Videos

This was a 1912 film on the construction of the Panama Canal.

The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 three-hour silent film which traces the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction with a sympathetic view of the southern cause. Based on the novel The Clan…

The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 three-hour silent film which traces the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction with a sympathetic view of the southern cause. Based on the novel The Clan…

This silent newsreel film from 1915 shows passengers boarding the RMS Lusitania, which was sunk by a German U-Boat six days later off the coast of Ireland.

Footage from a 1917 newsreel by the Ford Motor Company was shown of Civil War veterans at a reunion in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on October 17, 1917, and army recruits training at Camp Custer …

In this 1918 animated film, animation pioneer Winsor McCay painstakingly recreated the May 7, 1915, German attack on RMS Lusitania. The longest animated movie ever made at the time, the film…

A silent film clip of World War I uniform production at the Quartermaster Supply Building in New York City.

This 1922 U.S. Army Signal Corps silent film of the dedication of the Grant Memorial, held on the U.S. capitol grounds, included marching bands and a parade of American Civil War veterans.

Scenes were shown from the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on May 30, 1922.

President Woodrow Wilson delivered a radio address from his home in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 1923. It marked the 5th anniversary of the end of World War I, or Armistice Day, which i…

This silent film documents the March 4, 1925, presidential inauguration of Calvin Coolidge.

Clip from the Prelinger Archives of silent home movies of a family vacation in the nation’s Capitol.

This silent film documents the March 4, 1929, presidential inauguration of Herbert Hoover.

This early documentary showed lumbering operations. The silent film, later reconstructed with voice, was created by the Machias Lumber Company of Washington County, Maine, in 1930. Reel Amer…

Will Rogers spoke about unemployment and the economy during a KFI radio broadcast.

Newsreel with partial sound depicting New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York, Chicago, and Havana, Cuba.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address after being sworn in by Chief Justice Charles Hughes on March 4, 1933. It was the last inaugural ceremony held in March.…

This Universal Newsreel shows scenes of Franklin Roosevelt’s March 4, 1933, presidential inauguration and an airplane rushing film of the event from Washington, D.C., to New York City.

Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in as the 32nd president of the United States on March 4, 1933. This program includes his oath of office, administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Eva…

During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, he delivered a number of radio broadcasts which became known as fireside chats to inform and build public support for his administration’s efforts …