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Film and Television 6A: History of the American Motion Picture

Your guide to American film history research at UCLA: Find articles, books, reference sources, and more.

Popular Topics: Reserves, Reference, and Online Titles

This page links to books and other sources on very selective paper topics that are frequently chosen by students in 6A. All of the titles are meant as possible starting places only (not as a comprehensive list or everything you might need), and are available readily via Arts Library class reserves, the non-circulating reference collection, or the Library's online resources. Students are also encouraged to think creatively beyond these topics, or on a specific aspect of them.

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African Americans in Motion Pictures

Audiences and Early Spectatorship

See also: Exhibition and Projection Technologies, plus Picture Palaces and Movie Theaters

Censorship, the Hays Office, and the Production Code

Color and Technicolor Development

D.W. Griffith and His Impact

Exhibition and Projection Practice

See also: Audiences and Early Spectatorship, plus Picture Palaces and Movie Theaters

Hollywood / Los Angeles as Place

See also: Motion Picture Studios and the Studio System

Lumiere Brothers

Motion Picture Studios and the Studio System

Movie Stars, the Star System, and Fan Culture

Picture Palaces and Movie Theaters

Sound and the Talkies

Thomas Edison, Patents, and Monopolies in the Early Industry

Women in the Early Film Industry