Discover verifiable archival footage from the world’s largest historical film archive

The Archive Project is a research platform that helps filmmakers, educators, creators, and researchers find and download authentic archival footage fast. All footage is sourced from the U.S. National Archives.

How It Works

With several hundred thousand film reels and video assets documenting a vast span of world history, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Motion Picture Collection is one of the most extensive and important historic film archives in existence.

Partly due to the scale of this collection, many of the archive’s motion picture holdings are not available online, and even the materials that are digitized can be difficult to surface without familiarity with NARA’s catalog and research process.

The goal of our site is to give anyone a free, user-friendly way of researching and discovering NARA footage quickly and efficiently, and affordable downloads for those who want to utilize footage from the Research Room they aren’t able to access otherwise.

We gather and organize archival films from NARA’s Motion Picture Research Room that live solely on analog sources, aren’t widely digitized, or are hard to surface through a conventional NARA search.

Each video page is designed to do more than simply display a clip. We include archival identifiers such as NAID and Local ID information, along with transcription and enhanced metadata.

This gives users the opportunity to search by topics, persons, and events mentioned in a film’s audio and translated into searchable assets, while also understanding how footage connects to the National Archives and further build and authenticate research.

Who it’s for

The Archive Project is designed for anyone interested in researching or utilizing authentic archival footage.

Filmmakers and producers
YouTube creators
Documentarians
Educators and students
Journalists, writers, and researchers
Anyone interested in the Historic Record

Utilizing Public Domain Footage

Licensing and Copyright

All of the footage found on The Archive Project comes exclusively from NARA’s Motion Picture Research Room, which consists of government-produced, government-commissioned, or privately donated materials without restrictions.

However, it is important for users to recognize that, while the collection is curated for public use, NARA does not conduct comprehensive copyright checks. The Archive Project makes reasonable efforts to ensure that materials in our collection are compliant with copyright law, but the final responsibility to verify copyright status for projects involving potential liability rests with the user.

Materials with known donor or use restrictions are never made accessible on The Archive Project, and our researchers continuously audit the library to exclude footage with recognizable copyright or use concerns.

For additional information on NARA’s copyright policies, visit the agency’s copyright and permissions page here.

Notice Regarding Metadata Accuracy and Content Concerns

At The Archive Project, we strive to ensure the accuracy of metadata and the appropriateness of all content available on our platform. However, given the vast size of this collection, occasional errors or oversights may occur.

If you identify a mistake in the metadata or encounter footage that you believe should not be included in our collection for any reason, we encourage you to contact us.

Please email support@thearchiveproject.com with :

A link to the footage in question
A brief explanation of the issue or concern

Our team will review flagged content as quickly as possible and take appropriate action, which may include updating metadata or temporarily removing footage for further evaluation.

We appreciate your help in maintaining the quality and integrity of The Archive Project’s collection.