Prelinger Archives
6,529–6,576 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
Vista Stock Shots: San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, Roll 1
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 12030: Unidentified Detroit Family
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004127
Footage of a road trip around the Alpine regions of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy that seems to be filmed very recently after the end of World War…
Internet Archive
How Much Can You Take?
Army Training
Internet Archive
Making a Skyscraper (Steel) "Empire State Bldg."
Making steel structural beams for Empire State Building. Includes animation. Construction site and assembly of building frame, connection of floor beams and…
Internet Archive
Whiskey Rebellion
Internet Archive
Manchuria (Manchukuo)
Internet Archive
[Untitled Amateur Film: Hunting]
Men hunting birds, Shots of birds flying and settling in reeds.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 011212
Travel to the Western United States in the late 1920s, with point-of-view shots from a moving train, scenes shot on a Hollywood set with unidentified actors,…
Internet Archive
Trees For Tomorrow
Trees For Tomorrow
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98644: 1965 Trip
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97336: Honeymoon 2
To come.
Internet Archive
How Movies Began (excerpt)
to come
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10468: Fort Stevens, U.S. Coast Guard]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10741: Grand Trunk and Canadian National Railways Steam Excursion, May 4, 1963
To come.
Internet Archive
Farm Tractor Safety: A Family Affair
Internet Archive
Suggestion Box
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 1950
Outtakes from "No Man Stands Alone" Mode-Art Production No. 1776 Features scenes at church, a Kiwanis Club luncheon, and meeting, as well as outdoor scenes of…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Janet Dill Collection: 004050
Vacations and fishing in the ocean in Florida. Includes a passenger railroad journey northward with sequences filmed through train windows and major sights of…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Koura Collection: 006102
An extended Japanese American family in 1950s rural Washington state picnics on the beach and in their yard, goes on road trips, and celebrates a wedding and…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 010270
A group of white missionaries visits China and Southeast Asia in the 1920s, featuring an army of foot soldiers marching up the steps of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 71112: Detroit Family, Atlantic City Vacation
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98640: Miscellaneous, 1964
To come.
Internet Archive
Pattern for Progress
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: NYFD Chief Officers
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: "Part 2, Reel 6"]
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098931-1: Fishing scenes with double exposure]
Lakeshore vacation: fishing, boating, wildlife viewing, visiting a lakeshore cemetery, with a swimming deer. Last 3 minutes is double exposed; c. late 1950s.…
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: London Fire Services
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
America the Beautiful (Cuts, Can 9)
Travelogue images of Washington D.C. throughout the seasons; miscellaneous scenes, including a river tour of San Antonio, Texas; and a visit to the Wright…
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5483.6: Kinograms Newsreel]
Easter services from Hollywood, California / opera star Alice Gentle sings
Internet Archive
Social Seminar: “Tom”
skeletal entry
Internet Archive
Land Betrayed, A
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Dial D for Design
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98900: YMCA Camp, Michigan
Home movies shot at YMCA camp, Michigan, 1952-54.
Internet Archive
[Unidentified Dental Health Film]
Educational film about dental hygiene. Includes shots of children having their teeth cleaned by a dentist, a demonstration of proper brushing technique,…
Internet Archive
Physical Aspects of Puberty
Animated explanation of primary and secondary sex characteristics in adolescent boys and girls.
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10056: In-Laws]
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Queerosities - Tree Toppers
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: Lumberyard Fire
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Porcelli Collection: 003774
A wedding and the bride's preparations for her marriage ceremony. The early scenes show a young man in Catholic robe appearing to prepare for a confirmation…
Internet Archive
The City (A-Roll)
A-roll (of A/B rolls) of a film documenting demolition of the Bunker Hill neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, California, and the new construction that…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Gordon Hewes Collection: 004170
Scenes of leisure in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Yosemite National Park in the 1930s. The very end of the film contains a fragment of an amateur narrative…
Internet Archive
Thrills: A Potpourri of Desperate Moments From Real Life
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 000121
A day at the beach, possibly in Wildwood, New Jersey, with lots of sand play and sun tanning, followed by an indoor scene of a family meal at Christmas time.…
Internet Archive
Vista Stock Shots: San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, Roll 6
Internet Archive
Romance of the the Skies
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Croft Collection: Can 56: Flying in Small Plane]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: D.L. Schreyer Collection: 004645
Southern California family with two young children and dogs engaging in recreation and leisure; showing dogs at dog shows; Dad travels to Japan with U.S. Navy…