NATIONAL SCREENING ROOM

The U.S. Library of Congress has just launched a website called the National Screening Room. The Library has digitized hundreds of hours of film in their archive (which totals about more than 1.6 million items in its collection) that was otherwise unavailable to be viewed by most people and now accessible not only nationwide but around the world. And the best part is that it's completely free to use.

There are currently two hundred and eighty-one titles available on the site covering fiction, non-fiction, newsreels and even home movies spanning the years 1890 to 1999 with new content to be added every month. Some of the films include "All-American News", a newsreel series made specifically for African-American audiences from 1942 to 1945; seventeen home movies filmed by George and Ira Gershwin between 1928 and 1939; Views of San Francisco before and after the devastating 1906 earthquake which destroyed much of the city; newsreel footage of such important figures such as Frank Sinatra, Mary McLeod Bethune, Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt and titles selected to the National Film Registry including one of the first U.S. narrative films, "The Great Train Robbery" from 1903.

Please click below to check out this new website:

National Screening Room