Prelinger Archives
5,281–5,328 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: Tuohino Collection: 003525
A family on vacation visits (possibly) Big Bear Lake, the Queen Mary, Crater Lake, and Scandia Gaard. Can notes: "Tuohino #13"
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Gee Collection: 097839
Fun-loving Chinese American family based in the Richmond district of San Francisco, California celebrates birthdays, visits the beach, picnics at Golden Gate…
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098182: Snow in the Rockies road trip]
9 min., BW: A road trip through the Rocky Mountains in the snow, 1950s, with chain installation and scenic winter treescapes. On to desert SW tourist stops…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97521: Unidentified
To come.
Internet Archive
Monel Metal - Modern As Tomorrow
Silent film on how monel metals (a nickel-copper alloy with high tensile strength and resistance to corrosion) are useful in industry and everyday life.
Internet Archive
Earthquakes
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 1942
Outtakes from "No Man Stands Alone." Mode-Art Production No. 1776. Features footage of a multigenerational, multiracial congregation inside a church,…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Evan Barber Collection: 011002
Family Christmas gathering and a summer cookout in Britton, a town in the northeastern section of South Dakota. Note on can lid states: "Barbers in So. Dak.…
Internet Archive
Home Movies: Can 11261: Detroit Family, Early 1960s
Backyard activities and a drive down Detroit-area freeways.
Internet Archive
Sahara
Content warning: Ethnocentric stereotyping throughout and racist description of North African people at 5:29. A travelogue and educational film about life in…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 000916
Older man prepares fishing gear, fishing literature, and other equipment at home followed by a drive to a wooded lakeshore cabin and time with adult family…
Internet Archive
Readership Study Of The Washington Farmer
Silent. For advertisers, a report of who reads the Washington Farmer periodical.
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5127.3: Grauman's Chinese Theatre]
Aerial shots of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood (Los Angeles), California
Internet Archive
Carlson Trailers Reel 1
Twenty-five trailers of Hollywood produced films. SUNSET BOULEVARD; SEPTEMBER AFFAIR; LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER; THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE; ON THE…
Internet Archive
Calorie Counter: A Lesson in Nutrition, The
Internet Archive
Movie Trailers (American Flag [color])
Internet Archive
Speed and Reflexes (Revised Edition)
Film about the physics of driving and the importance of driving safely. "Designed to instruct amateur and professional drivers. Shows the human reflex or…
Internet Archive
V-Men
The film discusses the importance of nutrition and the impact of cooking methods on the vitamin content of food. It highlights that a significant portion of…
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 2489: A Production Unit of 1965
A and B roll footage for the Westinghouse sponsored film, "A Production Unit of 1965". Includes footage of workers using punched-tape typewriters,…
Internet Archive
Calvin Co. Ektachrome v. Kodachrome Test
Film stock tests performed by Calvin Company (Kansas City, Missouri) in which they compare the differences of Ektachrome original to 1st generation…
Internet Archive
Port of Call: San Francisco
San Francisco scenics and attractions.
Internet Archive
Telephone Courtesy
Internet Archive
Better Work Methods (Reel 4)
Survey of industrial work methods and guidance towards remedy of wasted operator time and motion. Includes case studies on worker time assembling door knobs…
Internet Archive
Food: A Film Lesson in "Health and Hygiene"
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Mahoning Valley Collection, Can 24: Trumbull County, Ohio Parade and Niagara Falls Trip]
Begins with parade in or near Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, with the participation of the Warren Fire Department and the Trumbull County Federation of Labor.…
Internet Archive
Home movie: 098004: 1950s Texas Canadian River Water Authority projects with Bureau of Reclamation
Home movie: 098004: 1950s Texas Canadian River Water Authority projects with Bureau of Reclamation
Internet Archive
Muddy Waters
Internet Archive
Siam
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Pavel Lihani Collection: 004873
Content warning: A person with dwarfism is filmed in a voyeuristic way and without consent through a window. A young family takes a tourist boat around…
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10668: Trip to Indiana]
Internet Archive
Campus on the March
Internet Archive
When the Trees Talk
Internet Archive
Ask Me, Don't Tell Me (B Roll)
From the Field Guide to Sponsored Films by Rick Prelinger: "Exploration of juvenile delinquency in San Francisco featuring interviews with teenagers from…
Internet Archive
NAHB 1963 Experimental House, The
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Eckelman Collection: 003753
An Illinois family celebrates the holidays and birthdays together in 1951. Scenes of exuberant children and teenagers inside the home and in a rural area.…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10104: Prelinger Collection
To come.
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098734: 1931 summer and winter scenes around Camp Oaks and Camp Major Buckhill]
1931 summer scenes at Camp Oaks and Camp Major Buckhill featuring extensive swimming and diving sequences, also winter scenes with ice skating on a frozen…
Internet Archive
Operator Toll Dialing: Cord Signals
Internet Archive
Beatrice Foods News Reports from Around the World (Part I)
0703 PA8668 Beatrice Foods News Reports from Around the World
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97517: Unidentified
To come.
Internet Archive
Sailor's Holiday (Part 1)
Part 1 of an early romantic comedy starring Sally Eilers and Alan Hale. Advertised as "the story of a lovelorn sailor on leave." Exhibitors Herald-World, 6…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Tuohino Collection: 003505
Life on a farm in rural America, probably Colorado, in the 1950s and 1960s, interspersed with some scenes of the California coast. The film begins with scenes…
Internet Archive
Wreckless
Handy (Jam) Organization
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Jesus Villareal Collection: 000414
Building a backyard gathering space in Southern California, complete with an outdoor kitchen, bar, and lush garden. Includes images of joyous…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10590: Ft. Knox, Olmsted, Charleston, Detroit, Windsor, Niagara Falls
Note in can states: 1. Ft Knox June 1951; 2. Olmsted & Charleston June 1951; 3. Detroit & Windsor July 1951; 4. Niagara Falls July 1951.
Internet Archive
Educational Radio As Used in the St. Louis Public Schools
Film comprised of narration over still images. Great images of cute children recording in radio studio; young children in school doing science experiments…
Internet Archive
Magic Bond, The
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098586: Europe tourism early 1950s]
41 min., color: Early 1950s tour of Europe by American women. Queen Mary passenger ship to England, then to Holland and Switzerland with tourist stops, human…