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  1. About Bananas
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  5. Breath-Takers, 2
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  1. About Bananas
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  3. Doctor in Industry (Part I)
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  4. 122 Eyes
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  5. Park Conscious
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  6. Breath-Takers, 2
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  8. Care of the Skin
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  10. San Francisco (1955 Cinemascope film)
    353,482 downloads

Staff Picks

  1. 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debate (Part I)
  2. All About Polymorphics
  3. Atom Bomb [Joe Bonica's Movie of the Month]
  4. Behind the Freedom Curtain
  5. Booked for Safekeeping (Part I)
  6. Bridging San Francisco Bay
  7. Children Must Learn, The
  8. City, The (Part I)
  9. Coffee House Rendezvous (Part I)
  10. Days of Our Years

Spotlight Item

Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire, A (DV25 version)
DV25 version (editable quality) of the famous film. Feel free to reedit/recombine/remix. Please consider uploading your derivative works to Internet Archive. This version was transferred from a new 35mm print made from a restored 35mm negative, which was made from our 1906-era 35mm print. The...

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Rick Prelinger and The Internet Archive hereby offer these public domain films from Prelinger Archives to all for free downloading and reuse.

You are warmly encouraged to download, use and reproduce these films in whole or in part, in any medium or market throughout the world. You are also warmly encouraged to share, exchange, redistribute, transfer and copy these films, and especially encouraged to do so for free.

Any derivative works that you produce using these films are yours to perform, publish, reproduce, sell, or distribute in any way you wish without any limitations.

This statement of rights describes the rights granted to you so that you can use films from the online Prelinger collection at the Internet Archive.

Your right to use these films is granted by the Creative Commons Public Domain license. For details on this license, please click the Creative Commons license logo below.

Neither the Internet Archive nor Rick Prelinger can offer additional information regarding the rights to these films, or provide written license agreements. If you require a written license agreement or further information on the rights status of any Prelinger Collection titles, please see below.

Please be aware that:
-- the Creative Commons Public Domain license is the only license relating to films from the online Prelinger Collection;
-- the Internet Archive "Terms of Use" do not apply to the online Prelinger Collection;
-- the CC Public Domain license refers to the public domain status of the films, but not necessarily to every element that a film may contain;
-- and that other films, videos, texts and audio files hosted at the Internet Archive are not necessarily covered by the same license that governs the online Prelinger Collection. Please research these items individually if you wish to reuse any of them.

Descriptions, synopses, shotlists and other metadata provided by Prelinger Archives to this site are copyrighted jointly by Prelinger Archives and Getty Images. They may be quoted, excerpted or reproduced for educational, scholarly, nonprofit or archival purposes, but may not be reproduced for commercial purposes of any kind without permission.

If you require a written license agreement or need access to stock footage in a physical format (such as videotape or a higher-quality digital file), please visit our Stock Footage page. Neither Rick Prelinger nor the Internet Archive furnish written license agreements, nor do they comment on the rights status of a given film above and beyond this Creative Commons license.

Further information on works from Prelinger Archives can be found here. Questions should be directed to Rick Prelinger at Prelinger Archives, PO Box 590622, San Francisco, CA 94159-0622 USA.

This material is Open Knowledge

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The works in this collection are in the Public Domain.

Contributors

Charlie Churchman
Greg Allen
JD Samson
Jeremy Blatter
John Carlson
Megan Shaw Prelinger
Rick Prelinger
Skip Elsheimer
Tim Ries

2,143 itemsWelcome to Prelinger Archives

View over 2,000 films from the Prelinger Archives!

Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger in New York City. Over the next twenty years, it grew into a collection of over 60,000 "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. In 2002, the film collection was acquired by the Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Prelinger Archives remains in existence, holding approximately 4,000 titles on videotape and a smaller collection of film materials acquired subsequent to the Library of Congress transaction. Its goal remains to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to films of historic significance that haven't been collected elsewhere. Included are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions. Getty Images represents the collection for stock footage sale, and over 2,000 key titles (soon to be 2,500) are available here. As a whole, the collection currently contains over 10% of the total production of ephemeral films between 1927 and 1987, and it may be the most complete and varied collection in existence of films from these poorly preserved genres.

RIGHTS: Please read the text in the "Rights" box on the left of this page before contacting us with questions.

STOCK FOOTAGE: Information on licensing stock footage through Getty Images, our exclusive representative, is here.

The Field Guide to Sponsored Films by Rick Prelinger was published by the National Film Preservation Foundation in January 2007. It describes 452 historically or culturally significant motion pictures commissioned by businesses, charities, advocacy groups, and state or local government units between 1897 and 1980. The annotated filmography features repository information for some 350 titles as well as links to works viewable online. Also included are an introductory essay and name and subject indexes. The book is recommended for all interested in the history of advertising, industrial and sponsored films.

A free copy of the 152-page NFPF publication can be viewed and downloaded here.

Click to see a Tag Cloud of the Archive's Prelinger Collection.

Click for more information about the Prelinger Archives.

Information about Prelinger Library, an appropriation-friendly library of printed materials located in San Francisco, is here.

If you have historical home movies of San Francisco or Detroit that might work in future Lost Landscapes urban history screenings, Rick would be delighted to hear from you. He can be reached here.



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Commercials
A collection of vintage commercials within the Prelinger Library. Click to see a Tag Cloud of the Archive's Prelinger Collection. Click for more information about the Prelinger Archives....
44 items
Coronet Instructional Films
Coronet Instructional Films were shown in American schools starting in about 1941. The company was an offshoot of Coronet Magazine, a digest-sized magazine that itself was owned by Esquire, Inc....
81 items
Jam Handy Organization
Jam Handy Click to see a Tag Cloud of the Archive's Prelinger Collection. Click for more information about the Prelinger Archives. Information about Prelinger Library, an appropriation-friendly...
239 items
Prelinger Archive Home Movies
Home Movies from the Prelinger Archives For more information see the Prelinger Archives
65 items
Studio Clips
Digitized 35mm clips from movie studios.
1 items

Recently Reviewed Items (more)

Show 'Em the Road (Part II)
Average rating:3.00 out of 5 stars3.00 out of 5 stars3.00 out of 5 stars

Responsibilities of American Citizenship, The
Average rating:3.63 out of 5 stars3.63 out of 5 stars3.63 out of 5 stars3.63 out of 5 stars

Feeding the World (Farming): A Film Lesson in Vocational Guidance
Average rating:5.00 out of 5 stars5.00 out of 5 stars5.00 out of 5 stars5.00 out of 5 stars5.00 out of 5 stars

Farm Petroleum Safety
Average rating:4.25 out of 5 stars4.25 out of 5 stars4.25 out of 5 stars4.25 out of 5 stars4.25 out of 5 stars

Family Life
Average rating:4.13 out of 5 stars4.13 out of 5 stars4.13 out of 5 stars4.13 out of 5 stars

This Just In (more)

San Francisco (1955 Cinemascope film)
Average rating:4.50 out of 5 stars4.50 out of 5 stars4.50 out of 5 stars4.50 out of 5 stars4.50 out of 5 stars
50 days ago

Lost Landscapes of Detroit 2 (2011)
97 days ago

A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (uncompressed HD version)
Average rating:4.67 out of 5 stars4.67 out of 5 stars4.67 out of 5 stars4.67 out of 5 stars4.67 out of 5 stars
207 days ago

PET-1036-R-1-A
262 days ago

New Note in Music, A (Harry Partch at Mills College)
Average rating:3.00 out of 5 stars3.00 out of 5 stars3.00 out of 5 stars
350 days ago


 

New PostPrelinger Archives Forum Subscribe to or unsubscribe from this forum RSS feed of most recent posts to this forum

Subject Poster Replies Date
Another Prelinger mashup posted LynFaber 0 October 15, 2011 04:57:55pm
Two new Prelinger mashups posted LynFaber 0 September 26, 2011 02:54:49am
No audio on Hi-res Mpeg4 files....Grrrrrrr rabid47 0 August 23, 2011 04:50:24pm
SEARCHING FOR FOOTAGE SQuiRMiN' VeRMiN' 0 July 28, 2011 03:21:30pm
Prelinger Archive /compress/ITEM zips are having problems. Renci 0 May 21, 2011 08:58:48pm
:) mashup thingy 4u splue 0 May 19, 2011 11:09:24pm
Living documentation of Prelinger film stories? uniQ 1 April 17, 2011 11:57:49am
   Re: Living documentation of Prelinger film stories? mandrakes 0 February 04, 2012 04:18:24pm
help me find: "Rock and roll music and why I preach against it" glenn 1 February 08, 2011 01:49:03pm
   Re: help me find: 'Rock and roll music and why I preach against it' mandrakes 0 April 29, 2011 01:10:24pm
New Prelinger mashups posted LynFaber 1 January 29, 2011 02:19:14pm
   Re: New Prelinger mashups posted Jeff Kaplan 1 January 29, 2011 03:32:27pm
     Re: New Prelinger mashups posted LynFaber 1 January 29, 2011 03:53:27pm
       Re: New Prelinger mashups posted Jeff Kaplan 0 January 29, 2011 09:51:33pm
Lost Silent Films art@graphicstation.com 0 January 01, 2011 09:37:06am
Been a while; missing something uniQ 1 November 26, 2010 09:15:23pm
   Re: Been a while; missing something Vlada Ciplic 0 December 29, 2010 02:04:14am
Archive Farms claiming copyright tenntony 1 October 01, 2010 09:07:44am
   Re: Archive Farms claiming copyright tenntony 0 October 01, 2010 10:14:10am
ATOMIC-TEST FILMS-EDUCATIONAL-NUCLEAR POWER Franz83 0 September 30, 2010 01:28:17am
1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debate tenntony 0 September 27, 2010 03:16:45pm
John Galvarro passes away Spuzz 1 July 28, 2010 10:42:40pm
   Re: John Galvarro passes away Ash Starkey 0 November 01, 2010 10:13:07pm
prelinger mashup posted LynFaber 1 July 12, 2010 01:52:38am
   Re: prelinger mashup posted Sean Scott 1 July 12, 2010 05:05:48am
     Re: prelinger mashup posted LynFaber 1 July 12, 2010 06:04:44am
       Re: prelinger mashup posted Sean Scott 2 July 12, 2010 09:08:12am
         Re: prelinger mashup posted Detective John Carter of Mars 1 July 12, 2010 09:48:10am
           Re: prelinger mashup posted LynFaber 1 July 12, 2010 03:11:59pm
             Re: prelinger mashup posted Detective John Carter of Mars 0 July 12, 2010 06:34:44pm
         Re: prelinger mashup posted LynFaber 1 July 12, 2010 03:34:53pm
           Re: prelinger mashup posted Sean Scott 0 July 12, 2010 03:50:33pm
What does this mean please? saallen 0 May 13, 2010 11:19:36am
I'm curious: How much is in here? Sama-El 0 May 03, 2010 02:39:04pm
For the millionth time The_Emperor_Of_Television 0 April 21, 2010 01:09:21pm
FCP editing? donald bachinski 1 April 21, 2010 11:38:10am
   Re: FCP editing? Rick Prelinger 1 April 22, 2010 04:10:08am
Hmm The_Emperor_Of_Television 0 April 14, 2010 08:30:13am
NEW FILMS!!! Spuzz 4 March 10, 2010 11:07:53pm
   Re: NEW FILMS!!! The_Emperor_Of_Television 0 March 11, 2010 12:31:45am
   Re: NEW FILMS!!! Scribble 0 March 11, 2010 09:46:43am
   Re: NEW FILMS!!! FP   0 March 11, 2010 02:53:51pm
   Re: NEW FILMS!!! Scribble 1 March 12, 2010 08:58:19am
     Re: NEW FILMS!!! Rick Prelinger 0 March 12, 2010 03:48:03pm
Original music videos mashed up with Prelinger clips LynFaber 0 February 28, 2010 11:11:33am
looking for abstract surreal animation or old computer art, soundwaves etc noelxmas 2 February 08, 2010 05:22:00pm
   Re: looking for abstract surreal animation or old computer art, soundwaves etc Steve Nordby 0 February 08, 2010 07:10:46pm
   Re: looking for abstract surreal animation or old computer art, soundwaves etc FP   0 February 08, 2010 09:07:47pm
best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? radiotelevision 1 February 07, 2010 11:09:58am
   Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? FP   2 February 07, 2010 12:39:42pm
     Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? radiotelevision 1 February 08, 2010 06:56:41am
       Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? FP   1 February 08, 2010 07:55:19am
         Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? radiotelevision 1 February 08, 2010 08:14:31am
           Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? FP   1 February 08, 2010 12:38:08pm
             Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? radiotelevision 0 February 08, 2010 12:50:26pm
     Re: best audio (NOT visual) quality for download? Steve Nordby 0 February 08, 2010 06:10:15pm

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