Chris,
You can start the way I did by going to your public libary and checking out the biography and movie sections.
That's how I started my collections, with the autobiographies of Colleen Moore ("Silent Star") and Mary Astor ("A Life on Film"). These books not only tell of their own early careers but of the early years of Hollywood.
Another good area to check out would be to find books about Mary Pickford and/or Douglas Fairbanks. The first "Supercouple" that Hollywood produced were right there at the start of motion pictures. Pickford especially is a great example since she combined an early Broadway career with her days at D.W. Griffith's seminal work in motion pictures.
I also strongly suggest checking out Turner Classic Movies' cable channel on Sunday nights when they air silent films. Some of the ones that I have taped include the formerly lost version of "Beyond the Rocks" with Gloria Swanson (another great autobiography) and Rudolph Valentino to "King of Kings" (1927 with H.B.Warner).
TCM also has run series like the Crime Doctor with one entry every Saturday (if I remember correctly ). They also have marathons of different series.
May I also suggest my own humble website at www.theoldmoviemaven.com? You could also go directly to the directory page at the link above to access what's where on my site.
You already have a fine list of other series, but, one I might suggest that I think would fit nicely for you would be the Mr. Wong detective series, starring Boris Karloff.
I suggest the The Falcon series, the Boston Blackie series, The Saint Series (which is just like the Falcon films). Some other series are Lone Wolf, and The Crime Doctor. All of these have been shown on TCM in the past and I'm sure will be again sometime.
There are the Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie and Nancy Drew series as well as the Lionel Barrymore films "On Borrowed Time" and The Return of Peter Grimm". Also the films “Beyond Tomorrow”, “The Next Voice You Hear” and the original versions of “We’re No Angels” and “Angels In The Outfield”.