The historical, methodological and technical development and the applications of temperature-modulated calorimetry (also known as AC calorimetry) are reviewed over the last three decades, up to about 1992. Modulation calorimetry (MC) is compared with other calorimetric methods. Particular emphasis is given to temperature scanning and frequency-dependent heat capacity experiments. Recent advances in MC, in particular the combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and modulation technique - the temperature-modulated DSC (TMDSC) - is discussed in view of measured dynamic specific heat. The theoretical models worked out before 1990 are briefly described. The Limiting boundary conditions for dynamic calorimetry are critically discussed. Some selections of experimental setups for MC, selected among about 200 citations given here, exemplify by their characteristic experimental parameters the broad variety of existing possibilities to carry out temperature-modulated calorimetric experiments.