Yale University Library Research Guides: Film Studies Research Guide: Archives & Institutes

Locate Archives and Collections

When you look for archives, be aware that you will encounter two types of records.

Collection records describe whole collections or specific portions of collections of primary source material related to individuals, major events, places, organizations and so forth. These records give bibliographic descriptions of collections.
Finding aids (also called collection guides) are detailed inventories that reveal where a particular collection came from, how it's organized, and what it contains. For instance, a finding aid may tell you that drafts of a particular screenplay are in Box 42, Folder 3, of the Alan Smithee Papers.

ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid contains close to half a million descriptive records of archival collections with a growing range of online finding aids or detailed collection guides and inventories. It contains both collection records and finding aids.

For an extensive list of reference sources, search Orbis with the following subject headings:

Selected Film Archives and Collections Around the World

American Film Institute Louis B. Mayer Library
The only national arts organization devoted to film, television and video. The American Film Institute serves as a point of national focus and coordination for the many individuals and institutions concerned with the moving image as art.
American Memory Project
Developed by the Library of Congress, this is a searchable database that includes motion picture collections, such as the Edison Companies and Early Animated Films, and there are films on special topics, including "Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897-1916", "Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film", "America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915", "The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures" and more.
Anthology Film Archives
An international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video with a particular focus on American independent and avant-garde cinema and its precursors found in classic European, Soviet and Japanese film. The website has information on the archives which includes regular screenings of works in their two NYC theaters.
Archive.org: Public domain films online
This library contains thousands of digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.

Les archives du cinéma et de la télévision
Call Number: LSF, PN1993.4 A72 2000
Publication Date: 2000

Archives françaises du film
The AFF is part of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC). The site includes a searchable database. Many of the films in its collections have been digitized and may be viewed at the Bibliothèque nationale du France.
[Australian] National Film and Sound Archive
Collecting, preserving and providing access to Australia's audiovisual heritage.
Black Film Center/Archive
A diverse collection of over 800 historic and contemporary Hollywood and independent films; black & white and color, silent and sound; features, documentaries, dramatic and musical shorts, comedy shorts, newsreels and animations in 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, DVD, and videocassette formats.
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is the UK national agency with responsibility for encouraging the arts of film and television and conserving them in the national interest. It includes highly extensive archives of materials from around the world.
British Pathé
This collection includes news, sports, entertainment and more. The online database allows searches and orders to their database and from their archive collection. See also Gaumont Pathé (below), which is the French equivalent.
Cinémathèque française
The Cinémathèque Française hosts the largest archive of films, movie documents, and film-related objects in the world. The Bibliothèque du Film (see above) merged with the Cinémathèque Française in 2007.
Crawford Theater Collection
The Crawford Theater Collection in Yale's Manuscripts and Archives contains numerous film stills (such as the ones used throughout this guide) as well as materials on theater. The link above will open the online finding aid.
Deutsches Filminstitut
DIF is the oldest cinematic institution in Germany and also one of the country's largest.

Directory of archival collections on the history of film in the United States
Publication Date: 1983

FIAF International Index to Film/TV
This database contains credits and holdings information for more than 407,000 silent-era films (features, short films, actualities and fictional works, mainly from before 1929) in the collections of the major international film archives.

Film researcher's handbook: a guide to sources in North America, South America, Asia, Australasia and Africa
Publication Date: 1996
Footage: North American film and video sources
Publication Date: 1989-

FOCAL International (Federation of Commercial Audiovisual Libraries International)
International professional trade association representing film/audiovisual libraries, professional film researchers, producers and others working in the industry. The website provides assistance in finding footage and facilities.
Gaumont Pathé
This collection includes news, sports, entertainment and more. The online database allows searches and orders to their database and from their archive collection.
George Eastman Museum

Handbook for Film Archives by Eileen Bowser, John Kuiper
Publication Date: 1991

Harvard Film Archive
International Federation of Film Archives
The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) brings together institutions dedicated to rescuing films both as cultural heritage and as historical documents. Founded in Paris in 1938, FIAF is a collaborative association of 165 film archives in over 65 countries whose purpose has always been to ensure the proper preservation and showing of motion pictures. The Yale Film Study Center is an Associate of FIAF.
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Reading Room
The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (M/B/RS) has responsibility for the acquisition, cataloging and preservation of the motion picture and television collections. The Division operates the Motion Picture and Television Reading Room to provide access and information services to an international community of film and television professionals, archivists, scholars and researchers.
Moving History: A Guide to UK film and television archives in the public sector.
A research guide to the United Kingdom’s twelve public sector moving image archives.
Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image is dedicated to educating the public about the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media and to examining their impact on culture and society. It collects, preserves, and provides access to moving-image related artifacts, and it offers various types of public programming.
Northeast Historic Film: A Moving Image Archive
NHF collects and preserves film and videotape relating to northern New England, with a theater and study center located in Bucksport, Maine. The archive includes home movies, television news film and other broadcast productions, independent works, industrials, dramas, and other edited and unedited moving images.
San Francisco Film Museum
SFFM is a new non-profit organization devoted to promoting the film community in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
Sources for the History of Film, Television and Theatre
Sources for the history of film, television and theater. From the National Archive in Great Britain.
UCLA Film and Television Archive
Containing over 220,000 films and television programs, and 27 million feet of newsreel footage, the UCLA Film and Television Archive contains materials dating back to the 1890s, and it includes one of the largest and most respected repositories of television programming in the world.
University of Chicago Film Studies Center
The Film Studies Center (FSC) is a facility dedicated to the teaching and study of motion pictures and related media at the University of Chicago.
Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
WCFTR maintains over three hundred manuscripts collections from playwrights, television and motion picture writers, producers, actors, designers, directors and production companies. Materials preserved include fifteen thousand motion pictures, television shows and videotapes, two million still photographs and promotional graphics, and several thousand sound recordings. WCFTR collections on the American film industry are richest for 1930 through 1960.