The manuscript series of the Peter Sorel photographs span the years 1977-2002 (bulk 1980-1996). The collection consists of scripts, crew lists, cast lists, financial statements, and other miscellaneous research and production material. It offers a glimpse into the production process involved in the work of such directors as Mike Figgis, Roland Joffé, Warren Beatty, Mel Brooks, Barry Levinson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola.

The Peter Sorel photographs span the years 1967-2007 and encompass 44.5 linear feet. The collection consists of approximately 2800 photographic prints, transparencies, and negatives. The photographs are grouped into motion picture production photographs, biography photographs, and subject photographs.

The motion picture production photographs span the years 1967-2007 and consist of scenes, publicity portraits, and off-camera photographs. The material is arranged alphabetically by title. Titles include “Bugsy” (1991), “The China Syndrome” (1979), “Die Hard” (1988), “Frida” (2002), “Ghost” (1990), “L.A. Confidential” (1997), “Magnolia” (1999), “1941” (1979), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” (1975), and “Shampoo” (1975).

The biography photographs are mostly undated and consist primarily of portraits of actors, singers, and directors. The material is arranged alphabetically by name. Persons depicted include Robert Altman, Julie Andrews, Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Goldberg, Whoopi, Dennis Hopper, Diana Ross, Sissy Spacek, Kathleen Turner, and Orson Welles.

The subject photographs consist primarily of fine art and travel photography.

Peter Sorel was born in Hungary and, after emigrating to the United States, befriended fellow Hungarians Vilmos Zsigmond and László Kovács. Sorel was working in a photography lab in the mid-1960s when Zsigmond and Kovács asked him to visit the set of a low-budget science fiction movie they were working on and supplement the work of the unit’s stills photographer. To his surprise, Sorel found this work to his liking, and Zsigmond and Kovács found themselves requesting his assignment every time they worked. Sorel was stills photographer and Kovács cinematographer on Dennis Hopper’s EASY RIDER (1969), and all three Hungarians eventually profited from its success.

Sorel worked his way up to assistant cameraman on Peter Bogdanovich’s TARGETS (1968) and appeared onscreen in Hopper’s THE LAST MOVIE (1971), but achieved prominence as stills photographer on such Academy-Award-winning films as SHAMPOO (1975), ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975), CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977), THE DEER HUNTER (1978), FRIDA (2002), and LIFE OF PI (2012). In 1995, Sorel, along with fellow still photographers Tony Friedkin, Melinda Sue Gordon and Merrick Morton, formed the Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers, fashioned after the American Society of Cinematographers.