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Historic Audiovisual Content on YouTube

Ma. Cristina Alemán, editora en jefe (@mcristina)

Historic audiovisual footage takes us back in time in a way that even the best period films fail to simulate. When we see old videos (either a home movie, a newsreel or other audiovisual footage) we are not viewing a reproduction of a historic moment, but rather a fragment of it.

The documentary film often makes use of archive content, usually as a way of presenting evidence of its narrative. But there are also documentaries that dispense with contemporary images and use only historic content, such as, Senna (2010) by Asif Kapadia, and It Felt Like a Kiss (2009) by Adam Curtis. Other filmmakers, like Chris Marker in Sans Soleil (1983), explore the poetic aspect of archive footage rather than its value as a historic document.

The good news for all those who, like me, are fascinated with historic content is that the company British Pathé recently published 85,000 clips on You Tube, available to everyone free of charge. This is one of the most important collections of audiovisual journalistic footage in the world and covers topics ranging from entertainment and humor, sports and leisure, lifestyle and culture, politics, war and fashion, among others, from 1896 to 1979. Considering the vastness of the collection (there are 3,500 hours of video!), the YouTube channel of British Pathé is organized into lists where the user can easily find interesting material. I highly recommend navigating the channel of your choice, but for those who have little time, I present five of my favorite videos of British Pathé below:

1. The Wright Brothers’ First Flight (1903):

2. The World’s First Mobile Phone (1922)

3. Clothing of the Future (1936):

4. Tight Rope Wedding (around 1950):

5. Trip to México (1963):

6. The Beatles at Buckingham Palace (1965):