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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.

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Author Titlesort ascending Size Summary Category Catalog Link
MTM Enterprises. Records, 1970-1990. 39.0 c.f. (31 record center cartons and 20 archives boxes), 1 tape recording, 15 films, and 107 videorecordings; plus additions of 1.0 c.f. Scripts of television series, pilots, and specials produced by MTM Enterprises, one of the leading independent production companies for television during the 1970s and 1980s. MTM Enterprises was organized in 1970 by Grant Tinker, a television executive and director, and actress Mary Tyler Moore, who starred in the company's first show, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." That series was typical of MTM's realistic and literate situation comedy and dramatic shows, many of which have won Emmy awards. television, production company, independent, mixed collection Link
American Association of Community Theatre. Records, 1960-2008. 4.0 c.f. (9 archives boxes and 1 flat box); plus additions of 12.1 c.f. and 100 photographs. Records of the American Community Theatre Association, founded in 1958 to aid the growth and development of community theater, and re-named the American Association of Community Theatre in 1986. theater, mixed collection Link
Cinema 16 (Society: New York, NY). Records, 1947-1963. 0.2 c.f. Documentation of Cinema 16, a film society founded by Amos Vogel, based in New York and operated from 1947 to 1963. Its activities extended into film distribution, awards, education, and publications, in support of filmmakers and audiences. This collection consists of a complete run of programs and program notes, publicity materials, catalogues, master lists of films and filmmakers, a brief summary/history of Cinema 16 by Vogel, and articles and notes about the society. film, experimental, film society, manuscript collection Link
Writers Guild of America, West. Records, 1943-1962. 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes) Fragmentary records of the labor union which since 1954 represents motion picture, television, and radio writers and of its predecessor, the Screen Writers' Guild; consisting of agreements negotiated between members and the television industry, a constitution, by-laws, a code of working rules, and a bulletin of credits for 1949. screenwriter, labor union, manuscript collection Link
Playwrights' Company. Records, 1938-1960. 30.0 c.f. (68 archives boxes and 7 flat boxes) and 3 tape recordings. Records of a company formed in 1938 to produce plays written by its members: Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Sidney Howard, Elmer Rice, and Robert E. Sherwood. In subsequent years the company admitted Robert W. Anderson, Kurt Weill, and Roger L. Stevens and began producing plays by outside playwrights. The company dissolved in 1960. The bulk of the records relate to the business and legal aspects of theatrical production although information on the artistic aspects of production is also included. The documentation relates to the company's relations with some of the leading American and British theatrical personalities of its era. Among them are Marc Blitzstein, Harold Clurman, Katharine Cornell, Hume Cronyn, Jose Ferrer, Garson Kanin, Elia Kazan, Joshua Logan, Alfred Lunt, Guthrie McClintic, Jo Mielziner, Spencer Tracy, and Margaret Webster. theater, production company, mixed collection Link
United Artists Corporation. Records, 1919-1965. 687.0 c.f., 374 reels of microfilm (35mm), and 5090 films; plus additions of undetermined quantity. Records of a privately-owned corporation formed in 1919 by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith to distribute motion pictures made by them and other independent producers. film, television, production company, distribution company, studio era, independent, mixed collection Link
National Collegiate Players (U.S.). Wisconsin Chapter. Records, 1919-1964. 0.1 c.f. (1 folder) Chapter roll of the Wisconsin chapter of the national honorary drama fraternity, of which Fredric March was a founding member. Also included is a brochure about the history of the national organization. theater, manuscript collection Link
Pomainville, Harold, Recordings. 17 tape recordings and 78 disc recordings. Unidentified sound recordings. collector, audio collection Link
Bellamy, Ralph, 1904-1991. Ralph Bellamy papers, 1924-1988. 2.2 c.f. (5 archives boxes), 1 reel of microfilm (35 mm), and 1 film. Papers of Ralph Bellamy (1904-1991), a noted actor whose career has spanned more than five decades and encompasses all major areas of entertainment--theater, motion pictures, radio, television, and writing. Documentation of Bellamy's theatrical work is especially rich, although all aspects of his career are covered. Included in the collection are biographical materials, an oral history interview transcript, awards and certificates, newspaper clippings and reviews, correspondence, and transcripts of Bellamy's congressional testimony concerning income tax averaging. Within the production files are programs from productions of the Ralph Bellamy Players (Des Moines, Iowa, 1926-1928); several programs, scripts, and other papers regarding plays, motion pictures, and television mini-series; and extensive information concerning Bellamy's portrayal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello" (theater, 1958-1960; film, 1960). Also in the collection are drafts, typescripts, and a printed copy of Bellamy's memoirs, "When the Smoke Hit the Fan" (Doubleday, 1979). actor, theater, film, television, radio Link
Poster Collection Movie poster advertisements from all genres and eras of filmmaking. poster collection
Hedden, Thomas C. Playbills, 1914-1916. 0.4 c.f. Playbills theater, collector, manuscript collection Link
Green, Robert, Playbill collection, 1944-1996. 6.0 c.f. and 0.24 megabytes (2 data files) Playbills collected by Robert Green, in most cases by attending a performance. New York City and Los Angeles productions are most extensively represented, but there are also significant numbers from San Diego, Chicago, and London. There are also playbills from the early 1950s for productions of the University of Wisconsin Haresfoot Club in which Mr. Green himself appeared. The genre range includes drama, musicals, revues, operas, operettas, ballets, and a few concerts. theater, collector, mixed collection Link
Stevenson, Philip E., 1896-1965. Philip E. Stevenson papers, 1912-1965. 18.0 c.f. (13 record center cartons, 12 archives boxes, and 1 flat box), and 1 tape recording; plus additions of 878 photographs and 26 negatives. Papers of a writer and editor on social justice and labor, who was blacklisted for his refusal to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951. The collection best illustrates Stevenson's career as a writer and his interests in the American Southwest, the labor struggles of the New Mexican coal miners, culture and aesthetic theories, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. There is little directly concerning the Hollywood Ten. Included are personal papers, correspondence with family and business associates, and drafts, notes, and reference material from Stevenson's many articles, essays, political writings, speeches, book reviews, editorials, books, scripts, and short stories. writer, screenwriter, film, blacklist, theater, mixed collection Link
Adato, Perry Miller. Perry Miller Adato papers, 1940-1974. 0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes), 228 cans of film, and 3 tape recordings. Papers of Perry Miller Adato, a female producer-director of television documentaries for NET and WNET. Included are outtakes, dailies, soundtracks, and shot lists from Dylan Thomas, the World I Breathe (1968), which won an Emmy Award; Eames at MOMA (1973), The 40's: The Great Radio Comedians (1972), and other titles by Adato or with which she was associated. For Radio Comedians there are progressive script drafts and transcripts of interviews with Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, George Burns, Bing Crosby, Jim Jordan, and Arch Oboler. television, documentary, mixed collection Link
McGilligan, Patrick. Patrick McGilligan papers, 1945-2003. 1.2 c.f. (3 archives boxes) and 436 tape recordings; plus additions of 27.9 c.f., 6 disc recordings, 2 videorecordings, 2 films, 127 photographs, and 1.0 c.f. of photographs and transparencies. Papers of film critic Patrick McGilligan, consisting chiefly of tapes, transcripts, and draft and printed copies of interviews with motion picture celebrities. Also included are biographical materials, fragmentary correspondence, a play, and a motion picture synopsis. Articles and a book prospectus and one chapter draft about Karleton Armstrong relate to McGilligan's anti-war involvement while a student at the University of Wisconsin. critic, film, writer, Wisconsin, mixed collection Link
Paramount Pictures Films, 1927-1974 60 films 1927-1974; 60 titles in mostly 16mm format, but also 35mm and video film collection, studio era
Kelso, John. Papers. 1.0 c.f. Papers (mostly playbills) relating to the career of actor-director John Kelso, son of the donor. actor, director, theater Link
Felsenfeld, Herb. Papers. 1.0 c.f. Miscellaneous items concerning the theater in Wisconsin, preserved by Felsenfeld of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Included are playscripts by various Wisconsin authors, and records concerning the Wisconsin Theatre Association, 1971-1975. theater, Wisconsin, manuscript collection Link
Orr, Ann. Papers. 1.5 c.f. and 2 tape recordings. Albums, photographs, and clippings documenting the life and career of Ann Orr, a Broadway actress from the teens into the thirties, who, through marriage, was also one of the bright lights of Palm Beach society. Her career on the stage and in two films, as well as society life in Palm Beach and Bridgeport, Conn., is documented in the photographs and clippings. Also included are two tape recordings of an interview made on April 15, 1988, by Maxine Fleckner-Ducey with Orr's great-niece, Marlea Edinger. actor, theater, mixed collection Link
Vogel, Amos, 1921- . Papers. 161.0 c.f., 78 reels of film, 153 photographs, and 0.3 c.f. of photographs. Papers documenting Vogel's career as a film consultant for Grove Press and National Educational Television, film critic for numerous publications, film festival director, author, and professor at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania. critic, writer, film, experimental, programmer, mixed collection Link

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