Online Search Portals and Directories
There is no one place to search across all moving image collections. These portals can assist in identifying possible institutions with specific title and subject holdings.
- FIAF Treasures from the Film Archives This link opens in a new window
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Contains unique information about silent-era film holdings in international film archives. It was conceived as a tool to aid the work of preservation, research and film exchange between archives, and provides filmographic and holdings information on over 60,000 works. Included are silent shorts and features, fiction and non-fiction, from 110 of the world's major film archives. See also FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals.
- Progressive Silent Film ListOnline collection of information on more than 22,500 silent and sound films produced from 1888 through the end of 1929. Includes some archival holdings information.
- American Silent Feature Film DatabaseFrom the Library of Congress, this database is a survey of the survival of American silent feature films. It contains information on the nearly 11,000 U.S. feature films released between 1912-1929, and holdings information about 3,300 of those titles for which elements are known to exist.
- Deep Focus: A Directory to Moving Image ResourcesFrom AMIA, this portal serves as a centralized directory to moving image catalogs, services, and related resources.
- Public Moving Image Archives and Research CentersDirectory from the Library of Congress listing international film archives and U.S. archives by state.
- filmarchives onlineCatalog of film archives from across Europe, with an emphasis on non-fiction documentary, newsreel, and educational content. Some streaming video also available.
- European Film GatewayGateway to films, photographs, and ephemera from European film archives and cinémathèques.
- ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new windowSearches finding aids for historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in libraries, museums, and archives around the world. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.
- WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window
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OCLC FirstSearch catalog includes citations for books, journals, manuscripts, maps, music scores, sound recordings, films, computer files, newspapers, slides, videotapes, archival material, etc., in libraries around the world.
Major Moving Image Collections Outside Los Angeles
Archival moving image collections are held throughout the world, including "mixed" archives where audiovisual materials are housed alongside print manuscripts. The list below is a small selection of major film and television archives.
- American Archive of Public Broadcasting (Library of Congress & WGBH))Discovery tool for collections of U.S. public radio and television content from 1950s-present. Contains thousands of original PBS and NPR broadcasts from the mid-20th century to the present.
- Academic Film Archive of North AmericaAcquires and preserves academic/educational films from the 20th century.
- American Friends Service Committee Video and Film Lending LibraryCollection of over 1500 lendable films, videos, and slide shows, focused on peace and social justice issues.
- Anthology Film ArchivesLocated in New York, Anthology is devoted to avant-garde and experimental film.
- Cinémathèque FrançaiseLocated in Paris, the Cinémathèque has one of the largest holdings of film and related materials in the world.
- DEFA Film LibraryLocated at U. Massachusetts Amherst, DEFA preserves and distributes the cinema of East Germany.
- Fox Movietone News Collection (University of South Carolina)The collection contains seven million feet of nitrate motion picture film and four million feet of safety motion picture film documenting the national and global politics and culture from 1919 through 1934 and from September 1942 through August 1944.
- George Eastman HouseHoldings of over 25,000 titles and a collection of stills, posters and papers. Particularly strong for silent film (1895-1928) and the golden age of Hollywood cinema.
- Harvard Film ArchiveHarvard houses a collection of over 13,000 items (primarily 35mm and 16mm) with a global perspective, and offers frequent screenings.
- International Dada ArchiveHoused at the University of Iowa, this collection contains copies of most known Dada films, as well as books, periodicals, and other relevant print material.
- LaVoute.tvAn initiative of the Société d’histoire et de généalogie Maria-Chapdelaine, this French-language portal is an introduction to Quebec's audiovisual archives. With a free membership 50 videos can be accessed. Without such a subscription, only the first 20 seconds for all videos can be viewed.
- Library of Congress Motion Picture & Television Reading RoomCollection and access information, finding aids, and more
- Museo Nazionale del CinemaLocated inside the Mole Antonelliana in Italy, the National Museum of Cinema contains several thousand moving image titles (in addition to print archives), including valuable silent and early sound films.
- Museum of Broadcast CommunicationsLocated in Chicago, with significant content also available online.
- Museum of Modern ArtMoMA's film library holds over 22,000 films and four million film stills, as well as media and performance art.
- EYE: Nederlands FilmmuseumThe largest film library in the Netherlands, including thousands of films, posters, and photographs covering the history of cinema.
- Newsfilm LibraryLocated at the University of South Carolina, the Newsfilm Library houses a portion of the Fox Movietone News Collection and other historical news footage.
- Northeast Historic FilmCollects moving images of film and videotape related to the northern New England region (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts).
- Pacific Film ArchiveLocated at UC Berkeley, the PFA is one of the largest film repositories in the state with strong holdings in and avant-garde and Japanese cinema
- Peabody Awards CollectionLocated at the University of Georgia, the Peabody Awards Collection consists of over 90,000 titles, with radio programs dating from 1940 and television from 1948. The collection consists of almost all the entries to the awards program since its beginning in 1941.
- San Francisco Bay Area Television ArchiveMoving image collection with over 4000 hours of local newsfilm, and covering sixty years of social history and cultural revolution in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- San Francisco Media ArchiveHouses film, video, filmstrips, and other media in a variety of areas, including ephemeral and avant-garde works.
- Steven Spielberg Film and Video ArchiveLocated at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., the Archive includes large moving image holdings pertaining to the Holocaust and related topics.
- Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater ResearchContains approximately 15,000 motion pictures and television shows, including feature films from Warner Brothers, RKO, and Monogram Pictures.
