The Digital and Multimedia Library at the MSU Library holds a collection of well over 4,000 small format motion pictures. In addition to the local holdings, MSU patrons have access to the statewide film catalogs through The Michigan Library Consortium. For a guide to print materials on film, the research guides below can help you locate secondary and primary sources at MSU.
The MSU Library also maintains a useful listing of film related scholarship and grant opportunities.
Research Indexes for Film Studies
Our library also has a substantial collection of original studio press books and souvenir programs in Special Collections as well as on microfilm.
We highlight below three such collections.
Latinos in Film
The collection is focused primarily on films portraying Latino characters, and includes materials about major Latino stars, such as Lupe Vélez and Dolores Del Rio (both strongly represented in this collection). However, many of the great Latino movie stars in Hollywood films—Rita Hayworth, Anthony Quinn, Lupe Vélez, Cesar Romero, for instance — portrayed many different kinds of roles during their long careers, and this collection reveals some of the diversity of their work. Although the bulk of the items here are associated with Hollywood movies, there are some examples of Cuban, Mexican, and South American film, as well as a collection of campaign sheets and posters from Britain, Italy, Mexico, Cuba, and other countries (based on Hollywood releases). The collection contains approximately 590 pieces of rare movie ephemera—promotional photographs, posters, lobby cards, photoplay book editions, campaign books, press kits and television/movie scripts—dating from the silent film era to 2005.
German Film Press Books
This collection of press book is comprised of over 650 titles from throughout the twentieth century. Printed in German, these materials were published by the studios to advertise movies in Germany from various countries, including the United States, Britain, France, and Germany.
Cinema Press Books from the Original Studio Collections
The main library has a large collection of press books on microfilm. These include films made at Hollywood studios before 1950: United Artists, 1919-1949; Warner Bros, 1922-1949; Monogram Pictures, 1937-1946. The microfilm reproduces original print sources at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
This microfilm set is located on 2W of the Main Library. See the Press book mircrofilm guide.
Some of the advertising materials including the press books owned by the library may be viewed by film title. Click on this link and type “Motion Picture Programs” into the search prompt. http://magic.msu.edu/search~/d