Music and historic moving pictures
Nothing brings out an emotional
response more than music. There are creative ways of including the power of
music into any type of family history project. Old newsreels, on the other
hand, are more exclusively suited to video projects
Music
Music is part of the fabric of ours and our
ancestors lives. You can include music in a variety of ways. Use it as background for video , or include references to
popular music of the time in text for books. Images of historic sheet music are
a meaningful inclusion in a scrapbook-style album. I’ve provided an American music timeline to help you choose appropriate music.
Historic Moving Pictures
Makers of Documentaries and biographies often add historic footage to add
interest and authenticity to their films. Usually the footage they use has been
produced by the government and is, therefore, public domain. You can use it
without worrying about copyright infringement. The trick is finding the
footage.
There are services that do the search for you, however.
Library of Congress Newsreels
1911-1960—Motion Pictures and Sound
Recordings Must search by date—no subject search
Thomas Edison Collection—Motion Picture and Sound
Recordings of the Edison Companies. Can order copies of film in video format back to
1870. Some can be viewed on-line Motion Picture &
Television Reading Room
National Archives Historical Video collections of government video.
Internet
Archive is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to create an internet library.
Included in their collections are digitized Universal Studios newsreels, made
from 1929-1967. Universal donated these films and they are now part of the
public domain. They charge a fee for copying the film to video.
Learning
Curve: Focus on Film a program of the United Kingdom National Archives aimed at educators. It
contains moving pictures of British history—some reenactments and others
historic footage from the BBC, British Film Institute, London News, Independent
Television News, and others. Films that belong to the
the National Archive can legally be download if you have QuickTimePro (about $30) and do not plan to
use them commercially.
Television News
Television has been around long enough now for some
televised material to be relevant to family history. Vanderbilt Television News Archive will
ship you taped copies for a fee. . . $25 (student), $100 (individual) for ½
hour.
More Historic Matrix
Words of Historians
Images and newspapers
Evaluating your sources
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