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
- African Americans in motion picturesSubject search in the UCLA Library catalog for books with this heading.
- African Americans in the motion picture industrySubject search in the Library Catalog. A good heading for finding more information on producers, directors, actors, etc.
- Cinema Civil Rights: Regulation, Repression, and Race in the Classical Hollywood Era
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E-book version. - Early Race Filmmaking in America
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E-book version, 3-concurrent user limit. - Slow Fade to Black: The Negro in American Film, 1900-1942
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E-book version. - Redefining Black Film
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E-book version. Includes a chapter on early African American film companies. - Stealing the Show: African American Performers and Audiences in 1930s Hollywood
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E-book version. - That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960
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E-book version. - Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of African American Film and the Possibility of Black Modernity
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E-book version
Audiences and Early Spectatorship
See also: Exhibition and Projection Technologies, plus Picture Palaces and Movie Theaters
- "Hollywood and Spanish-Speaking Audiences"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - "The Imagined Audience in the Nickelodeon Era"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - Early Cinema: Space Frame NarrativeContains essay by Tom Gunning on "The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, its Spectator and the Avant-Garde" (p. 56-62), and Miriam Hansen's "Early Cinema--Whose Public Sphere?" (p. 228-246).
- Film Before GriffithContains chapters on early exhibition technologies, and a specific chapter on "The First Motion Picture Audiences" (p. 196-206).
- Film Theory & Criticism (7th ed.)Includes reprint of the essay, "An Aesthetic of Astonishment: Early Film and the (In)Credulous Spectator" (p. 736-750).
- Film: The Democratic ArtIncludes information on the emergence of mass media, and a chapter on the first motion picture audiences.
- Hollywood in the Neighborhood: Historical Case Studies of Local Moviegoing
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Includes chapter on moviegoing during the Depression, as well as case studies from specific cities in earlier decades. - The American Film Industry
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Includes chapter on "Nickelodeon Theaters 1905-1914: Building an Audience for the Movies" (p. 59-82), and another on traveling road shows. - The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 (History of the American Cinema)
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Contains writing on the very earliest exhibition practices and audiences. - The Movie-Going ExperienceContains some short essays on movie-going during the Depression, and early Nickelodeon theaters.
- The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on the composition of the early audience, and exhibition in new theaters.
Censorship, the Hays Office, and the Production Code
- Motion pictures--censorship--United StatesSubject search for books on U.S. film censorship in the Library Catalog.
- "Censorship"
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Online bibliography of major books on censorship, via Oxford Bibliographies Online. - A History of Narrative FilmContains sections on "Hollywood Scandals and the Creation of the MPPDA" (p.185) and "Studio Politics and the Production Code" (p.236)
- Film: The Democratic ArtIncludes multiple sections on censorship, social control of film, the Hays Office, and the Motion Picture Production Code.
- Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies
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Includes chapter on "The Moguls at Bay and the Censors' Triumph" (p. 161-174). - Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration (e-book)
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- Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early Twentieth Century America
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E-book version with chapters covering the earliest days of cinema through 1914. - Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture IndustryContains chapter, "Rescuing the Family: Urban Progressivism and the Modern Leisure" (p. 43-59).
- The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code
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- The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on early censorship and self-censorship (p. 48-52). - Motion Picture Association of America. Production Code Administration recordsRecords on individual films by the PCA, from the Academy of Motion Pictures.
- Hollywood, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968 (Archives Unbound) This link opens in a new window
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Motion Picture Association of America Production Code Administration collection, selected from the holdings of the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California.
Color and Technicolor Development
- Colors in motion picturesSubject search in the Library Catalog for books with this heading.
- Color motion pictures--historySubject search in the Library Catalog for books with this and related headings.
- "Color"
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Online bibliography of major books and articles on color history, via Oxford Bibliographies Online. - "The Demise of Kinemacolor: Technological, Legal, Economic, and Aesthetic Problems in Early Color Cinema History" (Online Article in Cinema Journal)
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Online article in JSTOR. - A History of Narrative FilmContains chapter on "The Coming of Sound and Color, 1926-1935" (p. 205-230).
- Emergence of Film ArtIncludes chapter on "The Problem of Color," reprinted from the 1930s on the success of Technicolor.
- Grand Design: Hollywood as Modern Business Enterprise (History of the American Cinema)
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Contains writing on the development of Technicolor. - Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow: Color Design in the 1930s
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- Moving Color: An Aesthetic History of Applied Color Technologies in Silent Cinema (Online Dissertation)
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- "Kodachrome and the Rise of 16mm Professional Film Production in America, 1938–1950"
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Online article via Project Muse. Film History: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 4, 2016, pp. 58-99. - Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film: Color entry
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Search for "color" or "technicolor" in this online encyclopedia, for entries and bibliographies on color history. - Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie CultureContains section on the early history of sound and color.
- The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion PicturesIncludes chapter on "Hollywood's Conversion to Color: The Technological, Economic, and Aesthetic Factors" (p. 146-160).
- The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 (History of the American Cinema)
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Contains writing on early hand-tinting and early colored images on slides. - The Hollywood Film Industry: A ReaderIncludes chapter, "Color and Cinema: Problems in the Writing of History" (p. 120-147).
- The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on Kinemacolor and tinting. - "Motion Picture Color and Pathé-Frères: The Aesthetic Consequences of Industrialization"
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From the book, _A Companion to Early Cinema_ - Timeline of Historical Film ColorsOnline bibliography on different historical film color technologies. Some selected content online.
D.W. Griffith and His Impact
- A History of Narrative FilmContains section on "D.W. Griffith and the Development of Narrative Form" (p. 45-69).
- The Birth of a Nation (BFI Film Classics)
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E-book version, 1 concurrent user limit. A print version of the book is also available. - The Birth of a Nation: How a Legendary Filmmaker and a Crusading Editor Reignited America's Civil War
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E-book version, 1 concurrent user limit. A print version of the book is also available. - "D. W. Griffith and the Development of American Narrative Cinema"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - D.W. Griffith: Interviews
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E-book version. A print version of the book is also available. - Eloquent Gestures: The Transformation of Performance Style in the Griffith Biograph Films Roberta E. Pearson
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E-book version - Emergence of Film ArtIncludes chapter on "D.W. Griffith: New Discoveries," as well as chapters on Birth of a Nation and Griffith as social crusader.
- Film: An International History of the MediumIncludes section on Griffith (p.51), followed by "D.W. Griffith and Narrative Style" (p.54).
- Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies
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Includes chapter on "D.W. Griffith and the Forging of Motion-Picture Art" (p. 48-66). - Movies and Money: Financing the American Film IndustryIncludes case study of D.W. Griffith's film financing (p. 33-46).
- Rise of the American FilmIncludes several chapters on Griffith, including his rise and decline as a filmmaker.
- Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture IndustryContains chapter, "D.W. Griffith and the Aesthetics of Reform" (p. 60-95).
- The Hollywood Film Industry: A ReaderIncludes chapter, "D.W. Griffith and the Banks: A Case Study in Film Financing" (p. 31-42).
- The Movies in the Age of InnocenceBook covers Griffith and his stars heavily, including a chapter called "D.W. Griffith Presents..." (p. 68-124).
- The Parade's Gone By...Contains sections on D.W. Griffith, and "From Birth of a Nation to Intolerance."
- The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on Griffith's early films, and his role as an innovator in the industry.
Exhibition and Projection Practice
See also: Audiences and Early Spectatorship, plus Picture Palaces and Movie Theaters
- "Divided, thus Conquered: The Troubled History of Exhibitor Trade Organizations, 1907–1928"
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Article by Deron Overpeck
Quarterly Review of Film and Video
Vol. 31, Iss. 3, 2014 - "From Peep Show to Picture Palace: The Early Exhibition of Motion Pictures"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - Early and Pre-Cinema Film Brochures (Cinémathèque française)This digitized collection of rare early technical film brochures includes content on the magic lantern, projection, photography, and film stock. These are all historical primary source documents.
- Film Before GriffithContains chapters of the Kinetoscope and the American Vitagraph, as well as traveling picture shows and early exhibition in Manhattan.
- History of the American Film Industry From Its Beginnings to 1931First two chapters cover the earliest period of exhibition and the transition from vaudeville.
- Hollywood CinemaContains chapter on the early industry, including distribution and exhibition (p. 113-156).
- Hollywood in the Neighborhood: Historical Case Studies of Local Moviegoing
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Ebook version, with chapter on "What the picture did for me": small town exhibitors' strategies for surviving the Great Depression." - Sanctuary Cinema: The Rise and Fall of Protestant Churches as Film Exhibition Sites, 1910-1930 (Dissertation)
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- The American Film Industry
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Includes chapter on the history of the Kinetoscope, and another on Nickelodeon theaters. - The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion PicturesIncludes essays on motion picture exhibition in New York, "chain store" theaters, and early technologies like the Vitascope.
- The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 (History of the American Cinema)
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Contains writing on the very earliest exhibition practices and audiences. - The Motion Picture Theater and Film Exhibition: 1896-1932 (Dissertation)
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Online Ph.D. dissertation from Northwestern U., written by Charlotte Herzog. - The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on the composition of the early audience, and exhibition in new theaters.
Hollywood / Los Angeles as Place
See also: Motion Picture Studios and the Studio System
- Before Hollywood: A Prehistory of Los Angeles (Dissertation)
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- Film: An International History of the MediumContains short section on "The Rise of Hollywood" (p. 98-99) and the building of studio lots crucial to the studio system.
- Go West, Young Women! The Rise of Early Hollywood
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- Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture IndustryContains chapter, "The New Frontier: 'Hollywood,' 1914-1920" (p. 167-199).
- The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930
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Ebook from UC Press. - The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on Los Angeles as a production center (p. 159-165). - The Film Industry and Urban Development in Metropolitan Los Angeles, 1920--1975
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Online dissertation by Stephanie Frank (2013, USC).
Lumiere Brothers
- Film Before GriffithContains writing on early exhibition, and chapters on "The Lumiere Organization and Documentary Realism," and "Structural Patterning in the Lumiere Films."
- The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 (History of the American Cinema)
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Contains writing on Auguste and Louis Lumiere, including cinematographe exhibitions, audiences, and comparisons to competitors.
Motion Picture Studios and the Studio System
- A History of Narrative FilmContains section on "The Sound Film and the American Studio System" (p.231-288), with information on studio politics and the production code, the structure of the studio system, and major figures of the studio era.
- "Era of the Moguls: The Studio System"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography
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- Hollywood's New Deal
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Covers the industry in the 1930s, including the relationship of the New Deal to cinema and the Paramount Case. - Movies and Money: Financing the American Film IndustryIncludes information on financial control, independent production, and Fox Film, among other topics.
- New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry
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- The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion PicturesIncludes chapter on "Dividing Labor for Production Control: Thomas Ince and the Rise of the Studio System" (p. 94-103).
- The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960Details the development of the studio system of production, including standardization of practice, centralization of management, labor division, and technology.
- The House that Ince BuiltCovers the career and legacy of Thomas Ince, including his first studio and the development of RKO.
- United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars, 1919-1950
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- United Artists: The Company Built By the Stars
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Movie Stars, the Star System, and Fan Culture
- Film History: Theory and PracticeContains section on social film history, including "Case Study: The Role of the Star in Film History" (p. 172-184).
- History of the American Film Industry From Its Beginnings to 1931Includes chapter on the Star System.
- Hollywood CinemaContains chapter on the early industry, including the Star System (p. 141-145).
- "Immigrant Stardom in Imperial America: Pola Negri and the Problem of Typology"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine (e-book version)
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- Movie Star EphemeraDigitized by the Academy of Motion Pictures: "examples of movie star and fan ephemera and collectibles from across the library’s collections. Items include scrapbooks, fan magazine covers, fan club publications and movie star memorabilia."
- The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion PicturesIncludes chapter on "Hollywood's Movie Star System: A Historical Overview" (p. 79-93).
- The Hollywood Film Industry: A ReaderIncludes chapter, "Stardom as an Occupation" (p. 154-184).
- "The Star System"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on the emergence of the star system (p. 106-119).
Movie Moguls
- "Era of the Moguls: The Studio System"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography
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- The House that Ince BuiltCovers the career and legacy of Thomas Ince, including his first studio and the development of RKO.
Picture Palaces and Movie Theaters
- Film History: An IntroductionContains section on "Theater Chains and the Expansion of the Industry" (p. 129).
- Film: An International History of the MediumIncludes short section on "Architectural Exoticism" (p. 89-92), covering Sid Grauman and "Atmospheric: Theaters.
- Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture IndustryContains chapter, "The Evolution of the Theater Palace, 1908-1920" (p. 147-166).
- The Movie-Going ExperienceContains short essay Nickelodeon theaters, and another on picture palaces.
Sound and the Talkies
- A History of Narrative FilmContains chapter on "The Coming of Sound and Color, 1926-1935" (p. 205-230).
- Cinema's Conversion to Sound: Technology and Film Style in France and the U.S.
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Limited to three concurrent users. Try again later if unavailable. - Film History: Theory and PracticeContains section on technological film history, including "Case Study: The Coming of Sound--An Analysis of Technological Change" (p. 115-123).
- Film: An International History of the MediumContains chapter on the transition to sound (p.172-199).
- Hollywood and the Box Office, 1895-1986Includes a chapter on the "Coming of Sound, 1926-29" (p. 72-83), and includes heavy coverage of Warner Bros.
- Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie CultureContains section on the early history of sound and color.
- "Synchronized Sound Comes to the Cinema"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960
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Details the development of the studio system of production, including film style and technology. There is a separate chapter on the introduction of sound (p. 298-308). - The Liveliest Art: A Panoramic History of the MoviesContains lengthy chapter called "The Movies Learn to Talk" (p. 124-163).
- "Two or Three Things We Thought We Knew about Silent Film Sound"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film.
Thomas Edison, Patents, and Monopolies in the Early Industry
- Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company
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Ebook from UC Press, written by Charles Musser. - History of the American Film Industry From Its Beginnings to 1931Includes chapter on the Motion Picture Patents Company.
- Hollywood and the Box Office, 1895-1986Includes chapter on the Motion Picture Patents Company (p. 16-25).
- Hollywood's Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet
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E-book, limited to 3 concurrent users - Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American MoviesIncludes information on Edison's inventions, and a chapter on "Edison's Trust and How It Got Busted" (p. 33-47).
- Rise of the American FilmIncludes chapter on "The Struggle for Control," covering the Motion Picture Patents Company and other topics.
- The American Film IndustryIncludes chapter on the decay of the Motion Picture Patents Company.
- The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion PicturesIncludes chapter on "Monopoly in Motion Picture Production and Distribution: 1908-1915" (p. 68-78).
- The Motion Picture Patents Company (Dissertation)
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Online Ph.D. dissertation from U. Wisconsin, written by Robert Anderson. - The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 (History of the American Cinema)
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Contains writing on Edison, and particularly early infringement suits. - The Transformation of Cinema: 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema)
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Includes writing on the Motion Picture Patents Company and Edison Film Manufacturing Company. - U.S. vs. Motion Picture Patents Company Trial DocumentsFrom the Media History Digital Library site, which includes seven volumes of testimonies and supporting documents from the U.S. District Court’s 1912-1913 antitrust lawsuit against the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC).
Special Effects
- American Silent FilmIncludes short section on early special effects (p.213-216).
- Reality and Effect: A Cultural History of Visual Effects (Online Dissertation)
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- Stage Magic and the Silent Cinema: Melies, Houdini, Browning (Online Dissertation)
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Women in the Early Film Industry
- American Silent FilmIncludes chapter on "The Mid-1920's: The New Dominance of the Female Star" (p. 194-204).
- "Cinema and the Modern Woman"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - Feminist Reader in Early Cinema
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- Go West, Young Women! The Rise of Early Hollywood
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- "Pink-Slipped: What Happened to the Women in the Silent Film Industry?"
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Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film. - The City That Made the Pictures Move: Gender, Labor, and the Film Industry in Los Angeles, 1908-1917 (Dissertation)
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This is a full text Ph.D. dissertation, written by Denise McKenna from NYU. - "Women and the Silent Screen"Chapter from The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film.
- "Advertising and Femininity: The Case of Our Mutual Girl," reprinted in Early Cinema, v.1
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- Universal Women : Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early HollywoodE-book by Mark Garret Cooper
- Mary Pickford PapersDigitized primary source photographs and papers from Pickford, available via the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library.
Walt Disney and Early Animation
- Animated films--history and criticismSubject search in Library catalog for general books on the history of animation.
- Disney, WaltSubject search in Library Catalog for books about Walt Disney (see also Disney, Walt--Criticism and Interpretation)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Motion Picture)Subject search in the Library Catalog for books about the film.
- "Animation and the Animated Film"
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Online bibliography of major books on animation, via Oxford Bibliographies.