The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has announced the launch of a program to make its collection of historic movies, documentaries and other films available to the public via Google Video.
The Archive is an independent federal agency founded in 1934 to be the nation's record keeper.
Its stated mission has been to serve American democracy by safeguarding and preserving the government records.
The records of US political history are kept in a network of archives, centers, US presidential libraries and computers.
This is an important step for the National Archives to achieve its goal of becoming an archive without walls, said the United States Professor Allen Weinstein in a press release.
For the first time, the public will be able to view this collection of rare and unusual films on the Internet.
The fledgling program featured more than 100 films. The earliest work posted for viewing was Carmencita (Spanish Dance), an 1894 film by Thomas Armat featuring a Gypsy dancer. In this website, the visitors can also watch remarkable video such as World War II newsreels.
February 27, 2006
