The Western Film Collection consists of press kits, pressbooks, posters, photographs, souvenir programs and other materials that were distributed by film producers to movie theater operators to promote their films. The Western films represented in this collection are Western genre films, films set in the trans-Mississippi West, and/or films with Western characters. Press kits typically include advertisements prepared for submission to newspapers and magazines; black-and-white photographs of scenes from the films with credit information; printed booklets called pressbooks containing information about the film, actors, and other personnel; and posters for lobby display. Early press kits were called "campaign kits." While the majority of press kits included in the collection consist of foldered printed material, there are several examples of electronic press kits on compact disc. The Buddy Holly Story pressbook contains a "flexi disc" recording bound in.