The collection consists of primarily of American motion picture lobby cardsdating from 1913 to ca 1980s.

Lobby cards were introduced in the 1910s as promotional tools in movie theatres. The first lobby cards were 8" x 10" (the size of a contemporary motion picture still) black and white or brown and white until the introduction of color cards in about 1917. They increased in size to 11" x 14" and eventually became a standard part of promotional materials sent to theatres for advertising their coming attractions. By the 1920s, lobby card sets included eight cards: seven scene cards and a title card. The title card included major credits for the film; the remaining scene cards depicted key scenes from the films they advertised. The scene images were often the product of a still photographer who accompanied the cast and crew to shoot both film stills and images for the theatre lobbies. Occassionally, for major releases, Hollywood studios would sometimes issue sixteen card sets, including two title cards and fourteen scenes. Lobby Cards are no longer used in U.S. theaters and are rarely produced for today's films.

110 boxes

Copyright has not been assigned to the Performing Arts Special Collections, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Arts Special Collections Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Performing Arts Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.