Special Collections' primary sources on movies and television include scripts, posters, early magazines, and more. Two notable collections focus on Latinx contributions to the screen arts. Explore our holdings here!
These resources are all outside Special Collections.
For help finding feature films and documentaries, contact Michael Rodriguez, the subject librarian for film studies.
Or get 24/7 help through the library's chat service.
Rovi Media Collection
Items from the Rovi Media Collection must be requested through the catalog. We'll email as soon as your items are ready to pick up at the Patron Services Desk in the Main Library lobby.
Go to the library catalog and do a basic keyword search for an actor, film title, etc.
Example: See these results for the Mexican actress Dolores Del Rio
Digital & Multimedia Center • Main Library, 4 West
The Digital & Multimedia Center also has films. Go to the library catalog and do a basic keyword search for an actor, film title, etc.
Example: See these results for the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène
Streaming video
The library subscribes to several streaming video collections. In the library catalog do an advanced keyword search for an actor, film, genre, etc.
Looking for film criticism and reviews? Check out this resource guide by film studies librarian Michael Rodriguez.
Ruth Ann Jones
Instruction/Outreach Librarian
Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections
Michigan State University Libraries
jonesr@msu.edu
she/her/hers
The American Black Journal Archive (MSS 219) contains videotapes of American Black Journal episodes, correspondence, business files, and research materials for featured topics.
The archive covers the years 1972-2002, but most of the material is within the period 1976-1994.
This collection is stored off-campus. Please request 3 days before your visit.
Biographies of actors and actresses are always a popular genre of publishing for a general audience. Browse our holdings in Special Collections.
Scholarly biographies, published by university presses, will generally be found in the library's circulating collection.
Our Radicalism Collection contains more than 40,000 items from radical and extremist political organizations, covering both ends of the political spectrum.
Political groups on the right regularly criticize the American entertainment industry. Browse commentary about television and movies from far-right organizations.
The Latinos in Film Collection (MSS 286) has nearly 600 pieces of rare movie ephemera, incluiding posters, lobby cards, press packets, and early "photoplay" editions. The collection focuses on the portrayal of Latinx characters and on Latinx film stars. Most of the collection concerns Hollywood movies, but Mexico, Cuba, Italy and the United Kingdom are also represented.
The Latino Hollywood Screenplays Collection (MSS 373) includes scripts for more than 265 film and television productions which had Latinx characters, featured Latinx actors, or were the work of Latinx writers, directors, or producers.
Both collections are stored off-campus. Please request 3 days before your visit.
The Entertainment Magazine Collection (MSS 369) has 50+ issues of tv and movie magazines, primarily from the 1950s and the 1970s.
The Tabloid and Gossip Magazine Collection (MSS 367) is not limited to Hollywood gossip, but there is a strong focus on the entertainment industry.
Both collections are stored off-campus. Please request 3 days before your visit.
Our movie magazines include samples of some of the earliest newsstand titles, like Movie Weekly, as well as more recent titles.
Our collection of television magazines is strong in fan magazines and in magazines devoted to a single program, like Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine. But we also have nearly 40 years' worth of TV Guide and daytime TV classics like Soap Opera Digest.
In the early days of cinema, going to the "moving picture" was such an event that audience members could buy a program in the theater lobby, similar to the programs handed out at live performances today.
The Motion Picture Souvenir Book Collection has 44 movie programs from throughout the 20th century. This collection is stored off-campus. Please request 3 days before your visit.
Special Collections also has 270+ movie programs with individual records in the library catalog.
Our sheet music collection includes scores for about 125 songs from movies. We also have a few examples of music from animated films.
Special Collections has thousands of novelizations, tie-in volumes, and comic books related to movies and television series.
To find them, use the Advanced Search function in the library catalog:
The screenwriting partners Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. both graduated from MSU, and Cash also taught at MSU. Together they wrote the box office hits Top Gun, Turner & Hooch, and Dick Tracy, among others.
The Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. Papers contain correspondence and drafts related to six of their co-authored scripts, allowing a rare insight into the progression of a project from the initial idea to the completed work.
This collection is stored off-campus. Please request 3 days before your visit.
The Latino Hollywood Screenplays Collection includes scripts for more than 265 film and television productions which had Latinx characters, featured Latinx actors, or were the work of Latinx writers, directors, or producers. This collection is stored off-campus. Please request 3 days before your visit.
Special Collections has 150+ movie scripts cataloged individually, ranging from the 1930s to the 2000s. A handful were commercially published, but most are copies used by actors or production staff.
Special Collections also has about 125 television scripts cataloged individually. Most are from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Vertical files are a way for Special Collections to organize newspaper clippings, postcards, trade catalogs, event flyers, and other small items which typically are not given an individual record in the library catalog.
Vertical files vary in size, ranging a single folder with just a few sheets, to five or more folders stuffed with material. Our Popular Culture Vertical Files cover more than 850 topics.
