Prelinger Archives
8,785–8,832 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
RP Texas Eastern Transmission Reel 3 001
RP Texas Eastern Transmission Reel 3 001
Internet Archive
Home movie: 001144: 1940s Air Force base in World War II
Home movie: 001144: 1940s Air Force base in World War II
Internet Archive
Behind The Headlines Reel 2 B
Behind The Headlines Reel 2 B
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000445: 1940s Detroit family
Home movie: 000445: 1940s Detroit family
Internet Archive
Dividends From Space Reel 2 B
Dividends From Space Reel 2 B
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000514: 1950s Western states, farm scenes and roller skates
Home movie: 000514: 1950s Western states, farm scenes and roller skates
Internet Archive
098749 SF CITY
098749 SF CITY
Internet Archive
Home movie: 0001116_NY: 1947 birthday parties and horseplay
Home movie: 0001116_NY: 1947 birthday parties and horseplay
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97364: Pennsylvania Family
To come.
Internet Archive
RP Democracy At Work 001
RP Democracy At Work 001
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000543c: 1950s Pennsylvania Conneaut Lake car show
Home movie: 000543c: 1950s Pennsylvania Conneaut Lake car show
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97342: Unidentified
To come.
Internet Archive
Photographer 001
Photographer 001
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10594: Possibly in Waterbury, Connecticut
To come.
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000474: 1940s Alaska in World War II
Home movie: 000474: 1940s Alaska in World War II
Internet Archive
Home movie: 010040: 1940s Brooklyn big family with beer
Home movie: 010040: 1940s Brooklyn big family with beer
Internet Archive
Chemehuev Indian Tribes
Chemehuev Indian Tribes
Internet Archive
000640
000640
Internet Archive
Hawaiian Dances
Hawaiian Dances
Internet Archive
Home movie: 010003: 1940s rural working-class family
Home movie: 010003: 1940s rural working-class family
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98923: Possibly Minneapolis Family
To come.
Internet Archive
Home movie: 001196: 1950s New York Finger Lakes boating
Home movie: 001196: 1950s New York Finger Lakes boating
Internet Archive
Home movie: 010078_001: 1930s happy family reunion in upstate New York
Home movie: 010078_001: 1930s happy family reunion in upstate New York
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 000472
Can marked: “Oregon Sea Lion Caves - Scenic."
Internet Archive
Farm Terracing And Earth Moving 001
Farm Terracing And Earth Moving 001
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 003803
A family on a road trip through California and the Sierra Nevada, summer 1960.
Internet Archive
000780
000780
Internet Archive
Pudge
Pudge
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Liddle Collection: 005302
Exteriors of a Sierra Madre estate, belonging to a Catholic priest, circa 1926, and Los Angeles basin scenes. Notable scenes of a domestic worker caring for…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98919: Possibly in Minneapolis
Possibly shot in Minneapolis, Minn.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98581: Mount Washington, etc.
To come.
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000411: 1965 Villareal patio restaurant
Home movie: 000411: 1965 Villareal patio restaurant
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000513: 1950s South Dakota trip
Home movie: 000513: 1950s South Dakota trip
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98922: Possibly in Minneapolis
Possibly shot in Minneapolis, Minn.
Internet Archive
001086 Singapore Straits
001086 Singapore Straits
Internet Archive
Home movie: 001201: 1930s western states road trip
Home movie: 001201: 1930s western states road trip
Internet Archive
Home movie: 010051_001: 1940s Michigan family cross-country road trip
Home movie: 010051_001: 1940s Michigan family cross-country road trip
Internet Archive
Home movie: 001135: 1960s California life with swimming pool
Home movie: 001135: 1960s California life with swimming pool
Internet Archive
How To Make Faces
How To Make Faces
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 2810
Outtake footage of dredging likely in or near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000420: 1960s Pennsylvania farm, Florida
Home movie: 000420: 1960s Pennsylvania farm, Florida
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97278: Possibly in Wyoming
To come,
Internet Archive
Home movie: 000573-2: 1950s Ontario and New York state with birthday
Home movie: 000573-2: 1950s Ontario and New York state with birthday
Internet Archive
Home movie: 098066: 1950s Army family road trip in upstate New York
Home movie: 098066: 1950s Army family road trip in upstate New York
Internet Archive
Why Take Chances? (Safety at Play)
Why Take Chances? was a sequel to Sid Davis' very successful picture Live and Learn (1951), another safety film for children that used bluntly forceful…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 098782
Content warning: White man in Hawaiian drag doing hula type motions. At a lakeshore camp in summer, a large group of adults and children engage in theatrical…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004764
A white family on vacation in Mexico, including footage filmed in Guadalajara, Mexico City, Acapulco, and more. Also includes footage filmed in Las Vegas,…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 003469
The S.S. California, a Panama-Pacific Line steamship out of San Francisco, moves through the lock system of the Panama Canal. Includes images of Panama City,…