The Velvet Light Trap was established as a quarterly journal in 1971[1] by film lovers in Madison, Wisconsin, including graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

By the mid-1970s, The Velvet Light Trap had established a reputation for scholarly research, with faculty from around the United States publishing articles in special issues such as "RKO Radio Pictures", "MGM", and "Warners Revisited".

The Velvet Light Trap often attempted to define the styles and genres that distinguished individual Hollywood studios.

Access to primary documents at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research led to special interests such as the blacklist period (1947-1960s).

With the move to the UT Press, the journal established an international advisory editorial board and instituted blind peer review.