Warner Bros. Research Department research albums, circa late-1930s-circa early 1940s

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Summary

Creators:
Warner Bros. (1923-1967). Research Department
Abstract:
The six production research albums contain photographs and other background research materials for Warner Bros. films:
Extent:
2.4 Linear Feet (6 flat boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Warner Bros. Research Department research albums (Collection 1745). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of Warner Bros. research albums. Included are six albums containing photographs and other background research materials. Films represented are: All This and Heaven Too, Angel of Mercy, City for Conquest, International Squadron, The Letter, and Man from Fleet (released as A Dispatch from Reuters). The albums appear to have been assembled before 1941, and compiled or compiled under the direction of Herman Lissauer.

Biographical / historical:

Herman Lissauer was an American researcher and technical advisor active in film from 1936 to 1946. Lissauer met Jack Warner in the mid-1930s and became the head of the research department at Warner Bros. (From information compiled by the Margaret Herrick Library)

The Warner Bros. research department began in the 1920s, Around 1935 the department was reorganized and headed by Dorothy Hageman; about one year later, Herman Lissauer replaced Hageman. The department adopted a system in which a single researcher would be assigned to a project, and take responsibility for the bulk of research requests, from story conception to publicity associated with the film's release. Staff had varied background and subject knowledge and developed expertise at knowing how and where to find information. The unit maintained an intricate file system, which was in large part a collection of indexed visual information and the the core of their department. A great deal of the information was garnered from newspaper clippings, catalogues, magazines, illustrated books, and art prints.

The department received project scripts to help prepare the file of materials for the story. By time production began, the research department would have completed a "bible," primarily pictorial, for all the contributing departments. At the end of production these bibles and their supporting files then became part of the department's research collection.

The Warner Bros. Research Department: Putting History to Work in the Classic Studio Era, by Fred Andersen; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3378351

Acquisition information:
Provenance unknown.
Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

Processed by Julie Graham, 2004.

Arrangement:

The albums are arranged alphabetically by project title.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Warner Bros. Research Department research albums (Collection 1745). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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