The Library of Congress >  Researchers >  Search Finding Aids  >  Richard Koszarski collection of research material on the early history of Universal Pictures Corporation, 1906-1996

Richard Koszarski collection of research material on the early history of Universal Pictures Corporation, 1906-1996

Contact UsHelpSearch All Finding Aids
Access restrictions apply.
ContainerContents
Series 1. Early History of Universal Pictures Corporation, 1906-1974
Universal Pictures business, legal, and financial papers
BOX-FOLDER 1/1 Stockholder's meetings, 1906-1914
Notes and xeroxes, Laemmle Film Service and Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
BOX-FOLDER 1/2 Financial balance sheet, 1914
BOX-FOLDER 1/3 Carl Laemmle's income tax return, 1914
BOX-FOLDER 1/4 Sales figures for Universal brands, 1914-1915
BOX-FOLDER 1/5 Studio history, 1915
BOX-FOLDER 1/6 IRS report on Universal's 1917 return, prepared 1923
BOX-FOLDER 1/7 Financial reports, 1916-1917, and 1918-1919
BOX-FOLDER 1/8 Century Film Corporation (CPA report), 1914-1922
BOX-FOLDER 1/9 MacDonald vs. Universal
Material on suit between Mary MacLaren (MacDonald) and Universal.
See also Oral history interview with Mary MacLaren
Transcript of interview
BOX-FOLDER 1/10 Miscellaneous notes and memorabilia, 1910s
BOX-FOLDER OSE 1/1 Miscellaneous notes and memorabilia, 1910s
BOX-FOLDER OSD 1/1 Universal Newsreel
Broadside, vol. 4, no. 4, relating to Grace Humiston personal publicity suit
BOX-FOLDER 1/11 Correspondence, Isidore Bernstein and Carle Laemmle, 1913-1914
Concerning corporate infighting and west coast activities.
BOX-FOLDER 1/12 H. O. Davis, 1917
Letter to Carl Laemmle from studio manager.
BOX-FOLDER 1/13 J. P. MacGowan, 1917
Letter from studio manager.
BOX-FOLDER 1/14 Pat Powers, 1912-1919
Collection of memos, notes and detective reports documenting Carl Laemmle's contest with Pat Powers over control of Universal.
BOX-FOLDER 1/15-21 Powers-Swanson-Laemmle suit
Files of complaints, testimony, exhibits, etc., regarding legal battle over control of Universal voting stock.
BOX-FOLDER 2/1-2 Patents Company vs. Universal
Archive of documents tracing this case from the Southern District of New York through the U.S. Circuit of Appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States.
BOX-FOLDER 2/3 Miscellaneous reports and memorabilia, 1920s
BOX-FOLDER 2/4 Universal revenue, 1919-1926
BOX-FOLDER 2/5 Sample production costs, 1922-1930
BOX-FOLDER 2/6 Universal profit-loss chart, 1925-1935
BOX-FOLDER 2/7 Universal German business, 1922-1936
Contracts, reports, financials.
BOX-FOLDER 2/8 Items of negative cost, 1933
BOX-FOLDER 2/9 Reorganization of executive staff, 1935
Memo from Carl Laemmle, jr.
BOX-FOLDER 2/10 Theaters
Notes on annual profit/loss; Carl Laemmle's contract.
BOX-FOLDER 2/11 Memos regarding merger
BOX-FOLDER 2/12 Picture costs and grosses, 1931-1935
BOX-FOLDER 2/13 Laemmle-Cochrane correspondence, Dec 1935-Jan 1936
BOX-FOLDER 2/14 Miscellaneous memos of Carl Laemmle and R. H. Cochrane, 1930s
BOX-FOLDER 2/15 Proposed 1935 purchase by Warner Bros. (legal file)
BOX-FOLDER 2/16 Standard Capital correspondence regarding merger, Dec 1935
BOX-FOLDER 2/17 Standard Capital correspondence regarding merger, Jan-June 1936
BOX-FOLDER 2/18 Standard Capital correspondence regarding execution of merger, 1936
BOX-FOLDER 3/1 Manuscript copy of "black notebooks" found in Universal's Hudson Street warehouse
(52 manuscript pages)
Said by staff to be contents of Carl Laemmle's personal safe (impossible to verify). Copied by Richard Koszarski in 19xx. Notebooks consisted of annualized costs, grosses and profit/loss of Universal features and program series released between 1921 and 1936. These figures differ from those in official reports prepared for public consumption.
Carl Laemmle historical documents
BOX-FOLDER 3/4 Carle Laemmle personal
BOX-FOLDER 3/5-7 Carl Laemmle memoirs
BOX-FOLDER 3/8 [Miscellaneous recent Carl Laemmle]
Questionaire re: James Friedman documentary; brochure for 100 Years of Hollywood: The Laemmle Effect traveling exhibit (German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA).
Universal Pictures historical documents
BOX-FOLDER 3/9 Universal studio histories, 1947, 1953, 1959
BOX-FOLDER 3/10 Universal studio histories, 1951, 1965, 1972
BOX-FOLDER 3/11 Universal junk list, 1948
Correspondence regarding destruction of negatives.
BOX-FOLDER 3/12 Show-at-home movie library
Notes, catalog, contracts.
BOX-FOLDER 3/13 Universal master feature list, 1914-1974
BOX-FOLDER 3/14 Universal Studio Club News, 25th anniverary edition, 1952
Individual Motion Pictures
BOX-FOLDER 4/1-13 Paul J. Rainey's African Hunt, 1912
Stills, frame enlargements, photographic copies of title cards.
BOX-FOLDER 4/14 Where Are My Children?, 1916
Continuity and subtitles (Lois Weber); pressboook and herald.
BOX-FOLDER OSD 1/2 Where Are My Children?
BOX-FOLDER 4/15 Is Any Girl Safe? (Anti-Vice M.P. Company), 1916
Continuity and subtitles (Jacques Jaccard).
BOX-FOLDER 4/16 Hell Morgan's Girl, 1916
Legal file regarding censorship of the film (NY Supreme Court) including testimony and argument, with continuity and subtitles (written by Ida May Park).
BOX-FOLDER 4/17 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1916
Multiple pages of notes transcribed by RK from legal documents and memos related to lawsuit in which Williamson Bros. sued Universal for payment regarding the special effects for this film. Includes abstract of Bahamas production diary.
BOX-FOLDER 4/18 The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, 1917
Continuity and subtitles of film in its original version (as Is a Woman a Person, by Lois Weber), with hand corrections regarding censorship.
BOX-FOLDER 4/19 A Kentucky Cinderella, 1917
Film report from studio manager H. O. Davis (xerox, 5pp.).
BOX-FOLDER 4/20 Universal-Smithsonian African expedition film, 1919
22 photographs documenting Belgian Congo train wreck which killed Universal director William Stowell and Dr. William Armstrong, the Smithsonian's business manager for the expedition.
BOX-FOLDER 4/21-24 King of Jazz, 1930
Employment contracts of Paul Whiteman and John Murray Anderson; music cue sheets for 1930 version; xerox copy of 1933 continuity; xerox copies of telegrams regarding production.
BOX-FOLDER 4/25 Air Mail, 1932
By John Ford. Publicity file including national clippings, pressbook, and promotional releases.
BOX-FOLDER OSD 1/3-4 Air Mail
BOX-FOLDER 4/26 Diamond Jim, 1935
Screenplay by Preston Sturges; producer James Grainger's copy, with blue pages.
Series 2. Financials gathered in connection with 1935-1936 corporate sale.
These are graphs, charts, tables, reports and memos, most of which were apparently gathered and/or created by J. Cheever Cowdin of Standard Capital Corp. They present a detailed picture of Universal's operating structure and financial history. Each exhibit contains multiple pages.
Mimeographed documents
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/1 Coast contracts, 1935
Exhibits 1-2.
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/2 Feature financing schedule, 1934-1935
Exhibits 3-5.
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/3 Schedule of depreciation, overhead, payroll
Exhibits 6-11.
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/4 Schedule of average negative cost, 1924-1934
Exhibits 13-14.
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/5 Universal Pictures payroll and operating expenses, 1932-1934
Exhibits 16-20.
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/6 Universal Pictures and subsidiary companies, profit and loss, thru 1935
Exhibits A-P (subset of above series?).
BOX-FOLDER 3/2 Report of findings, 1935
Executive summary of above materials.
BOX-FOLDER 3/3 Confidential memo, 1935
J. Cheever Cowdin's ideas on how Standard Capital should proceed.
Veloxed documents
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/7 Universal features, profit and loss, 1926-1936
Spread sheets with detailed costs, grosses and profits for all features (23 pp.).
BOX-FOLDER OSC 1/8-13 Fold-out hand colored graphs
These oversized pages (67 sheets) chart all aspects of Universal's income and operating expenses during the 1920s and 1930s, and cover inventories, salaries, foreign business, studio operations, theater and exchange income, etc. Some begin as early as 1921 and most end in the mid-1930s, but others extend through 1940.
Series 3. Corporate publications, 1914-1917, 1920, 1925-1927, 1929-1965
BOX-FOLDER 5/1 Universal Film Manufacturing Company, semi-annual report, November 15, 1916
Extremely detailed report listing all assets and liabilities, with production cost of all negatives both released and unreleased (approximately 200 pages).
BOX-FOLDER 5/2 Bluebird Photoplays, Inc. balance sheet, January 21, 1917
BOX-FOLDER 5/3 Bluebird Photoplays, Inc. semi-annual report, July 22, 1917
These two reports document all aspects of Bluebird's financial operations, including costs of films with grosses broken out by territory, as well as inventories, accounts receivable, etc.
BOX-FOLDER 5/4-8 Consolidated balance sheets/annual reports, Universal Pictures Company, Inc., 1925-1927, 1929-1931, 1933-1965
Plus additional mid-year report for 1934. Sometimes these are bare-bones CPA summaries, but certain periods, especially the 1940s, are elaborately illustrated with color stills and detailed charts and graphics.
BOX-FOLDER 5/9 Universal Pictures Company and MCA, Inc. agreement of purchase and sale, dated December 16, 1958
Next Page »

Contents List