Records of the Kansas State Board of Review

Other Resources

The following resources can be used to supplement research into the BOR. Call numbers and/or location information follow the main bibiographic data.

Butters, Gerald R. "The Birth of a Nation and the Kansas Board of Review of Motion Pictures: A Censorship Struggle." Kansas History 14 (no. 1, Spring 1991): 2-14. (SP 906/K13q).

Felder, John Louis. Sunday Movies in Kansas. Unpublished thesis. Lawrence, KS: Kansas State University, 1966. (K 91.43/F332).

Gaume, Thomas Michael. Suppression of Motion Pictures in Kansas, 1952 to 1975. Unpublished thesis. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, 1976. (K 791.4/G236).

General Statutes of Kansas: 1949 (Ch. 51, Ch. 74, art. 22); and 1955 (Ch. 74, art. 22). (SP 345.2/K13).

Governor's Office. Correspondence, 1913-1966. Kansas State Archives. See finding aids in research room for specific locations.

Kansas State Board of Review. A Classified List of Films Appoved for Use in Special Programs Slected From Pictures Reviewed Between April 1, 1917 and April 1, 1918. Topeka, KS: State Printer, 1918. (SP 792/K13).

__________. Biennial Reports. Topeka, KS: State Printer, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1932, 1944, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1956, and 1958. (SP 792/K13q).

__________. Complete List of Motion Picture Films Submitted. Topeka, KS: Author, 1915-1966. (10 vols.). (SP 792/K13).

__________. Laws and Rules: Motion Pictures. Topeka, KS: State Printer, 1937 and 1948. (SP 792/K13l).

Kansas State Historical Society. Kansas State Board of Review Newspaper Clippings, 1915-1966. Topeka, KS: Author, n.d. (SP 792/K13/Clipp.).

Randall, Richard S. Censorship of the Movies. University of Wisconsin, 1970. (GL 791.43/R158).

Reports of the Kansas Supreme Court: 1917 (Vol. 102, Page 356, Mid-West Photo Play Corp. v. State); 1955 (Vol. 178, Page 400, State v. Shanahan); and 1966 (Vol. 197, page 448, State v. Columbia Pictures Corp.). (SP 345.42/K13).

Session Laws of Kansas: 1913 (Chapter 294); 1915 (Ch. 109, Art. 8, sub. 10774-10780); 1917 (Ch. 308); 1923 (Ch. 14); and 1955 (Ch. 349). (SP 345.1/K13).

Supreme Court (Kansas) Case Files and Briefs: 21,623 (1917, Mid-west Photo Play Corp. v. State); 39,989 (1955, State v. Shanahan); and 44,618 (1966, State v. Columbia Pictures Corp). See reference staff for location.

Researchers will also be interested in the U.S. Supreme Court cases that directly affected the BOR. This information is not a part of the Kansas State Historical Society, and thus would be located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (1915, 236 U.S. 230)
Mutual Film Corp. v. Kansas (1915, 236 U.S. 248)
Near v. State of Minnesota (1931, 283 U.S. 697)
Burstyn v. Wilson (1952, 343 U.S.495)
Superior Films v. Dept. of Education of Ohio (1954, 346 U.S. 587)
Roth v. United States (1957, 354 U.S. 476)
Times Film Corp. v. Chicago (1961, 365 U.S. 43)
Freedman v. Maryland (1965, 380 U.S.51)

U.S. Supreme Court Opinions for the cases can be found at FindLaw.com

Secondary sources of useful significance which include further information, but not available at the Kansas State Historical Society.

Carmen, Ira H. Movie Censorship and the Law. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1966.

Couvares, Francis G. Movie Censorship and American Culture. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.

Gardner, Gerald C. The Censorship Papers: Movie Censorship Letters from the Hays Office, 1934-1968. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1987.

De Grazia, Edward and Roger K. Newman. Banned Films: Movies, Censors and the First Amendment. New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1982.

Jacobs, Lea. The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991.

Leff, Leonard J. and Jerold L. Simmons. The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code from the 1920s to the 1960s. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990.

Livengood, Dale. The Kansas State Board of Review: A Study of Censorship. Unpublished thesis. Kansas State University, 1963.

Petrie, Ruth. Film and Censorship: The Index Reader. Washington, D.C.: Cassell, 1997.

Warner, Linda K. Movie Censorship in Kansas: The Kansas State Board of Review. Unpublished thesis. Emporia State University, 1988.