The Department of Special Collections is rich in unique material documenting individuals and organizations that have figured prominently in the history of motion pictures.

Special Collection manuscripts were first collected by the Library in the mid-1940s. Among the earliest collections were gifts from William N. Selig in 1946, Mrs. J. Searle Dawley in 1949, and Mack Sennett in 1951. Some 400 collections now document in depth the product and activities of motion picture companies and organizations as well as the careers of individual producers, directors, writers, actors, cinematographers, art directors, costume designers, composers, make-up artists, animators, columnists, publicists, executives, and others who have made a significant contribution to the industry.

Collected material, which varies in size, scope, and content, includes production files (such as budgets, call sheets, legal material, research, and schedules), scripts, correspondence, clippings, contracts, manuscripts, notes, scrapbooks, costume sketches, production sketches, storyboards, sheet music, music scores, and recorded sound (in various formats: disc recordings, tape recordings, compact discs). The Library has acquired these collections of valuable primary source materials to ensure their preservation and availability for the future —to properly house and store them in a safe and secure environment, to undertake conservation work when needed, to provide detailed and accurate inventories, and to fully process and catalog these rare and historical items to facilitate their use by scholars, researchers, and students.

Inventories listing the catalogued contents of each collection are available for perusal at the reference desk in the Margaret Herrick Library reading room.