The National Film Registry is a list of movies deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" that are earmarked for preservation by the Library of Congress. They are not selected as the "best" American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture. They reflect who we are as a people and as a nation. The Librarian of Congress makes the annual selections to the Registry after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and conferring with Library film curators and the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation Board.

This digital collection presents a variety of Registry titles including the World War II documentary Memphis Belle (1944), Master Hands (1936), a beautiful mechanical ballet shot on a General Motors automotive assembly line, and a plea for racial tolerance from Frank Sinatra in ​The House I Live In (1945).

The majority of movies in Selections from the National Film Registry are freely available as both 5 mb MP4 and ProRes 422 MOV downloads. 

Selections from the National Film Registry is a project of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The goal of this digital collection is to present to the widest audience possible movies named to the Registry, offering a broad range of historical and cultural documents as a contribution to education and lifelong learning.

These selections are presented as part of the record of the past. They are historical documents which reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress does not endorse the views expressed in these movies, which may contain content offensive to users.

Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for you to enjoy.

Nov 20, 2021

“Saving Our Stories” features a basic training in oral history, presented by Melissa Ziobro, Specialist Professor of Public History, Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University, and President of Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, will lead this training.  She is also the editor for New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, a joint venture of the NJ Historical Commission, Rutgers University Libraries, and Monmouth University.  Melissa was introduced by Linda Lotz, with SouthJerseyQuakers.org.    In this training, Melissa defines oral history, summarizes the history behind oral history, and explores several major collections.  She then introduces best practices, logistics, procedures, and resources for further learning.   Participants included people interested in collecting stories from the Quaker community as well as others interested in preserving other kinds of history.   Friends in South Jersey are encouraged to submit videos or transcripts from oral history interviews to be shared via this channel on YouTube.      Brought to you by southjerseyquakers.org