The University of Texas’s Ransom Center (previously) has posted a gorgeous selection of digitized movie posters from its Movie Poster Collection, from the 1920s to the 1970s.
The project has digitized 4,000 out of the 10,000 posters in its collection, and it is gradually scanning more and putting them online.
These posters come from four collections within the Ransom Center, the largest of these being the Interstate Theatre Circuit collection. This collection originated from Karl Hoblitzelle’s entertainment production company of the same name. The Interstate Circuit was one of the most significant Texas exhibition chains, with over 150 theaters in Texas by the mid-1940s. The company was integral to introducing the theater as a center for family friendly, community activity as opposed to the more adult reputation garnered elsewhere by vaudeville theatres.The digitization of these posters allows greater access while preserving their condition. Making the pieces available online also allows for remote access, easier exploration of the entire collection and provides greater opportunities for research with these materials. The rest of the Movie Poster Collection is expected to be digitized by the end of 2018 or early 2019.
Movie Posters Collection [Harry Ransom Center/University of Texas at Austin]
Decades of movie poster history go online [Erin Willard/Ransom Center Magazine]
