National Archives Videos on Google

The National Archives and Records Administration, in partnership with Google, has uploaded a number of videos to Google Video. This is a good resource for researchers, writers and students.

There are currently 110 videos from the following categories:

• NASA History of Space Flight Motion Pictures which has a 1981 video on Space for Women, The difficulty in 1967 of Photographing the Moon and a 1963 biography of John Glenn with an introduction by President Kennedy
  
• United Newsreel Motion Pictures (1942-1945) covering World War II that has video of Women serving as mechanics in the Army, Celebrities promoting a war bond drive in 1942 and the swearing in of President Truman with a retrospective of Franklin D. Roosevelt
  
• Department of the Interior Motion Pictures - there are videos showing the construction of Boulder Dam, Native Americans, and the distribution of water in the Western states.
  

A couple of points to keep in mind about the movies.

These are recordings of their time produced by the United States Government. For the most part these are promotional or public relations generated movies that might have appeared at the local movie theater before the main show. They are a reflection of the what was known and presented as fact.

For patrons looking to historical research, students who are writing papers or historians trying to document changes in attitudes about topics this is a resource that should not be ignored.