Movie lovers of the world, rejoice! As a collector of vintage movie posters, I, for one, am incredibly excited about this. The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas is a research library that houses approximately 10,000 vintage movie posters going back almost 100 years.
Photo Credit: Harry Ransom Center
The center is now in the process of digitizing the movie poster collection, and is making the collection available on its website so the public can download materials. So far, roughly 4,000 posters have been digitized. The rest of the amazing collection will be gradually released online.
Photo Credit: Harry Ransom Center
The collection contains a variety of materials, including standard movie posters, small lobby cards, and even 20-foot long billboards. A big portion of the collection is from the 1940s-1970s and comes from the Interstate Theater Circuit, a chain that at one point had control over nearly every theater in Texas. A poster dealer named Philip Sills donated his collection of B-movie posters to the collection, so there are plenty of horror movies and unknown thrillers represented.
Photo Credit: Harry Ransom Center
The Ransom Center will be adding to the online database until the entire collection is online. Take a look at this great collection of movie history HERE.
Photo Credit: Harry Ransom Center
h/t: Mental Floss
