Among the many books, periodicals and other media, the Library of Congress has long held an extensive collection of movie fan magazines from the early decades of the twentieth century. Normally, they would be available to researchers who would make the journey to Washington DC.
But now, thanks to the conclusion of a years-long initiative to digitize the Library’s collection, researchers can access the colection from anywhere via the internet. The new online Historical Media Publications Collection is a searchable database of the Library of Congress’s collection of early 20th-century American media magazines such Radio Mirror, Exhibitors Review, Modern Screen, Motion Picture News and many others. The collection is searchable by publication name, film title, or person’s name.
You can browse and search through the collection here.
What makes the writing in these periodicals of interest to film and entertainment historians is both the truth and the falsehoods these magazines would report. For every open and honest interview a talent might give, there was most likely some piece of false news planted by a studio publicist. Separating the two can give a view as to the reality of Hollywood versus the facade that the industry tried to construct about itself.
