Newsreel archive British Pathé has uploaded its entire collection of 85,000 historic films, in high resolution, to its YouTube channel. This unprecedented release of vintage news reports and cinemagazines is part of a drive to make the archive more accessible to viewers all over the world.
“Our hope is that everyone, everywhere who has a computer will see these films and enjoy them,” says Alastair White, General Manager of British Pathé. “This archive is a treasure trove unrivalled in historical and cultural significance that should never be forgotten. Uploading the films to YouTube seemed like the best way to make sure of that.”
British Pathé was once a dominant feature of the British cinema experience, renowned for first-class reporting and an informative yet uniquely entertaining style. It is now considered to be the finest newsreel archive in existence. Spanning the years from 1896 to 1976, the collection includes footage – not only from Britain, but from around the globe – ofmajor events, famous faces, fashion trends, travel, sport and culture. The archive is particularly strong in its coverage of the First and Second World Wars.
Alastair White continues: “Whether you’re looking for coverage of the Royal Family, the Titanic, the destruction of the Hindenburg, or quirky stories about British pastimes, it’ll be there on our channel. You can lose yourself for hours.”
This project is being managed by German company Mediakraft, which has been responsible for numerous past YouTube successes. The company will be creating new content using British Pathé material, in English and in foreign languages.
You can view and share films from this invaluable resource here.
British Pathé 
Reblogged this on Agnes Scott College, McCain Library and commented:
Hey film buffs, check this out! 85,000 films from the British Pathe Archive are now on YouTube!
This is marvellous news. Well done to all concerned!
yes
Thankyou-this will make me happy ’till the end of my life!
Where can I find information about the licensing of these videos? The blog BoingBoing is reporting that you use Creative Commons licenses but on your website “about” page it says “all rights reserved” and asks people to contact you about licenses.
Cory posted it, so you can guarantee he’s misinterpreted it.
Hello! sharing the YouTube video is absolutely fine and free of charge. But if you want to extract the film from the YouTube player or edit it in some way, you’d require a licence. This can be acquired via info@britishpathe.com / +44 [0]20 7665 8340. The licensing team would need to know where the footage would be shown, in what territories, and how long for. All best BP.
I don’t understand your reply; are these videos still covered by some copyright or not? It is very clear that their age more than likely places them into the Public Domain in most nations. There is a possibility, based on a timely renewal, some copyrights are still intact. However, a quick search of copyright renewals returns no renewals under any names, both for titles and for authors. If you do believe these are protected please do include the copyright registration numbers, or corporate author’s name, if they were ever registered. Alternatively, please post at the very least, your reasoning as to why (dates and such details) they are still under copyright protection.
Hi Jarvis, under UK law, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the director or producer. If a film was made in 1919 and we assume the director was 20 at the very least, and died at only 60, copyright on that film would not expire until 2029. So in fact our archive is not yet in the public domain.
Please, be more explicit about license of the videos
Indeed CC licensing would be nice to have. Interested on serving some of these videos from the ClipFlair Gallery (http://ClipFlair.net) to use with online Revoicing and Captioning activities for Foreign Language Learning.
Hi George – sharing the YouTube video is absolutely fine and free of charge. But if you want to extract the film from the YouTube player or edit it in some way, you’d require a licence. This can be acquired via info@britishpathe.com / +44 [0]20 7665 8340. The licensing team would need to know where the footage would be shown, in what territories, and how long for. All best BP.
I don’t understand your reply; are these videos still covered by some copyright or not? It is very clear that their age more than likely places them into the Public Domain in most nations. There is a possibility, based on a timely renewal, some copyrights are still intact. However, a quick search of copyright renewals returns no renewals under any names, both for titles and for authors. If you do believe these are protected please do include the copyright registration numbers, or corporate author’s name, if they were ever registered. Alternatively, please post at the very least, your reasoning as to why (dates and such details) they are still under copyright protection.
Hi Jarvis, under UK law, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the director or producer. If a film was made in 1919 and we assume the director was 20 at the very least, and died at only 60, copyright on that film would not expire until 2029. So in fact our archive is not yet in the public domain.
That’s a lot of wonderful content. There’s an opportunity for crowd-sourcing with a process. How do we help you fixing the missing and erroneous legends?
Please email your comments into info@britishpathe.com – we make any corrections as soon as we can. All best, BP.
Reblogged this on sed30's Blog and commented:
A great archive
Reblogged this on Open Jotter and commented:
I’ve been looking at some of these films. They provide a fascinating insight into life in the UK, although the footage of the Hindenburg disaster still strikes fear in me. I remember seeing the Hollywood version of the film as a child and the thought that anyone escaped that fire amazed me.
Thanks for releasing all the footage. It’s a real public service for us history geeks.
Reblogged this on Our Ancestors and commented:
If TV is boring…
Reblogged this on Yobi535's Blog יואב ב'י.
You folks are the epitome of evil…how am I supposed to get any work done now while watching all these?
Reblogged this on Journey into mystery… and commented:
Very food for film students/film buffs!
Reblogged this on Jusd.
My wishes:
– Creative Commons License for all of them!
– A proper TORRENT release, so it can in total be spread worldwide
Or are you paid by Google (who owns Youtube)? Seems like it would drive a lot of traffic to youtube…..
I wish it would all be free and creative commons without the corporate control!
this is just like going back into the history in atime machine… it’s a wonderful experience………
Reblogged this on Ace History2Research News 2014 and commented:
#AH2RN2014 – Excellent News and Well Worth a Look Enjoy 🙂
Reblogged this on Cbmilne33’s Blog.
Aszfalt, útépítőgép, kötelező időszakos biztonsági vizsgálat, üzembehelyezés országosan szakértő irodával, megbízhatóan.
Awesome vedios
Great 🙂
Hi there, this weekend is nice in favor of me, as this point in time
i am reading this fantastic informative post here at my house.
Reblogged this on Poliorketika and commented:
Epic for anyone with an interest in History.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about tensile fabric
structures Malaysia. Regards
Great ressource but need explanations about possibles use. I’m a french teacher. Can i use this videos in my classroom playing them in youtube?
A estratégia de criação de conteúdos de qualidade direcionada para um público-fim essencial, enquanto bem aplicada, atrai multidões e também tem conseguir deconquistar não exclusivamente fregueses porém fãs para sua marca, seus produtos ou serviços.
Wonderful videos well done