Though primarily consisting of U.S. publications, the collection also includes English-language magazines from such countries as Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the U.S.S.R., India and China. A comprehensive collection of industry trade journals dates back to 1906 (Views & Films Index) and includes other early works such as Moving Picture World, Motion Picture Herald and Motion Picture News, as well as up-to-date holdings of The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, Screen International and Boxoffice. Among the other film periodicals—general, popular, fan, critical, technical—are American Film, American Cinematographer, Sight and Sound, Photoplay, Films in Review, Film Comment, SMPTE Journal, Camera Obscura, Screen and Millimeter. Also of note are the many rare issues of studio house organs, including The Biograph, The Edison Kinetogram, Kalem Kalendar, The Lion's Roar (MGM), RKO Radio Flash, The Triangle, Universal Weekly and Vitagraph Life Portrayals. The library also has microfilm editions of numerous rare periodicals. To find periodicals in the library's collection, search the Online Catalog.

Scripts
The Core Collection includes screenplays for more than 10,000 films from 1910 to the present. The collection is broad-based, covering the many aspects of film throughout its history. Included are scripts for silent films, foreign language films, documentaries, animated features and shorts, Academy Award winners and cult favorites. A sampling of highlights includes Beau Geste, The Maltese Falcon, The Triplets of Belleville, Born into Brothels, Finding Nemo, Million Dollar Baby and The Passion of the Christ. Most screenplays are unpublished, manuscript versions in variant forms: from step outlines and treatments to first drafts, revised and final drafts and cutting continuities. Published scripts are also actively collected. To find screenplays in the Core Collection, search the Online Catalog. Additional screenplays are available in the Special Collections Department.

The Library also maintains an online database of screenplay holdings known as the Motion Picture Scripts Database. This resource provides information on the location of scripts for over 20,000 films held by six Southern California collections: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Margaret Herrick Library); the American Film Institute (Louis B. Mayer Library); the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library; USC (Cinema-Television Library); UCLA (Arts-Special Collections); and the Writers Guild Foundation (Shavelson-Webb Library).

Core Collection Files
Files which contain articles clipped from a wide range of newspapers and magazines, studio press releases, and advertising material along with photographs, are organized as Production Files, Biography Files, Subject Files, Awards and Festivals Files, and Academy History Files. The Production Files may include programs, pressbooks, synopses, cast and credit sheets, and lobby cards as well as photographs, reviews, production notes and other articles. The Biography Files include photographs, articles and press releases on performers as well as those who work behind the scenes. The Subject Files include articles and other materials on motion picture-related companies and organizations, as well as on topics like censorship, locations, film genres, distribution, and the motion picture industry in other countries. The Awards Files cover non-Academy awards; the Festivals Files contain information on film festivals around the world. The Academy History Files contain press releases and clippings covering the Academy Awards and all other Academy activities; documentation, including as-broadcast scripts, for Academy Awards shows; and Academy publications. Since 1984 the library has been microfilming key Production and Biography clipping files, and has recently begun copying those in the Subject Files. Copies of the microfiche files are available on an inter-library loan basis through the National Film Information Service.

Posters
The library’s collection of over 35,000 posters includes items from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, and documents feature films, shorts and documentaries. Sizes range from 1-sheet to 24-sheet. While the majority are posters produced in the United States, a considerable number are foreign-produced posters for both U.S. and non-U.S. films. A sizable number are stone lithographs dating from the early decades of the past century. The collection includes posters from Biograph, Lubin, Pathé, Edison, Kalem, 101 Bison, New York Motion Picture Company, Selig, Triangle, Vitagraph, George Kleine, Mack Sennett and Paramount. Of special note is the Edward Mapp Collection which includes over 1200 posters documenting blacks in motion pictures from 1921 to 1995.

The library has established an ongoing preservation program to treat these fragile documents. Many stone lithograph posters have been deacidified, archivally backed and photographed for reference and protection purposes. The library is building an on-line poster database which will eventually include full cataloging information, as well as digital color images for each poster in the library collection. To find posters in the library's collection, search the Online Catalog.

Photographs
The majority of the library's photographs are original black-and-white prints. In addition, there are both black-and-white and color negatives, color slides and transparencies, motion picture film frames, glass negatives and glass slides. The photographs include scene stills from films and portrait or publicity stills of individuals, as well as set reference stills, wardrobe and make-up test photos, research photos, location reference stills, premiere photos, advertising stills, behind-the-scenes production shots, candid and informal photos, images of studios, theaters, cameras, residences and Hollywood landmarks. While there are extensive holdings of photographs in the library's Core Collection Files, there are also very large special collections of photographs, including the archival holdings from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1924-1972), Paramount (1914-1970), RKO (1929-1958), First National (1919-1931), Monogram (1937-1942), Thomas H. Ince Productions (1912-1924), Selig Polyscope Co. (1908-1917), United Artists (1950-1980), Universal (1946-1956) and MGM-UA (1950-2007). Other large special photograph collections include those for the Academy Awards presentations; for the "Soundies"; and those documenting the work of such individuals as Jackie Coogan, George Cukor, Cecil B. DeMille, John Engstead, W. C. Fields, John Frankenheimer, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Hesse, Alfred Hitchcock, James Wong Howe, John Huston, Sam Peckinpah, Mary Pickford, Gilbert Roland, Mack Sennett, George Stevens, Karl Struss, Hal Wallis, Jules White and Fred Zinnemann.

Special Collections
The library is rich in unique material documenting individuals and organizations that have figured prominently in the history of motion pictures. Material in these collections may include scripts in various drafts, personal and business correspondence, production memoranda and other data, costume and production design drawings, sheet music, music scores, sound recordings and scrapbooks. Among the major manuscript collections are those from such individuals as George Stevens, John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Katharine Hepburn, George Cukor, Mack Sennett, Fred Zinnemann, Sam Peckinpah, Hal Ashby, Martin Ritt, George Roy Hill, Paul Mazursky, Alan J. Pakula, Hal B. Wallis, Cary Grant, Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore, Gregory Peck, Valentine Davies, Ring Lardner Jr., James Wong Howe, Sammy Cahn, Alex North, Edith Head, Leah Rhodes, Dorothy Jeakins, Robert Boyle, Leo "K" Kuter, Perc Westmore, Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons and Sidney Skolsky.

Among organizational collections the Turner/MGM script collection is the largest, containing over 30,000 script items documenting nearly 1,900 productions from 1918 to 1986. The Paramount Pictures collection includes scripts, production materials and pressbooks relating to over 2,200 Paramount pictures spanning the years 1912 to 1965. The William N. Selig papers provide information on one of the earliest major American production companies, the Selig Polyscope Company, and include continuities, programs, flyers, patents records and business correspondence. Documentation on various aspects of the Motion Picture Association of America is provided by the MPAA Production Code Administration case files (1927-1967) and the MPAA Title Registration Reports (1935-1972). The Motion Picture Patents Company and General Film Company collection (1909-1927) includes minutes of meetings, agreements, memos and records of court proceedings. The records of the Motion Picture Society for the Americas, the Screen Composers Association and the Hollywood Women's Press Club document the workings of these three organizations. The Lux Radio Theatre collection includes scripts, publicity materials, and disc recordings, which have been transferred to archival recording tape.

Oral History Program
The Academy Oral History Program was established in 1989 with the goal of documenting the lives and careers of individuals who have worked in various areas of the film industry. To date, interviewers have conducted over 65 oral histories on subjects ranging from art direction and film editing to censorship and Academy history. In addition, a number of interviewees were questioned in detail about their contribution to the filmmaking effort during World War II. The interviews, which average more than fifteen hours each in length, are transcribed, edited and indexed. Completed and bound oral histories are available for use in the library. Individuals interviewed include: screenwriters Daniel Taradash and Edward Anhalt; film editors Margaret Booth, Rudi Fehr, Gene and Marjorie Fowler, and Ralph Winters; writers/directors Philip Dunne, Hal Kanter, and Carlton Moss; directors Joseph Newman, Ronald Neame and Curtis Harrington;  costume designers Adele Balkan and Theadora van Runkle; cinematographer Lothrop Worth; production designers Robert Boyle, Edward Carfagno, Alexander Golitzen and Ken Adam; actors Laraine Day and Karl Malden; composer Hans J. Salter; producers Richard Goldstone and Julian "Bud" Lesser; script supervisor/assistant to Alfred Hitchcock Peggy Robertson; production manager C.O. “Doc” Erickson; studio executives Robert M. W. Vogel, Donald Rogers and Eugene Zukor; sound mixer Murray Spivack; stunt coordinator Hal Needham; agent/producer Sam Jaffe and 3-D entrepreneur Milton L. Gunzburg. To find Academy oral histories in the library's collection, search the Online Catalog.