Frequently Asked Questions

American literary regionalism is a literary movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its writers were often women, and their novels and short stories focused on nostalgic depictions of rural or isolated communities.

“Hollywood regionalism” is the term I use to describe a subgenre of early 20th-century movies that were adapted from women’s regionalist novels and short stories.

Hollywood Regionalism is an online archive that collects and hosts research and contextual information about this subgenre of film. It is intended as a teaching and research tool for anyone interested in American literary regionalism on the page or screen.

They did, but they aren’t the focus of this site.

Women have been consistently excluded from film history. While it is true that relatively few women directed American films between 1910 and 1961, women in fact worked extensively in the film industry. One way they did so, which hasn’t been studied enough, was by publishing fiction that American film studios bought and adapted to film.

Hollywood Regionalism was created and is maintained by Alexandra Edwards. The project is part of her research into early 20th-century women writers and the films that were adapted from their work.

As of February 2025, all 31 film pages now include information about the film’s survival status.