Rare earth-doped oxide thin-film phosphors may emerge as an alternate choice for the blue phosphor, due to their chemical and thermal stability in high vacuum and absence of corrosive gas emission under electron bombardment. The blue phosphors in this study were activated in air at temperatures suitable for glass substrates, which have been used in a number of applications. The effects of rare earth ions and oxide hosts on the blue-light-emitting properties of phosphors are discussed. In addition, novel blue-light emission was observed in certain typical undoped wide bandgap oxides. The luminescence of the oxides depends on the growth and annealing conditions under different atmospheres, suggesting that it is associated with the presence of oxygen vacancies. Radiative processes related to oxygen vacancies were also presented.