Research

The Moving Image Source Research Guide is a gateway to the best online resources related to film, television, and digital media.

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  • Midnight Ramble  
    A tribute page by film fan Michael Mills about African American cinema in the silent era and the golden age of Hollywood. The site features a filmography. For each film, the author includes a high-quality still and poster image.
  • Movie Making Locations  
    A fascinating fan-created database of movie locations utilized in American western films and television programs since the early 1930s. Each listing features photos of the location as well as information on the films and programs that were shot there.
  • Moving Image Collection Catalog  
    The Museum of the Moving Image's collection contains artifacts from every stage of producing, promoting, and exhibiting motion pictures, television, and digital media -- currently more than 130,000 objects. Holdings include licensed merchandise, technical apparatus, still photographs, production design materials, costumes, fan magazines, publicity materials, and video and computer games. The online catalog currently contains over 4,000 silent-era and licensed merchandise entries.
  • Museum of Lone Pine Film History  
    Website of a museum devoted to the film history of Lone Pine, Death Valley, and the Eastern Sierra. Also features articles on the many westerns filmed at Lone Pine, as well as an inventory of the museum's collection of western film memorabilia, props, and oral histories.
  • National Film and Sound Archive Collection  
    Search the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's catalog, which contains items that are in the physical archive in Canberra.
  • Origins of American Animation (Library of Congress)  
    This website, maintained by the Library of Congress, offers 21 animated films and two fragments from the early days of American animation. Included are examples of clay, puppet, and cutout animation, as well as pen drawings, in a variety of formats for both streaming and download.
  • Particip@tions: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies   Peer Reviewed
    Participations is an online, peer-reviewed journal of audience research and reception studies. It is published twice yearly and back issues are archived within the website.
  • SCIPIO: Art and Rare Book Sales Catalogs   Paid Subscription Required
    This site can help users locate relevant auction catalogs, as well as information about which institutions have copies.
  • Silent Film Bookshelf  
    Curated by David Piece, this site reprints original documents from the silent film era. Includes reprints of historical reviews and magazine articles about the industry, as well as information about musical accompaniment of silent films, articles on famous theaters (such as the Roxy Theater in New York), and much more. Active through 1999.
  • Silents Are Golden  
    This website contains a huge collection of vintage reviews of silent films. The site also includes photos of hundreds of silent-film actors, a calendar of theatrical and TV screenings of silent films, and an exhaustive list of available DVDs and videos. The articles and essays on the site are mostly written by fans.
  • Thanhouser Company Film Preservation Inc.  
    This nonprofit organization is engaged in "the research, acquisition, preservation and publication of educational materials related to the early silent motion picture era," specifically by making available films by the Thanhouser Film Company, an early silent-cinema studio. The website also offers a general history of Thanhouser as well as information on its players and filmmakers.
  • The Criterion Collection  
    Since 1984, the Criterion Collection has been dedicated to gathering important classic and contemporary films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. The website offers an “online cinematheque” with the possibility to buy or watch films online, film essays, interviews, reviews, top-ten lists, and festivals online.
  • Thomas Edison Historical Site  
    Basic biographical information on Edison, plus a bibliography and links to his sound and film recordings. Users can also find out how to visit the site's archive and artifact collection and view a full list of Edison's 1,093 patents.
  • Thomas Edison Information from the Library of Congress  
    Includes biographical information about Thomas Edison and historical information about his breakthroughs in moving image and sound recording technology. Users can also view Edison's films.
  • Virtual Silver Screen  
    A site by the Library and Archives of Canada featuring early Canadian films and information about them
  • Who's Who of Victorian Cinema  
    Biographies of actors and directors, as well as rigorously researched articles about the technology, creation, and exhibition of early film. The sources page also functions as a comprehensive annotated bibliography of the topic. Created by Luke McKernan, a British film historian.
  • William K. Everson Collection at New York University  
    The William K. Everson collection features a growing number of downloadable film-related advertisements, including full reproductions of press kits. There is also a photo section, which contains portraits of film stars autographed to Everson.