Dear Screen-L Community: I've been working with David Pierce on a project he launched called the Media History Digital Library (MHDL), which is dedicated to creating online access to media industry trade papers and fan magazines that now belong to the public domain. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan original materials for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning. We've recently completed digitizing the 1922 to 1929 run of The Film Daily, one of the leading Hollywood trade papers of the time. You can access, search, and download The Film Daily volumes -- along with 72 issues of Photoplay (1925 to 1930), numerous issues of Moving Picture World (1913), and other magazines digitized by the Media History Digital Library -- at http://www.archive.org/details/mediahistory We hope you will make use of the MHDL as it continues to expand (more volumes of The Film Daily, Photoplay, and Moving Picture World will hopefully go live later this year). Many of you know the experience of ordering these same periodicals on microfilm through Inter-Library Loan, waiting weeks for them to arrive, and then spending countless hours scrolling through the reels to find the occasional article of direct interest. Digitization enables greater access and keyword searchability that will benefit many historical research projects. At the same time, we recognize that context can be diluted through keyword searches alone, and we have maintained the option for users to scroll issue-by-issue, page-by-page through the magazines (you cannot scroll through issue-by-issue with such ease, I would point out, on Variety's $600-per-year digital archive subscription service). We will let you know as more volumes go online. In the meantime, we hope you will start using the years of Photoplay and Film Daily currently online, and we welcome your comments and feedback. A more detailed announcement about the Film Daily digitization is below. Sincerely, Eric Hoyt -- Eric Hoyt Ph.D. Candidate, Division of Critical Studies, School of Cinematic Arts University of Southern California [log in to unmask] ------------------ Issues of The Film Daily from the 1920s Now Online American film history for the 1920s is now available on-line with the publication of 2,400 issues of The Film Daily, a leading motion picture trade magazine from the classic era of Hollywood. Published out of New York, these issues of The Film Daily from 1922 to 1929 document one of the most prosperous periods of the Hollywood star system, culminating in the rapid changes brought on by the change to sound film production. The Film Daily joins other magazines scanned by the Media History Digital Library, including 72 issues of Photoplay from 1925 to 1930, Motion Picture Classic (1920), and numerous issues of Moving Picture World (1913), Exhibitors Daily Review (1926 and 1928), and also from 1928, a small number of issues of Daily Screen World, Sound Waves and The Distributor, the MGM house publication from 1928. The Film Daily volumes and other magazines digitized by the Media History Digital Library can be searched, read online and downloaded through the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/mediahistory <http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%22Media%20History%20Digital%22> The 22,000 pages in this release from The Film Daily include innumerable reviews of features and shorts, news reports from throughout the industry, occasional feature stories, and hundreds of full-page advertisements. There are full-page ads for feature films and short subjects, color ads for special releases (such as films of Marion Davies and Harold Lloyd), and special color sections announcing studios' upcoming releases for the next year (including many films that were never produced). Published six days a week, The Film Daily did not always cover topics in depth, but it is an invaluable resource for following the day-to-day progress of the industry or films in production. Among the treasures from this period are special issues devoted to the 20th anniversary of Carl Laemmle in the film business (2/28/1926 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily3536newy#page/487/mode/1up> ), the opening of the Roxy Theater in New York (3/13/1927 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily3940newy#page/499/mode/1up> ), Sound Pictures (7/22/1928 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4546newy#page/113/mode/1up> ) and Fox Film Corp. and the opening of Movietone City (6/18/1929 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4748newy#page/n1423/mode/1up> ). The highlight of the magazine is the strong emphasis on short subjects. While most of the other trade magazines treated shorts as space allowed, shorts received regular reviews in The Film Daily, including for many years, a quarterly review of short subject production and releases. Highlights from this collection include: Special short subject issues 2/17/1924 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily2728newy#page/339/mode/1up> 5/11/1924 9/14/1924 3/15/1925 6/21/1925 9/20/1925 12/6/1925 5/30/1926 12/5/1926 3/27/1927 6/5/1927 9/4/1927 12/4/1927 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4142newy#page/1349/mode/1up> 3/4/1928 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4344newy#page/429/mode/1up> 6/3/1928 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4344newy#page/1217/mode/1up> 3/31/1929 9/1/1929 Directors annual supplement 6/11/1922 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily1920newy#page/n1154/mode/1up> 6/22/1924 6/5/1925 Newsreels (8/7/1927 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4142newy#page/299/mode/1up> ) Color advertising sections Fox Film Corp. 1923/24 season (7/8/1923 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily2526newy#page/n50/mode/thumb> ) Selznick Distributing 1924/25 season (7/6/1924 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily2930newy#page/n607/mode/2up> ) - with drawings by illustrator Al Hirschfeld Fox Film Corp. 1928/29 season (5/24/1928 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4344newy#page/990/mode/2up> ) United Artists Talking Pictures (2/28/1929 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4748newy#page/n465/mode/2up> ) Fox Talking Features (6/18/1929 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4748newy#page/n1431/mode/2up> ) Educational Pictures (6/20/1929 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4748newy#page/n1526/mode/1up> ) Radio Pictures (7/15/1929 <http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4950newy#page/88/mode/2up> ) This is the second release of material by the Media History Digital Library, an initiative led by David Pierce to digitize collections of classic media periodicals in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan original materials for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning. A brochure describing the project can be found at the Media History website http://www.mediahistoryproject.org/ The Film Daily has been scanned from volumes in the collection of Karl Thiede, funded by an anonymous donation in memory of Carolyn Hauer. Scanning has been coordinated by Eric Hoyt, a Ph.D. candidate in the Critical Studies Division of the University of Southern Californiašs School of Cinematic Arts. The Media History Digital Library thanks Rick Prelinger and Casey Riffel for their assistance with this group of materials. The initial release of materials was scanned from the collections of the Pacific Film Archive Library and Film Study Center. ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org