Prelinger Archives
5,137–5,184 of 10,346 films, free to watch, from the world's open archives.
Where these films come from, and who sees what
Every film here plays from the archive that keeps it: the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, the NASA Image and Video Library, the Library of Congress and Open Images (the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision). Nothing is copied to this site. Each film's page names its archive, links to its page there, and states its licence or status as the archive does.
Archive films carry no age ratings, so each is placed from the collections it sits in and the subjects the archive gives it, cautiously. Sexual content and nudity are left out altogether.
| Little Ones | Films for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool. |
|---|---|
| Kids | Cartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature. |
| Tweens | Documentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures. |
| Teens | Everything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower. |
| Adult | Sexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, atrocity footage. |
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97316: Western U.S. Travels
Viewing notes state: Family Wind Cave Devils Peak Mt. Rushmore Wild Bear Eating from Car Old Faithful Yellowstone National Park X-mas
Internet Archive
Bookbinders
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Coast to Coast, Part 4]
Skeletal entry. Info in logbook.
Internet Archive
Movie Trailers ("Coming Soon")
Internet Archive
[Modern Urban Renewal Clifton Terrace]
Color silent footage showing urban renewal plans in Washington, D.C., about 1968. Includes footage possibly showing a demonstration of women associated with…
Internet Archive
The Code Of The Sea Reel 4
Part 4 of the silent drama, The Code Of The Sea. The film was broken into reels approximately 15 minutes in length for the rental market.
Internet Archive
[Pocket-Sized Biplane]
Pocket-sized biplane, John Pontius, inventor of Los Altos, Calif.
Internet Archive
[News Magazine of the Screen, May]
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: San Francisco Family: Reel 2: Warner and Reel 5: Golden Gate Park Picnic]
fancy-dressed people on Stanford University campus
Internet Archive
Central Park
Includes Central Park Zoo
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Koura Collection: 006117
Various scenes of leisure and play of the Japanese American Koura family of Washington state, including family snowball fights and snowmen building, swimming…
Internet Archive
Wild Beauty Reel 1
Part 1 of a silent feature. The film was broken into reels approximately 15 minutes in length for the rental market. "Art Hemming, a young American soldier,…
Internet Archive
[Miscellaneous Television Footage]
An compilation of broadcast television promotions and public service announcements. Features a "Hire the Handicapped" campaign and a patriotic pro-United…
Internet Archive
This Vital Earth
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Gee Collection: 097842
Gee family at home in the Richmond District of California in the mid-1960s; indoor and outdoor family gatherings; teenage dance parties and preparations for…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Leong Collection: 005400
The Chinese American Leong family of San Francisco in the late 1950s on outings to Disneyland and the zoo, as well as large community gatherings at the…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97196: Unidentified
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: E.B. Lockwood Collection: 010790
Autumn colors in the Northeast USA and Québec, Canada in the 1930s, a New York subway train passing above ground; dusky skies full of pink clouds, and…
Internet Archive
Ellis Island
Assembly of historical scenes illustrating New York City skyline, immigrants at Ellis Island Immigration Station and the iconic brick building located on the…
Internet Archive
Ali
This silent 1970s film footage provides a detailed chronicle of Muhammad Ali's training and boxing matches. It begins with Ali entering a gym escorted by…
Internet Archive
Ants: Nature's Craftsmen
Internet Archive
Toymaker
Toymaker demonstrates making & using puppets
Internet Archive
America the Beautiful (Cuts, Can 8)
Collected travelogue sequences filmed across the U.S. featuring cattle ranching; water skiing; public buildings and monuments in Missouri, New Orleans, and…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Leong Collection: 005404
Extended documentation of a deer hunting trip, likely in the mountains of California; paratrooper training at Hamilton Air Force Base; and a large…
Internet Archive
Moon Travel
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Klaus Henrich Collection: 005263
A European family living in Iran in the 1970s goes sightseeing in Afghanistan, India, and Iran, engaging in watersports, skiing, and sunbathing. Reel note: "21"
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004756
Varied assembly reel includes intimate family Christmas scenes; a train trip; and sequences of apparently military or paramilitary desert exercises with…
Internet Archive
Seeing the World: Part 5
India and Egypt.
Internet Archive
Family Portrait
How the Metropolitan Life Insurance company operates.
Internet Archive
Company Profile (Part I)
0576 PA8521 Company Profile
Internet Archive
[San Francisco First Annual Cable Car Festival]
Civic holiday, first annual Cable Car Festival in San Francisco
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: Fires Miscellaneous
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
San Francisco Conference
Documents United Nations founding meeting of April 25-June 26, 1945 at War Memorial building in San Francisco (Herbst Theater). President Harry S Truman…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10398: Salinas Jr. Rodeo, Yosemite, Redwoods, Yellowstone
Label taped to can lid states: Rodeo - Yellowstone - Redwoods & Rena’s Duck, Yellowstone Label inside can lid states: Salinas & Jr. Rodeo, Taken May 19 & June…
Internet Archive
Profile in Blue
Internet Archive
Movie Trailers (Western)
Internet Archive
[Satellite Communication Film, Arabic-language]
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Pontiac Styling
0644 PA8616 Pontiac Styling
Internet Archive
News Magazine of the Screen
Internet Archive
Vista Stock Shots: Home Construction
Construction at "Pleasanton Valley," California. Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
[Malcolm Mitchell Missionary Work]
Follows the work of Malcolm Mitchell and missionaries who work with Native Americans.
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5128-OS A: California State Fair Highlights]
California State Fair highlights. Includes shot of Governor Hiram Johnson. Ends with two "diamond stacker" railroad locomotives colliding headon. This was a…
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Medicus Collection: "West 1940"]
With footage of an excursion to bathe at Saltair, Great Salt Lake, Utah
Internet Archive
Voice of the Delaware Valley
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Travel, 1950-51]
Internet Archive
Potatoes
This educational short traces the history, cultivation, and uses of the potato . It begins with the crop in blossom, explaining its South American origins in…
Internet Archive
Puerto Rico
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Leong Collection: 005406
The Chinese American Leong family on a road trip to the Pacific Northwest in 1962, including a visit to the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle. notes on film…