About
Trade magazines and other industry literature are key primary sources for the study of film, television, and media history.
These sources are good places to start for many research topics including finding film reviews, ratings and box office data, advertisements, and information about media production and distribution.
Trade magazines are written by industry representatives, and it's not uncommon that an author is not named. Articles are written to share industry information including trends, products, and techniques. Articles in these publications are written for people within the industry using technical language or jargon. References are provided via contextual referrals to other works, and the publications are reviewed by one or more editors employed by the publication.
Popular magazines are written by journalists, or a writer whose specialty is writing, not necessarily in the field that they are reporting. Articles are aimed at a general audience and written without using technical terms, or will define technical terms if used. The articles are reviewed by editors employed by the magazine, and referrals to other works rely on contextual information in the text.
"Requirements of a Proficient Motion Picture Projectionist." International Projectionist. 38, no. 1 (1963), https://archive.org/details/internationalpr383940finn (accessed November 10, 2020)
Located in the Media History Digital Library Technical Journals Collection.
Selected Resources
- Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Contains the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. Includes US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater. Also includes film fan magazines and music press titles.
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Indexes content from scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals. Includes biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, reviews and events. Covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry-including dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic and more.
Internet Archive Film & Cinema Magazines Collection includes international trade and popular magazines.
Directories and Distribution or Rental Catalogs helped programmers, curators, and private collectors find and screen films.
The Film and Video Makers Directories and Travel Sheet (Carnegie Museum of Art. Department of Film and Video) - Includes The Film and Video Makers Travel Sheet published by Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) between 1973 and 1987, the Film and Video Makers Directory published in 1978 and 1979, and the Media Exhibitors Directory of Independent Artists (MEDIA), which was only published by the museum on a limited scale in 1987.
Blackhawk Film Catalogs (USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive) - Blackhawk Films was, for many decades, the best source for purchasing rare and important films for home viewing on 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8. USC's collection includes catalogs, many available in PDFs, from 1935-1995.