Oscar’s very special library: the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Abstract

‘Oscar’ is the best-known symbol of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But there is more to the Academy than the golden statuette. The Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, which has been in existence for 80 years, is widely regarded as the pre-eminent research and reference facility for the study of all aspects of motion pictures, as an art form and an industry. The non-circulating research and reference collection, located in Beverly Hills, California, is open to the public, free of charge, and is heavily used by students, scholars, industry personnel, journalists, filmmakers and the general public. Its holdings document the multiple facets of the film industry and its personnel, past and present, and include books, periodicals, clipping files and screenplays, as well as special collections of photographs, manuscripts, posters, graphic art materials, music and recorded sound, and oral histories.