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Wednesday, 10th March 2010

The Prelinger Library Digital Collection

First, some background.

The other day we linked to an article about Rick and Megan Prelinger from the Prelinger Archives (open to the public) in San Francisco where they work and curate various collections.

Perhaps Rick Prelinger is best known as a film archivist and the person who built a massive collection of motion picture content. These days, more than 2,100 of these films are accessible (free) via the Internet Archive. If you've never visited, it's more than worthy your time.

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.

You can access the collection (search/browse) here, learn about the history of the collection, and view a tag cloud of its holdings.

But Wait! The Prelinger Archives is contains more than just motion pictures and some non-film content is being digitized and made available via the Prelinger Library Digital Collections from the Internet Archive.

The collection is home to, "public domain materials in in key subject areas."

You can search for material and also browse by title or author. The Federal Writers' Project sub-collection is small (but growing) and contains some fascinating reading. From the Stories of New Jersey (1938) to Boston looks seaward; the story of the port, 1630-1940 (1941). If you're from the New York area or just love NYC New York city guide; a comprehensive guide to the five boroughs of the metropolis: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond ([c1939]) is great to read or browse. It might also be useful for educators. Actually, many titles would be ideal for teachers. The same goes for the films.

This is interesting content that must be saved. Access to most of these documents would be difficult if not impossible if they weren't physically at the archives or available online.

Finally, if you're interested in learning more about the Prelinger Archives, plan for a visit, review the archives "want list" of materials, etc. this page contains that info and more.

See Also: Megan Prelinger has a book coming soon titled, "Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962." You can read an interview with Megan that was published yesterday on the Wired web site.


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