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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United States

  • American Film Institute   Paid Subscription Required
    The American Film Institute promotes screen education throughout the United States as well as various preservation initiatives. This website provides basic information about the AFI, as well as a catalogue of the Louis B. Mayer Library.
  • Archives USA   Paid Subscription Required
    Search for primary sources in more than 5,500 repositories and more than 161,000 collections across the United States.
  • ArtPort  
    The Whitney Museum of American Art's portal to Internet art features a host of commissioned online projects, including the group exhibition CODeDOC, which examined software code as art. Active through 2006.
  • Blues, Black Vaudeville, and the Silver Screen  
    An online exhibit, rich in primary sources, exploring the amusements available to the African American population of Macon, Georgia, from 1912 to the 1930s.
  • Chicago Film Archives  
    A searchable list of what is available at the physical archive in Chicago.
  • Grace Street Theater: Seventy Years of Film and Dance  
    A richly documented history of one theater in Richmond, Virginia.
  • History in Motion  
    This site features clips from newsreels, early documentary films, and early narrative films such as The Great Train Robbery. Browse clips by topic, title, and date. History in Motion is the moving image section of Eyewitness to History, a site that compiles photos, first person accounts, and other historical primary sources for students. The film section focuses primarily on American history.
  • Internet Archive: Cinemocracy  
    Thirteen propaganda films, many by top documentary filmmakers, commissioned by the U.S. government during World War II.
  • Library of Congress: America at Work / America at Leisure  
    This collection, which includes some of the earliest extant films, is designed to showcase a broad range of American activities at the turn of the century.
  • Library of Congress: Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire  
    The Library of Congress's American Memory project houses these 26 films dating from before, during, and after the great San Francisco disasters of 1906.
  • Library of Congress: The Spanish-American War  
    This collection contains 68 films documenting and reenacting the Spanish-American War.
  • Living Room Candidate  
    The site is an exhibition presented by Museum of the Moving Image, featuring more than 250 campaign commercials from every presidential election since 1952.
  • Margaret Herrick Library  
    Huge collection of film-related material, including fan magazines, photographs, clippings, screenplays, and more.
  • Mississippi Matinee: An Exhibition of the State and the Silver Screen  
    An online exhibit exploring the history of filmmaking in Mississippi.
  • MPAA Market Statistics  
    This site lists MPAA ratings for all rated films, and also publishes useful year-by-year box office reports analyzing "office trends, admissions trends, and consumer attitudes." Users can also see domestic and international box office rankings, demographic studies, and statistics about piracy.
  • National Archives - Motion Picture Films and Sound and Video Recordings  
    The website for the National Archives Motion Picture Films and Sound and Recordings Division features extensive finding aids to the physical collections in Washington D.C., as well as for the presidential libraries.
  • National Association of Theater Owners Statistics  
    A set of lists summarizing yearly American grosses, film attendance, and active film screens. The group also rates the popularity of various theater chains.
  • National Film Preservation Foundation  
    Since created by Congress in 1996, the National Film Preservation Foundation has given preservation grants to 176 institutions across 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and has helped save more than 1,322 films and footage collections. The foundation also publish DVDs and guides and support other national preservation and access projects.
  • National Public Broadcasting Libraries at the University of Maryland  
    Browse through finding aids for the many specialized collections in the physical archive.
  • Newsfilm Library (University of South Carolina)  
    A complete, searchable index of everything in the Fox Movietone News and Local Television News collections, as well as selected film clips (Quicktime format) available online.