Background

The collection includes around 1,500 films shot worldwide, produced on behalf of the U.S. government or donated to the American people by producers. Among them are military, educational, and documentary films such as 'The Nazi Plan' (1945), The True Glory (1945), and 'Why We Fight' (1942–1945), as well as releases and outtakes from American newsreels like Universal Newsreel, United News, and America’s Newsreel Album.

These productions are supplemented by a diverse range of B-roll material, including color footage created as part of ‘Special Film Project 186’. More than a dozen U.S. Army cameramen documented the advance of American troops in Germany, the end of World War II, and the immediate post-war period from March to July 1945. Using 16mm film cameras and the then-innovative Kodachrome color film, they captured unique footage of bombings, German civilians in destroyed cities, the liberated concentration camps of Buchenwald and Dachau, and the meeting of American and Soviet forces at the Elbe River (Elbe Day).

The collection documents key events and figures from 100 years of American and global history—from World War I and World War II to the Cold War, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, as well as technological innovations, the nuclear age, and space exploration.