The Gil Kurland papers span the years 1927-1969 and encompass 5 linear feet. The material, consisting of production and subject files, offers documentation on the work of a production manager and provides production budgets for a number of feature films of the 1950s and 1960s. For example, there are budgets for ELMER GANTRY (1960), LITTLE BIG MAN (1970), MY MAN GODFREY (1957), THE NAKED City (1948), and THE ROSE TATTOO (1955). More extensive production files exist for FLIGHT FROM ASHIYA (1964), A MAN CALLED HORSE (1970), A MAN COULD GET KILLED (1966), and TARAS BULBA (1962). Music recording estimates for several mid-1930s Universal films include MERRY-GO-ROUND OF 1938 (1937), SHOW BOAT (1936), and SUTTER'S GOLD (1936). Particularly valuable is the notebook that Kurland maintained as assistant director on Universal's 1927 production of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. More than 40 produced films and half a dozen unproduced films are represented. The subject files contain miscellaneous items relating to Kurland, including his passports and documentation of locations in Germany, Mexico, and Spain. Of interest is a 1957 Pacific Coast studios payroll transcript for Universal employees, including musicians in the contract orchestra, a 1954 Universal studio organization chart, and a 1958 personnel directory and organization chart for Hecht-Hill-Lancaster.

Gil Kurland (1904-1978) was born in Austin, Michigan, and lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago before his family moved to Venice, California, in 1913. Kurland began his career as an office boy in the Universal casting department and was a second assistant director at the studio by 1923. His father, Maurice, was Carl Laemmle's chauffeur. Kurland moved up to first assistant director in 1927, and in 1930 became production manager for sound sequences.

From 1932 through 1938 he was head of the Sound and Music Departments at Universal. The Universal Sound Department was nominated for an Academy Award for the sound recording of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935). In June 1938 Kurland moved to MGM, initially as a first assistant director and later as unit production manager in October 1941, a position he held until September 1945. He returned to Universal at that time as assistant production manager, and in November 1951 became the studio production manager. In May 1957 he was hired as production manager for Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions. Between January 1964 and July 1965 he was production manager on two films for Universal, shot in Spain and Portugal. Kurland's career ended in 1965 with a job as production manager on a Hanna-Barbera television pilot.