Prelinger Archives
8,065–8,112 of 10,345 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: Unknown Alaska Collection: 004223
Holidays and family gatherings. Note on box: 1 Xmas 1958 1959 [J---] 59 Dad - [F----]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Unknown Alaska Collection: 004241
A family visiting Banff National Park, going on fishing trips, and spending time around their home.
Internet Archive
War Dept Report 001
War Dept Report 001
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97017: Ohio
Home movies shot in Ohio, ca. 1930s.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98754: Possibly in Connecticut
To come.
Internet Archive
Hi-Fi in Hartford
Survey of grocery shoppers about sealtest ice-cream
Internet Archive
[Army/Navy "E"-Award Film]
Unidentified corporate sponsored film made for a company receiving an US Army-Navy "E" Award during World War II for achieving excellence in efficient wartime…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004197
Fishing outings, visits to national parks, and other scenes of leisure and recreation in the Pacific Northwest.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 002391
Content advisory: In Colonial Williamsburg, actors are paid to inhabit roles that express pre-Civil War plantation culture, including slavery. Some actors…
Internet Archive
Home Movies: Wathen Collection: San Francisco, Yellowstone, Colorado, Illinois
Internet Archive
Home movie: 097871: 1960s cross-country train trip to California
Home movie: 097871: 1960s cross-country train trip to California
Internet Archive
Edgar Allan Poe
Educational film about Edgar Allan Poe, part of the Great American Authors series. Includes a dramatization of the poem "Annabel Lee."
Internet Archive
Fisk Tires
Industrial illustrating the dangers of unsafe tires and the work of Fisk Tire to test and build a safer tire.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Luna Collection: 004380
A Southern California Latinx family enjoys swimming and playtime with children in the 1970s and 80s. Features a front yard boxing match, a trip to Marineland…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98678: Possibly In Venezuela
To come.
Internet Archive
Coyote 1 Lamb 0
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004712
A large family poses for the camera in a variety of contexts both indoors and outdoors, likely in New England: at home in town, at a vacation cabin, on a…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98948: Unidentified
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Norma Sanders Collection: 097290
A group mostly composed of women engages in outdoor recreation in Minnesota, including extended waterskiing sequences on a lake, a fishing expedition, and a…
Internet Archive
[Burton Holmes Travelogue]
Content notice: Disrespectful and racist language appears in the titles. Five-part travelogue filmed in the 1920s with intertitles identifying places and…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004365
Content warning: Racist depiction of a reconstructed Chinese laundry at 3:40. A camera's eye on Oklahoma visits a "frontier" theme town, enclosed Bison, and…
Internet Archive
Home Movie PA 010793
Home Movie PA 010793
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 12326: Washington DC
To come.
Internet Archive
The Rainbow Is Yours
The Rainbow Is Yours
Internet Archive
Home movie: 097856: 1950s California places and amusement parks
Home movie: 097856: 1950s California places and amusement parks
Internet Archive
Making the Finest Chocolate in America
Film about the manufacturing of chocolate. Includes footage of a chocolate manufacturing plant and intertitles that outline the process step by step.
Internet Archive
0485 Reaching Into Space AB Roll
to come
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 011701
An engagement and bridal shower, with parts possibly dramatized. Notes from archival film can: "Hamden CT"
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 9460: Laubscher Collection: Havana/New York]
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97073: Yellowstone and Grand Canyon Trip, July 1941
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004221
Images of Niagara Falls, a trip around Washington D.C., domestic scenes, and more. Note on container: 1 - Washington 2 - Niagara Falls 3 - City + family…
Internet Archive
Frontiers Reel 2 B
The film from the 1950s captures a diverse range of scenes, from serene natural landscapes to bustling industrial activities. It opens with tranquil images of…
Internet Archive
Calvin 3401 B: Clay Creek Model Study
Outtake footage of the construction and study of a model dam at Clay Creek in Colorado. Notes on Box: "Client: Colorado State Univ. Title: Clay Creek Model…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Klaus Henrich Collection: 003457
A European family explores the U.S. and the Philippines, with visits to California, upstate New York, Lake Placid, and New York City in the wintertime. Also…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97107: Unidentified
To come.
Internet Archive
Home movie: 010139: 1920s New York family and urban landscapes
Home movie: 010139: 1920s New York family and urban landscapes
Internet Archive
To Inform and To Serve
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004713
A backyard wedding, a family camping trip and visit to Niagara Falls, and another wedding in a church. Note on container: "Bob's Wedding"
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Ransohoff Collection: 010171
A family spending time on a California ranch, including horseback riding, wrangling cattle, and canoeing. Notes inside box: Kids on Ranch
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000481: 1920s Idaho backcountry camping
Home movie: 000481: 1920s Idaho backcountry camping
Internet Archive
0492 Film About Nuns AB Roll
to come
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98628: Children, Horses, Christmas
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97150: Palacios, Texas
To come.
Internet Archive
RP New York Is A Christmas Wonderland BRoll 001
RP New York Is A Christmas Wonderland BRoll 001
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 000461
Home movie footage featuring a cavalry ride, boating, a wedding, and family leisure activities with children and pets. Label on can states: “Cavalry Troup…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 097398
Driving into Hamilton, New York for the 25th anniversary reunion of the class of 1926 of Colgate University. Featuring an extended sequence of women smoking…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 096561
A visit to Sun Valley, Idaho and Banff National Park. Can notes: "Trip to Canada 1948"
Internet Archive
China at the Front
Footage of Chinese military forces at battle during what is likely the Chinese Civil War. No film of this title listed in Educational Film Guides or other…