Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
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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.

FilmFilm

The Center’s collection of moving image materials and manuscript collections related to the film industry.

Television and Radio

Radio and TV

Thousands of radio and television programs plus the papers of significant figures.

Theater

Theater

The archives of some of the most significant figures in the American theater.

 

Photos & Promotional Materials

FilmStill photos, posters, pressbooks, playbills, and a wealth of graphic material on film, radio, television, and theater.

Featured Collection: Papers of Edith Head
FEATURED COLLECTIONS
Photo of Gary Cooper

These slide shows demonstrate the richness and depth of the WCFTR’s graphics collections, focusing on subjects from Gary Cooper to the Ed Sullivan Show and theatrical productions of Hamlet.

Photo of Edith Head

The legendary costume designer donated many of her writings and costume sketches to the WCFTR. Find information about her career and sketches from films including All About Eve, Sabrina, and Wives and Lovers here.

Photo of man in radio laboratory

The WHS has a number of collections relating to radio at UW Madison, early broadcasting on WHA, and Madison's first commercial station, WIBA.

Kirk Douglas in costume

One of Hollywood’s most luminous stars, and an innovative independent producer, Douglas also led in the donation of his papers to the WCFTR.  Find information and selected digitized materials from his archive here.

 

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