Bill Douglas was one of British cinema’s foremost figures, whose autobiographical trilogy My Childhood, my Ain Folk, and My Way Home is acknowledged to be among the masterpieces of poetic cinema. During his lifetime, he drew together an extensive collection of printed materials and artefacts relating to the history and pre-history of cinema. The collection of over 25,000 book and 25,000 images and artefacts includes the first editions of the most important books in the history of cinema – including a 1671 edition of the first book illustrating the magic lantern. After Bill Douglas died in 1991, his collection was given to the University of Exeter.

The Bill Douglas Centre is now housed in the University of Exeter’s Old Library building following cataloguing, conservation, display and interpretation work as part of this project.