Archival Research Catalog (ARC)

Google's Collaboration with The National Archives

Learn More in ARC

Through the NARA partnership with Google, 101 historical videos are available for viewing and download on the Google web site. Each of these videos has a description in the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) that includes additional information about the film. From ARC you will be able to link directly to the video on the Google web site.

For this project NARA selected films on three topics that bring in high numbers of questions from researchers and the public. The videos include:

One additional film was selected for its uniqueness. The Thomas Edison film "Carmencita, Spanish Dance" ARC Search Link Logo dates from 1894.

Find More in ARC About. . .

If these videos have sparked your curiosity, we encourage you to explore further in ARC. Below are some more advanced search tips to help you get started.

Keep in mind that our collaboration with Google allows NARA to make a small selection of its motion picture holdings available online for the first time. More than 127,000 digital versions of additional historical documents and photographs are accessible through ARC, but most ARC descriptions are written descriptions of our holdings. ARC search results are currently limited to 2,000 hits at a time.

Motion Pictures: ARC contains over 100,000 item-level descriptions for motion pictures. Many descriptions include detailed shot lists. Try different topics or keywords for which you would like to find motion pictures. For example, to search for films related to work and labor issues:

  1. Click the yellow Search button in the upper left corner of this page.
  2. Copy and paste labor into the Keywords box.
  3. Select the radio button to Limit Results to 2000 hits.
  4. Click on the Advanced Search link.
  5. Under Type of Archival Materials, click Deselect all.
  6. Select Moving Images from the Type of Archival Materials list.
  7. Click Search.

NASA Records: Over 4,000 descriptions in ARC relate to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We suggest you use additional keywords or some of ARC's advanced search features to find the search results for your specific interests. For example:

  1. Click the yellow Search button in the upper left corner of this page.
  2. Copy and paste national aeronautics and space administration into the Keywords box.
  3. Select the radio button to Limit Results to 2000 hits.
  4. Click on the Advanced Search link.
  5. Select Date Options.
  6. Type 1950 and 1960 into the Between YYYY and YYYY boxes.
  7. Click Search.

National Parks: Hundreds of digitized documents and photographs related to national parks are in ARC, including over 200 photographs by Ansel Adams. To find all ARC descriptions related to the National Park Service:

  1. Click the yellow Search button in the upper left corner of this page.
  2. Copy and paste National Park Service into the Keywords box.
  3. Select the radio button to Limit Results to 2000 hits.
  4. Click Search.

World War II: Over 10,000 digitized historical documents, posters, and photographs from World War II are available via ARC. There are also many more ARC descriptions related to World War II. We suggest you search for "World War II" and some additional keywords of interest to you, such as World War II and Air Force or World War II and France. Try the filters or advanced search features available in ARC. For example, to search for more descriptions of World War II motion pictures:

  1. Click the yellow Search button in the upper left corner of this page.
  2. Copy and paste World War II into the Keywords box.
  3. Select the radio button to Limit Results to 1000 hits.
  4. Click on the Advanced Search link.
  5. Under Type of Archival Materials, click Deselect all.
  6. Select Moving Images from the Type of Archival Materials list.
  7. Click Search.

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The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272