From Script to Screen: Revealing Labor Union History Through the Writers Guild Foundation Archives
Item
Title
From Script to Screen: Revealing Labor Union History Through the Writers Guild Foundation Archives
Description
The From Script to Screen: Revealing Labor Union History cataloging project will make the rare and unique archival collections of the Writers Guild Foundation (WGF) accessible to students, researchers, aspiring writers, scholars, Writers Guild of America (WGA) members, and the public. The WGF supports and provides educational programs devoted to the art, craft and history of writing for the screen, including a non-circulating special library open to the public. The archival collections contain the personal papers of prominent writers, vintage scripts, photographs, oral histories, ephemera such as typewriters, awards and strike realia, and historical items from the Blacklist era and the formation of the WGA. The materials span from the dawn of cinema in the early twentieth century to the golden age of television in the 1950s and the rise of digital media in the present. The collections represent an important part of American history and popular culture in relation to the role of writers in film, television, radio, and new media. The materials serve as a record of the very first labor union in the entertainment industry, and in many cases are the only existing records of important WGA events and key periods in film, television and radio history. The proposed project will help bring these vital pieces of America's cultural heritage to a wider audience, improve outreach to researchers, and encourage the study of film, television and radio from the writer's perspective.
Program
Date
Temporal Coverage
1918 - 2012
Spatial Coverage
The materials are mostly from American television, radio and screen writers, but include authors from all over the world.
Extent
792 boxes
950 linear feet
Institution
Identifier
Primary Contact
Joanne Lammers