Prelinger Archives
5,953–6,000 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: 098277: Yosemite in the 1940s]
18 min., color: Yosemite National Park is nearly empty during wartime in this travel reel from the early 1940s. Opening in San Francisco, the reel quickly…
Internet Archive
[Private Party]
Footage filmed at a television station office party. Can notes: "Save - Private Party B+W - 1961 Personal" / "Do not edit"
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Jersey Shore, 1948]
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10890: San Francisco]
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10723: Turkey Run & Bryce's Birthday, 1947]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Newhouser Collection: 011764
CONTENT ADVISORY: At 10:38 this film includes a shot of a billboard promoting a restaurant and boasting of an all-white staff. An African American family…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Nicholson Collection: 004248
Family with baby spending time in and around a house and backyard. Babies walking and crying, playing in a small tub in the yard, meeting other babies and…
Internet Archive
Strohm 0048
Incomplete excerpt from film about rubber farming in Southeast Asia. A white man in a suit spins a globe and points to Thailand and Indonesia on a map, and…
Internet Archive
A Pup's Tale - Hy Mayer's Sketchbook
A silent short about puppies and dogs. Features illustrations by Hy Mayer.
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Parade, Gorge, MotorCross, Dancing]
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10884: Salem, Oregon]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 11212: Feather River and Denver
Notes from can: Our Gang Comedy w/ Friends Tiney Town at Pubelo From Train, Through MTS. Out West Feather River & Denver
Internet Archive
For Good Living (Brown Derby Beer Promo)
Internet Archive
Compton Concept, The
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Wathen Collection: Asia]
Various locations in Asia. Bad registration; shaky and out of focus.
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5484.6: Kinograms Newsreel]
Joe Cook does his juggling act
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: San Francisco, late 1940s - early 1950s]
Shots to be logged.
Internet Archive
Dow Midland
PA8963 Dow Midland 16 Koda RP
Internet Archive
Forest Fun (part nine of a series)
Live action and puppet animation about california forests
Internet Archive
Breath Takers
Internet Archive
Land of Montezuma, The
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Norma Sanders Collection: 097292
A small group of mostly women spends time at a lakeside cabin gardening, playing with animals, and picnicking. Includes an extended sequence of close-up…
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098425: Niagara Falls, Lake Michigan, 1950s vacation]
17 min., color: Mid-1950s holiday to Niagara Falls, with boat trip to the base of the falls, also relaxing on Lake Michigan.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10806: New York Central and New Haven Railroad Electric Operations
Label on can states: N.Y.C. N.Y. N.H. & H. Electric Operations July 1961.
Internet Archive
Development of a Salamander
Early biological film.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98363: Children and Easter Egg Hunt
To come.
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 2781
Irregular brief sequences promoting manufacturing and applications of United States Steel Homaday exterior wall panel product, with short sequences of…
Internet Archive
Animal Studies in the Social Modification of Organically Motivated Behavior
The 1950s footage documents a scientific study of rat behavior in a controlled environment, highlighting their interactions within a cage. Various sequences…
Internet Archive
Vista Stock Shots: Home Construction: Plans Approved
Internet Archive
Doing Business in a Revolution
Internet Archive
When Elk Come Down
Shot in and near Yellowstone National Park. Some good shots to be logged.
Internet Archive
Geologist's Scrap Book
Internet Archive
[United Airlines Operations]
Early United Airlines film fragment.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Schultz Collection: 004131
Documentation of the Notre-Dame du Haut chapel in Ronchamp, France designed by Le Corbusier. Also documents an unidentified sculpture installed on the…
Internet Archive
Face of Youth
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Croft Collection: Reel 80, House Ext and Int]
John F. Kennedy campaign rally in Cadillac Square, downtown Detroit
Internet Archive
Train Original
Point of view record of a cross-country (USA) train ride shot through passenger car window, with occasional views of family traveling within rail car.
Internet Archive
Range Grazing Practices
Encourages the planting of native grasses to preserve soil fertility and provides grazing best practices. Emphasizes that a good range grazing program should…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98685: Family Scenes
To come.
Internet Archive
Vista Stock Shots: Golden Gate Bridge 2
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: Torpedoed
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
America the Beautiful (Cuts, Can 3)
Outtakes from travelogue footage documenting New York City and Chicago and their architectural highlights; includes home movie sequences of people recreating…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97509: Northern California
To come.
Internet Archive
Venice of the North
Internet Archive
Nation Builders
Silent film about the pioneers of Australia - past and present.
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098943: 1930s & early 1940s in color and black and white, domestic scenes and town scenes]
Late 1930s and early 1940s reels, both black and white and color footage with eastern U.S. urban and suburban street scenes and home interiors with Christmas…
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: New York Fire Dept
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97211: Home and Travel
To come.