Early Film Trade Journals

Researching film history is unusual in some respects, one of which is the plethora of trade journals and advertising material that is available from the art form’s earliest days. Historians are rarely this lucky: usually we are far more limited in the sources available.

Researching film history now is doubly unusual, because many of these journals, newspapers and even books are available online, either through GoogleBooks, online libraries like HathiTrust.org or Archive.org, or my personal favorite, Lantern, which is a UW-Madison/Media History Digital Library project led by Eric Hoyt. Lantern’s engine lets you scan dozens of trade journals at once for multiple search terms. For my project ton the Goetz, The Film Daily, Variety and Motography were particularly useful, but image-heavy greats like Photoplay are there as well. Throw in your favorite star or film institution and see what gets thrown back— it’s amazing how much information is left to be rediscovered!

This image comes from archive.org and was found using Lantern’s search engine. The portrait is of Norma Talmadge and the artist is Neysa McMein, who played an important role in Edith May’s Ziegfeld experience.