Tag: public domain

Public Domain Day – 2024

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Film producers may be familiar with the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) as a source of “uncopyrightable” moving images created by the United States Government, but did you know that a substantial body of copyrighted film content also exists in its holdings? Material can be collected by Federal Agencies or donated by production companies (in this case the Fox Movietone collection), individuals, and even former Presidents (most of the content in NARA’s Presidential LIbrary system prior to 1981 was donated!).

Thanks to changes in the Copyright Law in the US in 1977 and 1978, all films created in 1928, including this newsreel item, an early talkie from 1928, fell into the Public Domain on January 1st of this year. It features the first filmed interview of famed playwright and author George Bernard Shaw. You can hear his approaching footsteps and hints of birdsong from the country setting. His meandering interview touches on many topics, even, amusingly, his impression of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini! The audio recording for film was still very new and Fox Movietone was in its first year of operation, so they were charmingly still figuring out how to use this new technology. This particular film was recorded off a flatbed film viewer in NARA’s research room in College Park, Maryland.

Older content finds its way onto the web with regularity, but less than 10% of the moving image content in the National Archives’ collections is available digitally on-line. Professional researchers have the ability to locate content that is only available on-site in many institutions nation-wide. Contact an archival media researcher today to add special value to your production or publication!

Happy Public Domain Day 2020!

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Each year on New Years Day since 2019, previously copyrighted works fall out of copyright protection after 95 years! In honor of Public Domain Day 2020, please enjoy this copy of the western comedy short “The Cowboy Sheik”, featuring cowboy humorist Will Rogers, found in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, specifically in the records of the Central Intelligence Agency.

You might ask why the CIA was interested in this cowboy comedy, copyrighted in 1924, to which I can only answer “that information is available on a need-to-know basis!” The National Archives holds the records of U.S. Government agencies, which are often ineligible for copyright protection as “U.S. Government works”, but also contains copies of privately produced content, which retains the copyright of the creator(s), as in this case, at least until January 1st, 2020.

Don’t depend on your intern or production assistant to find the perfect footage or stills for your project. Hire a professional archival media researcher!

Heavy iron!

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Found at the National Archives and Records Administration, this footage consists of pristine 35mm black and white outtake footage for a New Deal documentary on unemployment directed by the great documentary film maker Pare Lorentz and shot by Oscar winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby. The footage shows vintage 1930’s heavy industry to emphasize the productive capacity of the U.S. economy, even while recovering from the Great Depression. Based on a radio documentary entitled “Ecce Homo” (Latin for “behold the man”), the production was later named more prosaically “Name, Age and Occupation.” Work stopped on the film when House Republicans de-funded New Deal film making.

As the work product of a U.S. Government employee, this footage meets the definition of a “U.S. Government work” in U.S. law, making it ineligible for copyright protection. A full production file for this film exists at Columbia University, but almost all of the outtake footage is at the National Archives. This footage, and hundreds of rolls like it, is not described on the Internet and has no content description available in the National Archives Catalog, effectively rendering it available only to those willing and able to do a “deep dive” into the available material. Don’t depend on a production assistant or intern to find the exact footage to add impact to your production or exhibit. A professional media researcher adds value!