UCLA Library Special Collections
- UCLA Library Special Collections (LSC)UCLA Library Special Collections (LSC) acquires, preserves and makes accessible a world-class collection of archives, rare books, manuscripts, photographs and other rare and unique materials. For more information on Film and Television Research in Library Special Collections, please refer to this guide.
- ArchiveGridWith over 1,400 archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
- Online Archive of California (OAC)The Online Archive of California (OAC) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 300 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses.
- Film and Television Research in Library Special Collections GuideUCLA Library Special Collections stewards many primary source materials pertaining to Film. This guide is intended as a starting place to point researchers to these materials and also serves as a basic orientation on using Library Special Collections holdings.
Selected Online and Physical Censorship Collections
- Motion Picture Association of America Production Code Administration Records (Margaret Herrick Library)Full documentation from a selection of 500 film titles in the Motion Picture Association of America Production Code Administration records. An accompanying index of films mentioned can be found here.
- Hollywood, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968
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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.
- FBI File: Hollywood and J. Edgar Hoover: Communists in the Motion Picture Industry (Archives Unbound) This link opens in a new window
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FBI investigative reports from the Cold War chronicling the working of major film studios such as MGM, Paramount, RKO, and Warner Brothers, and studio management and labor union power struggles. - FBI File: Hollywood and J. Edgar Hoover: Investigations of Actors and Directors (Archives Unbound) This link opens in a new window
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Reports covering 1925-1961. Subjects include: American Federation of Labor; Communist International; front organizations; Council of Hollywood Guilds and Unions; Screen Directors Guild; Screen Office Employees Guild; Screen Cartoonists Guild; Screen Writers Guild; Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee; Hollywood Ten; FBI support of anticommunist organizations; Humphrey Bogart; Charles Chaplin; Cecil B. DeMille; Katharine Hepburn; Gary Cooper; Frank Sinatra; among other topics.
- MPPDA Digital Archive (Flinders University)The MPPDA Digital Archive consists of a database of the extant records of the General Correspondence files of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., covering the period from 1922 to 1939.
- Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975: Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest This link opens in a new window
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This online portal explores the period of social, political and cultural change between 1950 and 1975. It includes color images of manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, historical news video, ephemera and memorabilia. Contains selected documents on cinema censorship during this period.
- Louis B. Mayer AFI LibraryHolds over 5,000 unpublished scripts from contemporary and classic American films. Also includes books, periodicals, AFI seminar and oral history transcripts, and archival collections from Martin Scorsese, Fritz Lang, and more.
- Margaret Herrick Library (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)A significant collection for the study of American cinema. Holds more than 60,000 screenplays, as well as valuable production files, oral histories, special collections and manuscripts, and more.
- New York Public LibraryNYPL for the Performing Arts houses many film-related collections, and the Archives & Manuscripts division contains selected records for the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
- UCLA Film & Television ArchiveThe UCLA Film & Television Archive is renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media, and is dedicated to ensuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come.
- UCLA Library Special CollectionsUCLA Library Special Collections (LSC) acquires, preserves and makes accessible a world-class collection of archives, rare books, manuscripts, photographs and other rare and unique materials.
- USC Cinematic Arts LibraryUSC holds the Warner Bros. Archives, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Library, plus additional studio collections, scripts, archival stills, and many other materials.
- Writers Guild Foundation (WGF) Library and ArchiveThe rare and unique collections include Screen Writers’ Guild and Writers Guild of America historical materials, produced and unproduced scripts, letters, photographs, production notes, memorabilia, oral histories, and personal items of film, television and radio writers. Both processed and unprocessed papers are available for research.
- Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) RecordsThe Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) was an American trade association involved in labor relations, legislative affairs, and press and public relations for the film industry. Includes correspondence with the Production Code Administration.
- Charles Schlaifer Papers (Margaret Herrick Library)The collection contains several files of clippings and press releases regarding Schlaifer's work with the MPAA, in particular the 1947 campaign to revise and strengthen the industry's advertising code.
- Manhattan and Bronx Code Agency Records, 1933-1935Office files include correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, election records, financial records, hearing transcripts, registration applications, forms, clippings, and other materials relating to regulation in these industries. Includes the Motion Picture Industry.
- Martin J. Quigley PapersThe Martin J. Quigley Papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, photographs and related printed ephemera regarding Quigley Publications, the Production Code, and the Legion of Decency. His oral history can also be found at Columbia University.
- Motion Picture Association of America World War II RecordsThe Motion Picture Association of America World War II records span the years 1940-1957. There are files on the Hollywood Coordinating Committee, Hollywood Victory Committee, and the Office of War Information.
- National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Records 1907-1971The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures (U.S.) was created in 1909 as the New York Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures. Collection consists of correspondence and other records reflecting the Board's opposition to censorship of motion pictures and its efforts to improve the quality of films.
- Ohio Division of Film Censorship19 collections held by the Ohio History Connection regarding state censorship.
- Records of the Division of Motion Picture Censorship, 1926-1968This series contains the actual applications for licenses to show and distribute films in the state of Virginia.
- Records of the Kansas State Board of Review, 1915-1966The majority of these records deal with the censorship duties of the Board and with the fees the Board collected from motion pictures coming to Kansas.
- Samuel Goldwyn, Inc. Correspondence, 1936-1953Yale University. Includes correspondence with Joseph Ignatius Breen, Director of Production Code Administration at the Association of Motion Picture Producers, Inc., concerning proposed revisions.
- Will Hays Papers 1900-1985Will Hays, 1879-1954, was a Republican politician and the first president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). The so-called "Hays Code," which provided movie studios with a set of moral guidelines for self-censorship, bears his name.
- Wisconsin Motion Picture Commission Records, 1914-1971Records of the Motion Picture Commission, which was created in 1913 and had the authority to approve or censor movies shown in Milwaukee. It was abolished in 1971. Contains meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, and an index of films rated by the Commission.