Ebook: Researching Historical Screen Audiences

Considers the challenges of historical audience research in the field of screen studies

• Outlines and expands on the wide range of sources which can be employed to research and capture the experiences and contexts of past screen audiences, and the ways in which these sources can be productively combined
• Explores and assesses the current status and shape of the field of historical audience research, including consideration of a range of perspectives on the field’s methodological models and challenges, and practical applications of these models to focused case studies
• Foregrounds the transnational and multi-cultural dimensions of past cinemagoing, the roles played by management personnel and marketing campaigns, and the currently under-explored area of the past reception of television and home video
• Illustrates the important role played by films, people, spaces, places, technologies, identities and communities when studying the history of cinemagoing and media reception

Showcasing current research and contemporary debate in the field of screen history and audience studies, Researching Historical Screen Audiences draws upon a wide variety of previously untapped sources – including photographs, maps, Mass Observation reports, diaries, fan letters, cinema records and original oral testimonies– to explore the challenges and pleasures of conducting research in this field. Containing twelve new essays from an international group of leading and emerging scholars, the book explores and assesses the current status and shape of the field of historical audience research, showcasing new research which foregrounds the transnational and multi-cultural dimensions of past cinemagoing, the roles played by management personnel and marketing campaigns, and the currently under-explored area of the past reception of home video.