Hundreds of hours of historic video clips are hitting YouTube thanks to the Associated Press (AP). The news agency is uploading more than 550,000 video clips to the service, covering events dating back to 1895.
Read to the end for dogs on treadmills!
The organization, along with newsreel archive provider British Movietone, aims to provide a high-profile, searchable archive for documentary makers and historians. But ultimately, it’s a treasure trove for us all.
AP wants to make money both from licensing and running ads on the huge cache of material. It will get a lot of views with clips including exclusive footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the fall of the Berlin Wall and a lot of celebrity rarities.
If you want to see Marilyn Monroe in her prime, incredible clips of Twiggy modelling in ‘swingin’ London’ or startling segments with Muhammad Ali, Charlie Chaplin, Dali, Brigitte Bardot and Elvis, you’re in luck.
The news agency isn’t the first to engage in this kind of massive uploading. Last year, British Pathé added its entire 100-year library, containing over 85,000 films, to YouTube. That’s 3,500 hours of footage.
You can see the newly available archive material on two channels – AP Archive and British Movietone. Let us know in the comments about any particular gems you find.
➤ AP Archive [via Variety]
Want more weird history? Try this: The curious online afterlife of a 20th century suicide cult
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.