Decades of movie poster history go online

It is difficult to envision the sheer volume of the Movie Poster Collection at the Harry Ransom Center. The collection encompasses upwards of 10,000 posters and spans decades: from when the film industry was just beginning to compete with vaudeville acts in the 1920s to the rise of the modern megaplex and drive-in theaters in the 1970s. The sizes range from that of a small window card to that of a billboard.

"On each item in the digital collections there is a Rights Statement. In the movie posters, they contain a notice like this one: “The Harry Ransom Center has determined, to the best of its ability based on available information, that this material is unlikely to be protected by copyright interests and is in the public domain. Copyright status is, however, often difficult to...

It is difficult to envision the sheer volume of the Movie Poster Collection at the Harry Ransom Center. The collection encompasses upwards of 10,000 posters and spans decades: from when the film industry was just beginning to compete with vaudeville acts in the 1920s to the rise of the modern megaplex and drive-in theaters in the 1970s. The sizes range from that of a small window card to that of a billboard.

"On each item in the digital collections there is a Rights Statement. In the movie posters, they contain a notice like this one: “The Harry Ransom Center has determined, to the best of its ability based on available information, that this material is unlikely to be protected by copyright interests and is in the public domain. Copyright status is, however, often difficult to determine with certainty, so restrictions may still exist...