Noting that the technique of content analysis has become a useful tool for mass communication researchers, this annotated bibliography explains how the field evolved. The annotated bibliography's introduction suggests that: first stage issues (from the 1890s to the mid-1930s) involved efforts by journalists and educators to develop systematic measurement techniques and objective operational content category definitions; when researchers began to reach an embryonic consensus by the mid-1930s, a second stage in the evolution of content analysis had begun; and a third stage began in the late 1940s when B. Berelson and P. F. Lazarsfeld developed the first integrated picture of content analysis. The bibliography includes annotations (listed in chronological order) of 50 books and journal articles on content analysis published between 1893 and 1978. Eleven notes are included. (RS)