Prelinger Archives
4,129–4,176 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
Books: From Manuscript to Classroom
Apparently sponsored by a textbook publishing company. Shows the manufacturing of textbooks. Monotype typesetting. Odd "The End" title, showing condemned man…
Internet Archive
Twinkles Commercial (TW-4R-60) (1960)
Internet Archive
How to Go Places
Internet Archive
Matter of Time, A
The film discusses the significant impact of research on various aspects of life, particularly in agriculture, transportation, and medicine. It emphasizes the…
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5199.2]
Opening of Junipero School in San Francisco, California / buildings / children in front
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97323: Mexico
Viewing notes state: Mexican gondolas Bull fight Myan pyramids (sic) Acapulco cliff divers * Mexico City 1950 color
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Family and Child's Birthday Party]
couple in snowy mountains, baby on mat, toddler girl playing, kid's birthday party
Internet Archive
In My Merry Oldsmobile
MUSICAL CARTOON.
Internet Archive
Pierre and Candy
Film with two children - "falling in love" humorous and innocent play on french romance films
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97470: St. Louis Area Family, Reel 1
Viewing notes state: Religious site with Stations of the Cross Post office Girls with dolls Grandpa with Ritz at kitchen table card playing 8mm movie…
Internet Archive
Desert Empire
Internet Archive
Movie Trailers (Intermission music)
Film leader only, with sound
Internet Archive
Babies and Breadwinners [1961 Polio Vaccine campaign]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98235: CERA El Fan Trips
Can marked: "C.E.R.A. "El" Fan Trips / With Gate Cars 4-14-57 / With Closed Cars 12-8-57"
Internet Archive
Salamanders
Silent. Looks at blind albino salamanders, European Fire Salamanders and newts in the Catskills.
Internet Archive
1936 Pittsburgh Flood
Internet Archive
King Calico
In the whimsical Calico Kingdom, characters Doris, Reckless Raccoon, and King Calico embark on an adventure to solve the mystery of missing royal items,…
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: West Coast 1968, Vacation to Oregon]
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Form, Design and the City
Philadelphia, PA
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098700: A 1955 wedding]
1955 wedding in a working-class Italian-American community, with church scenes, a reception in the church basement, and backyard barbecue sequences.
Internet Archive
Trees To Tribunes
Some of the activities involved in pulpwood logging, making newsprint, and printing a large metropolitan newspaper.
Internet Archive
Gasoline For Everybody
Production, refining and distribution of gasoline.
Internet Archive
Confidential File: Medical Quacks (Part I)
An episode of the television show "Confidential File". Hosted by Paul Coates.
Internet Archive
Newport Cigarette Commercial #2
Internet Archive
Magic of the Atom: The Atomic City, The
about the Atomic City
Internet Archive
Desert Empire
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Pennsylvania Snowbirds: End of Brownsville #3, End Trip Home]
[Home Movies: Pennsylvania Snowbirds: End of Brownsville #3, End Trip Home] ca. 1936 - 1937
Internet Archive
Griper, The
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Brezhnev (Pt 1)
Internet Archive
Universal-International Newsreel (Vol. 36, No. 75, 1963)
Vietnam Crisis Mounts; President Kennedy Honors Bob Hope; Pro Football Hall of Fame
Internet Archive
Hog Sense
"'Many hog raising ideas and practices never before filmed. Covers the most up-to-date methods known in breeding, raising and marketing of swine.'…
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: Empire State Building
from Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
The Atom Strikes (Reel 1)
"Shortly after the end of the war an American Mission was sent to Japan, to report on the destruction wrought by the atomic bombs." U.S. Army MF 5-1235…
Internet Archive
Social Seminar: The Community In Quest
Analyzes a community trying to solve its problems through the confrontation techniques of role playing. Illustrates the fears and resistance to change on the…
Internet Archive
New York World's Fair (Part 5)
Amateur film of the New York World's Fair (1939-40). Reel 5. Can states: Religion, Home Furnishing, Food, Jewels, Gardens, Sculpture, Night View, Crosley,…
Internet Archive
Folgers Coffee Commercial #13
Internet Archive
Caution at the Crossroads
The film "Caution at the Crossroads" serves as a driver training session focusing on the importance of safety at intersections. It emphasizes the need for…
Internet Archive
Safety Patrol (1955)
Internet Archive
John Schmidt Collection: Reel 01
A meditation on springtime with images of cherry blossoms, tulips, a songbird in a tree, and people at Golden Gate Park. Also includes shots of indoor house…
Internet Archive
Voice of Victory
Internet Archive
Making a New Day Out of Tuesday
Making a New Day Out of Tuesday
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5364.2: Fillmore Street Parade]
San Francisco, California: Fillmore Street Parade / floats / American Theatre in background
Internet Archive
Exploring With the Time Lapse Camera
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Atomic Power at Shippingport
Internet Archive
What's The Big Hurry?
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098633: 1929 New York construction, Lake George recreation]
17 minute reel from a New York family documenting the construction of the London Terrace apartments and the Parc Vendome apartments, with the last half…
Internet Archive
Building the Bell System Pavilion: New York World's Fair 1964-1965
Internet Archive
Profile: Jamison Handy
Jam Handy is interviewed by WWJ-TV host Bob Leslie.