Film & Media Archive

Film reel cases.

The Film & Media Archive is a nationally recognized scholarship, teaching, and learning center. It is committed to preserving documentary film and other media that chronicle America’s great political and social movements, with a particular emphasis on the African-American experience.

The Film & Media Archive at WashU opened its doors to the public in September 2002 with the acquisition of the Henry Hampton Collection. Unique among cultural institutions that collect moving image and sound media, WashU Libraries’ Film & Media Archive is comprised not only of completed works in film and video but also of the numerous materials that went into the creation of works related to Civil Rights, African-American life, the history of Harlem, social justice, democracy, and the arts.

The collections contain primary source material, including original filmed interviews and outtakes, rare stock footage, photographs, producers’ research and notes, treatments, scripts, storyboards, and correspondence, all of which provide a distinctive look at the filmmaking and storytelling process for scholars, teachers, filmmakers, and students. Since 2002, the Archive has acquired several other important collections and now holds more than 6,500,000 feet of film, 1,300 linear feet of manuscripts, approximately 20,000 videotapes, over 10,000 audiotapes, and reels, and a significant library of books, CDs, and DVDs. For more information, contact the Curator of the Film & Media Archive, Andy Uhrich.

Contact the Curator of Film and Media to search the Film & Media Archive.

 

Collecting Areas

Digital Collections

Digital Collections highlight those portions of the Julian Edison Department of Special Collections that have been made or born-digital.

Dowd Illustration Research Archive

The Dowd Illustration Research Archive (formerly Dowd Modern Graphic History Library) at WashU includes original art and printed material from many popular American pictorial graphic culture fields.

East Asian Library Special Collections

The East Asian Library's special collection includes about 900 volumes of rare and special books, manuscripts, and other materials.

Film & Media Archive

The Archive is committed to the preservation of documentary film and other media which chronicles America's great political and social movements with a particular emphasis on the African-American experience.

Kranzberg Art & Architecture Library Special Collections

The Art & Architecture Special Collections is a 4,200-volume collection of rare and unique art and design printed materials located at the Kranzberg Art & Architecture Library. The main focus is illustrated books, prints, and photographs from the 18th and 19th centuries and contemporary book design.

Local History Collections

The local history collecting area focuses on the history of St. Louis and the surrounding region.

Manuscript Collections

WashU Libraries' Julian Edison Department of Special Collections Manuscript collections contain a broad range of materials dating from the 2nd century BC through the present.

Modern Literature Collection

The Modern Literature Collection includes more than 175 authors, presses, and journals, more than 125 of which are represented by manuscript materials.

Music Special Collections

Special Collections at the Gaylord Music Library include sheet music, manuscripts, rare books, and digital materials.

Rare Book Collections

The Rare Book Collections include books from all Special Collection areas. The collections’ primary strengths are in literature, the material culture of the book, including the history of printing, graphic design, and the book arts, and aspects of American and world history.

Washington University Archives

The University Archives chronicles the history of WashU from 1853 to today with over 300 unique collections, including campus publications, reports, photographic prints and negatives, books, film, sound recordings, oral histories, architectural plans, and artifacts.