Internet Archive: Prelinger Archives
Prelinger Archives is a collection of over 45,000 “ephemeral” (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. It is located in New York City and San Francisco. Since its beginning in 1983, its goal has been 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. 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. The owner is Rick Prelinger, who has presented these films through public screenings, lectures, and a number of anthologies published on CD-ROM and laserdisc by The Voyager Company.