The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR) is the home of one of the oldest and most extensive collections of print, audio/visual, and graphic materials relating to film, theater, radio and television in the United States. The Center is administered by the Communication Arts department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and works in close cooperation with the Wisconsin Historical Society. Our holdings focus on US entertainment-based media, though we also have smaller collections in social action documentary and non-US film, notably Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Soviet cinema. WCFTR collections are richest in records of the American film industry between 1930 and 1960, popular theater of the 1940s and 1950s, and television from the 1950s through the 1970s. They include over three hundred manuscript collections from outstanding playwrights, television and motion picture writers, producers, actors, designers, directors and production companies. In addition to the paper records, materials preserved include fifteen thousand motion pictures, television shows and videotapes, two million still photographs and promotional graphics, and several thousand sound recordings.
The Center also supports the UW Cinematheque, a vital part of Madison culture that provides free screenings of films from around the world, as well as the Wisconsin Film Festival.
For email and mailing addresses of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research staff, visit the contact section of this web site.
