Year Books or annuals documented the accomplishments and participants in specific industries. The Year Books for the motion picture industry are especially important for historians: for each year they catalog films released, highlight events, provide comprehensive listings of industry companies and personnel, reprint company financial statements, and contain evocative advertisements from industry suppliers, vendors, producers, stars and directors. If magazines are the day to day history of the media industries, then year books follow that progress with a more objective perspective, while still looking at the industry as an inside player. The Year Books were published by industry trade magazines, and there was a tacit understanding that the purchase of advertising would help ensure that no negative coverage would appear.
Of the hundreds of available volumes, this collection includes a representative sample across five decades. The best known of these is The Film Daily Year Book, published out of New York, with an in-depth look at production and distribution. A highlight is a listing of every theater in the United States. The market was large enough that The Film Daily also published a Directors Guide in the 1930s. The main competitor was Quigley Publications' Motion Picture Almanac, represented here by two examples. The Hollywood Reporter tried to match these publications in the 1940s with The Hollywood Reporter Production Encyclopedia, and although credits were limited to the most recent five years, their contribution was notable for its focus on television and detailed cast and credits, including many names for production managers and assistant directors that did not appear on screen, and can only be found through printed resources such as these. Great Britain has the Kine Year Book, which documented the country's vibrant, yet small, industry.
There were two subcategories of year books - booking guides and studio directories. Booking guides helped exhibitors select films for their theaters, and often provided indexes to reviews in the affiliated magazine. Studio directories served to remind casting directors and others of performers under contract and freelance supporting players.
Year Books Arranged by Year
1910s
- Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1916) | Read | Download |
- Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1917) | Read | Download |
- Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1918) | Read | Download |
- Wid's Year Book 1918 | Read | Download |
- Wid's Year Book 1919 | Read | Download |
1920s
- Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1920) | Read | Download |
- Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1921)
| Read | Download |
- Who's Who on the Screen (1920) | Read | Download |
- The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: The Motion Picture in Its Economic and Social Aspects (1926) | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1923 | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1924 | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1925 | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1926 | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1927 | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1928 | Read | Download |
- National Vaudeville Artists Annual Benefit Program, 1929 | Read | Download |
- Wid's Year Book (1920) | Read | Download |
- Wid's Year Book (1921) | Read | Download |
- The 1922-1923 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1923) | Read | Download |
- The 1925 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1925) | Read | Download |
- The 1926 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1926) | Read | Download |
- The 1927 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1927) | Read | Download |
- The 1928 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1928) | Read | Download |
- The 1929 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1929) | Read | Download |
- Kinematograph Year Book 1927 | Read | Download |
- Kinematograph Year Book 1928 | Read | Download |
- Kinematograph Year Book 1929 | Read | Download |
- The Motion Picture Almanac (1929) | Read | Download |
- Motion Picture News Booking Guide (1929) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1926) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1927) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1928) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1929) | Read | Download |
1950s
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1950) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1951) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1952) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1953) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1954) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1955) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1956) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1957) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1958) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1959) | Read | Download |
- Hollywood Reporter Production Encyclopedia (1952) | Read | Download |
- Kinematograph Year Book 1950 | Read | Download |
- Kinematograph Year Book 1954 | Read | Download |
- Motion Picture Production Encyclopedia (1950) | Read | Download |
- National Box Office Digest Annual 1950 | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1950) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1951) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1952) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1953) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1954) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1955) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1956) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1957) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1958) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1959) | Read | Download |
- The 1950 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1950) | Read | Download |
- The 1951 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1951) | Read | Download |
1960s
- Boxoffice Barometer (March 6, 1961) | Read | Download |
- Boxoffice Barometer (March 26, 1962) | Read | Download |
- Boxoffice Barometer (April 15, 1963) | Read | Download |
- Canadian Motion Picture Industry Year Book (1960-1961) | Read | Download |
- Canadian Motion Picture Industry Year Book (1961-1962) | Read | Download |
- Canadian Motion Picture Industry Year Book (1962-1963) | Read | Download |
- Canadian Motion Picture Industry Year Book (1963-1964) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1960) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1961) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1962) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1963) | Read | Download |
- The Radio Annual and Television Yearbook (1964) | Read | Download |
- The 1963 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1963) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1960) | Read | Download |
- The Picture Show Annual (1961) | Read | Download |
Extensive Runs of Yearbooks, arranged by title
Canadian Motion Picture Industry Year Book (1951-1964)
The Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1920-1963)
Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1916-1921)
Kinematograph Year Book (1927-1954)
Picture Show Annual (1926-1961)
National Box Office Digest (1938-1950)
The Radio Annual (and Television Yearbook) (1938-1964)