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Overview

Researchers at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research may study more than a century of cinema, radio, television, and theater through moving images, visual materials, and manuscripts. Collections donated by some of Hollywood's most renowned directors, producers, screenwriters, and actors, often augmented by viewing copies of their most significant works, provide complementary documentation for both the art and business of Hollywood's Golden Age, as well as more modern independent and experimental filmmaking. The Center's television collections are especially rich for the pre-videotape era when programs were either broadcast live and copied onto kinescope or produced and broadcast using film. The history of the Broadway stage and important regional theaters can be traced through the manuscripts, photographs, and other visual materials.

A full listing of our collections is offered here to provide an overview of our holdings and allow for browsing and sorting within the supplied Collections Categories. For searching within the collections, please refer to the Archive Search page for links to the UW Madison Libraries Catalog and the UW Digital Collections Finding Aid Database. For reference or collections assistance, please contact us directly at askmovies@wisconsinhistory.org.

Hold control or command and left click to select multiple categories.
Author Titlesort ascending Size Summary Category Catalog Link
ZIV-TV Films, 1948-1962. 3500 shows Shows produced by Ziv Television, the most successful producer of action/adventure programming filmed for first run syndication from 1948-1962. The Ziv library includes viewing copies and printing elements for every episode of Boston Blackie, I Led Three Lives, Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, Bat Masterson, and thirty-two other series. film collection, television
Spier, William, d. 1973. William Spier and June Havoc papers, 1931-1963. 15.2 c.f. (38 archives boxes) Papers of a radio and television producer-director and his actress-wife. Radio material which is the most complete aspect of the collection, includes files of annotated scripts and correspondence on The Adventures of Sam Spade, Philip Morris Playhouse, Suspense, and other series which Spier produced and directed for CBS. Television files include many scripts which he wrote including an award-winning effort for The Untouchables (ABC). Also present are extensive files on Willy (NBC), which he produced and which starred June Havoc. Her career is also represented in Lady Possessed (Republic, 1952), which Spier also directed, and by a small group of other motion picture and theater scripts. radio, television, producer, director, actor, screenwriter, film, manuscript collection Link
Warner Brothers Films, 1918-1950 2064 film reels Feature films produced by Warner Brothers. Also included are films produced by First National which later merged with Warner Brothers film collection, studio era Link
Wanger, Walter F., 1894-1968. Walter F. Wanger papers, 1908-1967. 96.4 c.f. (13 archives boxes, 92 record center cartons), 10 reels of microfilm (35 mm), 1 reel of microfilm (16 mm), 2 disc recordings, 4 tape recordings, 26 films, and 3 items of memorabilia; plus additions of 1.0 c.f. Personal and family papers, business records, and film production files of a successful independent motion picture producer most active from 1930-1960, and of Walter Wanger Pictures, Inc., Walter Wanger Productions, Inc., and other corporate ventures. Among the motion pictures for which Wanger was most well-known are "Cleopatra" (which ultimately ended his career), the Academy Award winning film on the death penalty "I Want to Live!," "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers," and "Riot in Cell Block 11." producer, film, studio era, independent, mixed collection Link
Kerr, Walter, 1913-1966. Walter and Jean Kerr papers, circa 1920-1993. 56.4 c.f. (111 archives boxes, 68 volumes, 2 packages), 17 tape recordings, and 16 disc recordings; plus additions of 8.3 c.f., 36 photographs, and 6 tape recordings. Papers of Walter Kerr, playwright and drama critic, and his wife Jean Kerr, humorist and playwright; the collection documents their individual and their collaborative careers. For their New York productions such as King of Hearts (1954), Mary, Mary (1961), and Poor Richard (1964), there are scripts, musical scores and recordings, photographs, notes, clippings, correspondence, and financial records. Also included are materials relating to Walter Kerr's teaching, and his career as a theater critic. Jean Kerr's writings are represented by correspondence and financial and legal material for Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957), and drafts of three collections of her free-lance articles. Among many prominent correspondents in the collection are W.H. Auden, Richard Burton, Carol Channing, Oscar Hammerstein II, Moss Hart, Helen Hayes, Hubert H. Humphrey, Elia Kazan, Clare Boothe Luce, Fredric March, Mary Martin, Groucho Marx, Richard Rodgers, William Saroyan, Gloria Swanson, and Tennessee Williams. playwright, critic, theater, mixed collection Link
Vitaphone shorts films, 1926-1949 1460 films & 2 videodiscs (DVD) viewing copy Short films featuring vaudevillians, bands, opera singers, comedians, and other performers. film collection Link
Jay, Verne. Verne and Helen Jay papers, 1942-1979. 0.6 c.f. Papers of Verne Jay and Helen Jay (1925-1989), writers for radio (Verne was a staff writer at WLW-Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio) and television, including original scripts for shows such as "The Shadow," "Grand Central Station," "Gunsmoke," "Colgate Television Theatre," and others; several photocopies of photographs; and clippings and biographical information. writer, radio, television, manuscript collection Link
University Theatre (Madison, Wis.) University Theatre records, 1922-1989, 1991-1994. 12.4 c.f. (16 archives boxes, 11 volumes, 25 packages); plus additions of 31.5 c.f., ca. 1000 photographs, 11 videorecordings, and 12 panels of unknown footage. Records of the dramatic group of the University of Wisconsin-Madison which operated under the direction of the Department of Communication Arts. Dating to the group's beginning (1922), when it was known as the Wisconsin Players, are playbills, photographs, publicity, and scrapbooks. More recent in coverage is a box of general correspondence (1959-1962); some financial records (1957-1962), and production files for performances broadcast by WHA-TV, the University's television station (1954-1964). theater, Wisconsin, mixed collection Link
Universal Studios Films, 1919-1982 65 films 1919-1982; 65 titles in mostly 16mm and some 35mm film collection, studio era
Twentieth Century Fox Films, 1936-1979 65 films 1936-1979; 65 titles in mostly 16mm format, but also 35mm and video film collection, studio era
TV Title File Collection stills and other ephemera for more than 1,700 American television productions. The bulk of the collection documents programming from the pre-videotape era, which spanned the first two decades of television production from the late 1940s through the early 1960s. photo collection
Trailers Movie trailers from various collections within the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research's holdings. See archivist for a list of titles, which is forthcoming as an electronic finding aid film collection Link
Wehrwein, George Simon, 1883-1945. Theatrical scrapbooks, 1904-1944. 0.4 c.f. Five scrapbooks consisting of pre-printed albums entitled "Plays and Players: A Theatre-Goer's Record," documenting 348 performances attended by George Simon Wehrwein principally in Madison (Wis.), Chicago (Ill.), Austin (Tex.), and New York. For most productions Mr. Wehrwein has completed the "Play," "Date," "Theatre," and "In Company with" portions of the albums and then pasted in additional information from the productions, e.g. the cast list, a synopsis, reviews, and articles on the playwright or leading players. theater, Wisconsin, manuscript collection Link
Johnson, Albert, 1910-1967, Theatrical history collection, ca. 1886-1965. 17.5 c.f. Miscellaneous materials pertaining to theatrical history and to other areas of the performing arts, collected by Broadway set designer Albert Johnson. collector, theater, manuscript collection Link
Theater Title File Collection The Theater Title collections are home to a wealth of pictorial documentation (includingpublicity photographs, playbills, posters and clippings) of the American stage from the 1860s to the present. More than 2,888 plays are represented in productions of all scales, from the local repertory stage to Broadway. photo collection
Hope, Ted Ted Hope Collection 15 cubic feet, 81 reels of 35mm film, audio and video Professional papers and films of independent film producer Ted Hope. producer, independent, film, mixed collection Link
TECO Collection of Taiwanese Films, 1971-1995 260 film reels 121 Taiwanese feature films on 16mm from 1971-1995 in Mandarin, all with English & Cantonese subtitles film collection Link
Gordon, Stuart, 1947 August 11- Stuart Gordon papers, 1968-2007 37.0 c.f. 1.8 c.f. of photographs & 68 film reels (35 mm) Papers of Stuart Gordon, theater director, film director, and screenwriter, born August 11, 1947. The bulk of the collection documents his work in cinema, and, to a lesser extent, television. film collection Link
Henderson, Amy. Speech [sound recording], 1987. 1 tape recording. Tape-recorded speech, "Grand Illusions", by Amy Henderson of the National Portrait Gallery given in May 1987 at the Elvehjem Museum of Art in Madison, Wis. The occasion is Smithsonian Week and the topic is Hollywood photography. film, studio, photography, audio collection Link
Sony/Tri-Star 173 film reels 52 films produced by Tri-Star Pictures and Columbia Pictures from 1978-1991 film collection Link

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