The Motion Picture Society for the Americas (MPSA) records span the years 1930-1948 (bulk 1942-1945) and encompass 17.2 linear feet. The collection contains production files, story files, and subject files. Some of the material in the subject files is thought to have served as research material for the short subjects produced by the MPSA. There are memos and correspondence from, among others, Francis Alstock, Joseph Breen, Maurice Ries, Fanchon Royer, and Gerald Smith.

The production files include script material for Walt Disney’s animated shorts CHICKEN LITTLE (1943) and DER FUEHRER’S FACE, (1942) along with the documentary SOUTH OF THE BORDER WITH DISNEY (1942). The latter featured home movies of Disney and staff visiting South America to research local customs and practices to integrate into their upcoming animated films SALUDOS AMIGOS (1942) and later THE THREE CABALLEROS (1944). The files also contain a script for the sex education film KNOW FOR SURE (1941), produced by the Research Council for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. John C. Higgins, Karl Kamb, and Jackson Leighter wrote many of the scripts for the produced and unproduced films. Also of interest is a script for the Carnaval segment for Orson Welles’ unrealized project IT’S ALL TRUE (circa 1942). Correspondence regarding his activities in Brazil during the making of the film can be found in the subject files.

The story files include synopses, outlines, and correspondence for projects which include outlines for the Disney vehicles AND MY NAME BECAME POTATO and THE THREE BULLS. Also of interest is a letter from Charlie Chaplin Studios asking that they be taken off the MPSA mailing list since they do not have a story department to review submitted stories.

The subject files include a censorship file containing letters objecting to content in such films as MR. LUCKY (1943) and THIS IS THE ARMY (1943). Also of interest is a memo from Jackson Leighter asking that a film showing the exploitation of child labor in a U.S.-owned mine in Peru be withheld from exhibition in the United States. There are several letters from Ted Fithian, on staff at the Council of Inter-American Affairs, to Joseph Breen noting Latin American audience reactions to films including YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) and KING’S ROW (1942). The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) files contain notes taken by MoMA staff, on behalf of the CIAA, which provide information such as a film’s propaganda classification, synopsis, characterization, noteworthy dialog, and the staff's personal impressions.

The subject files also contain correspondence relating to the origins and future of the MPSA despite its demise soon after World War II. A photocopy of the article “Movies in Mexico” by Kathryn Perry Lambeau provides a case study in how the organization operated. Of special interest is a photocopy of an article from “Business Screen” magazine entitled “Films for the Americas: A Business Screen Pictorial Essay on the 16mm Film Program of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs,” which clearly lays out the objectives and functions of the organization.

The Motion Picture Society for the Americas (MPSA) was an organization formed during World War II by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA), a U.S. government agency. The goal was to promote cultural relations and economic collaboration between North and South America. To that end the MPSA encouraged Hollywood film producers to include Latin American themes, locations, music, and talent in their films. The organization was made up of film industry executives at the studios, agencies, and guilds, with producer Walter Wanger serving as president. The MPSA ended its mission in 1946.

Significant individuals involved the organization included Walter Wanger and later Joseph Breen, president of the MPSA, John Hay Whitney and later Francis Alstock, director of the Motion Picture Division (MPD) of the Council of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), Gerald Smith, assistant director of the MPD, Maurice Ries, MPD liaison officer, and Fanchon Royer, a filmmaker who made Catholic films and worked closely with the MPSA.^It should be noted that the line between the MPSA and CIAA can easily be blurred since they worked closely hand-in-hand, but primarily the CIAA approved productions while the MPSA made the productions.