Film Archives and Stock Footage
Online Archival Footage
America at work, America at leisure
Part of the Library of Congress American Memory collection, this site features about 150 motion pictures from 1894-1915 portraying Americans engaged in a variety of work and leisure activities.
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
"Unique in their scope and richness, the [Library of Congress] prints and photographs collections today number more than 13.7 million images. These include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people."
New York Public Library's Digital Gallery
"Lose yourself in this vast collection of rare prints, vintage maps, manuscripts, posters, photographs, sheet-music covers, dust jackets, menus, cigarette cards, and other aritfacts. There are more than 300,000 digital images of original materials available for viewing. Access is free, and you can download images to your computer for personal or research use. The 'My Digital' page will store your favorite discoveries along with your search history." (Time.com)
Penn State Arts & Humanities Library page listing Library print and digital sources for all types of images.
The search engine for the National Archives allows researchers to view images in the Motion Pictures, Sound, and Video Records as well as the Still Pictures Records in the Special Media Archives.
Scroll the Locations of Archived Materials box to choose the type of records you are searching. You may also choose Moving images, Photographs and other Graphic Materials, or Sound Recordings in the Type of Archived Materials box.
Part of the larger Internet Archive, this site features a variety of moving-image collections in digital format. Includes fiction and documentary films, advertisements, news footage, television programs, etc.
An excellent and eclectic collection of "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, instructional and amateur) films.
Television News Archive (Vanderbilt University)
Housed at Vanderbilt University, this is the world's most extensive and complete archive of television news, with coverage extending back to 1968. While most of the materials are available only on videotape, users can view an online collection of CNN materials that has coverage back to 1995.
British Universities Newsreel Database (BUND)
A searchable collection of over 160,000 British newsreels and over 80,000 digitized newsreel documents.
The most comprehensive stock footage and archival database on the Internet.
"This public showroom for personal pics just might be the fastest-growing social network on the Web, and it's completely addictive. You upload your images and assign each an identifying tag; these tags help other members find your stuff, and you theirs. You can join groups and create new ones, post comments about particular images and designate favorites. Free membership is limited to 20 megabytes worth of uploads per month." (Time.com)
Google List of Stock Footage Resources
A Google Directory list of web sites offering downloadable footage.
Click on "Text Database" in upper right in order to search from over 30,000 entries.
Film Archives
Public Moving Image Archives and Research Centers
Provides fast access to several hundred film archives around the world.
The Library of Congress Motion Picture and Television Reading Room
Provides access to information regarding the Library of Congress's extensive film and television collections.
International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)
The web site for the largest film archives organization in the world, representing 100 film archives in 60 countries. You can search archival holdings at the FIAF International Film Archive Database.
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The second largest collection of media materials in the United States, after the Library of Congress. In addition to its extensive film collection, the archive also includes television materials and newreels.
National Film Registry and Preservation Board
Under the direction of the Library of Congress, this organization focuses on the preservation of America's film heritage.
One of the world's most extensive and comprehensive research collections on the subject of motion pictures, the Margaret Harrick Library is supported by the Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Although privately funded, the library is open to the public.
Page originally created by Brian Bialkowski under the direction of Debora Cheney, Foster Communications Librarian
(e-reference)