Ephemera Saved!  The Prelinger Film Archive, A Rich Resource for Teaching the History of American Childhood

Emily D. Cahan, Wheelock College

For over twenty years the film archivist Rick Prelinger has been collecting and preserving what he affectionately calls “ephemeral films” – advertisements, educational, industrial and amateur films made for a specific purpose and a particular time with no thought given to their long-term value or preservation.  Many of these films were shown in educational settings such as science, history, and the infamous “health classes.”   In addition to educational films the archive includes a wonderful collection of advertisements amateur, documentary, and industrial movies made mostly by unknown amateur but also made by the likes of filmmaker Willard Van Dyke. The Prelinger Archives now hold over 48,000 such films; in 2002 the Library of Congress acquired the film collection but you don’t have to go to Washington to see the films – many are available and can be downloaded at no charge at www.archive.org/details/prelinger

A feast of entertaining and enlightening films awaits the social historian of 20^th century United States.  With titles such as “Duck and Cover,” “The Atom Bomb,” “Behind The Iron Curtain“ and “School Rules: How They Help You” historians will find a treasure chest of windows into American culture.   The Prelinger Archive also offers much to the historian of 20^th century American childhood.  Ninety-five films on social guidance are noted in the index, sixty-four on gender roles, twenty on children, ten films on citizenship and the list goes on.  Titles related to children include : “Boys Beware,”  “Angry Boy,” “As Boys Grow,” “Duck and Cover” (one of the most frequently downloaded),  “Are You Popular,”  and “Dating Do’s and Don’t’s” and many more  address  children  and their place in the social order.   Adolescents learn how to be good citizens, when to duck and cover in case of a nuclear attack and are given reasons why they should never, ever have sex or smoke marijuana. The index is searchable and all films are now in the public domain.  Prelinger went to a good deal of effort to wrestle these films out from under unknowable or untraceable  copyright restrictions in order to release these gems to the public.  Each film also offers a running list of viewer reviews and comments available to anyone who wishes to either read what others have written or write their own comments.  Enjoy!