I've just become aware of this amazing (free) online database, Lantern/Media History Digital Library, which has scanned classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain. This site has "over 800,000 pages of digitized texts from the the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound....from a wide array of publications, like Variety, The Film Daily, Photoplay, and American Cinematographer."
You can check it out here:
Karen
Karen Dee Carpenter, Assistant Professor Department of Cinema and Television Arts California State University, Northridge