Spanning a century of scientific history, the Moving Image Collection documents the Museum’s involvement in scientific exploration, discovery, and public education over a period of significant change in the world, its landscape, biodiversity, and cultures.

 

Film making equipment was first taken into the field by American Museum of Natural History ornithologist Frank Chapman in 1908 and by explorer and taxidermist Carl Akeley in 1909. Akeley later invented the revolutionary panning motion picture camera and tripod that bear his name. A significant portion of the Archival Film Collection was created during the 1920's and 30's when the Museum sponsored hundreds of expeditions across the globe. Expedition members were required to bring back film footage and Museum trustees and affiliates were invited to contribute films from their personal travels. In the early 1950's, the Museum collaborated with CBS Television to make the Adventure Series. This live-broadcast television series aired for three years and covered scientific topics of the day. There are a total of 291 titles in the Archival Film Collection.

Recent Additions to the Collection

More recent additions to the Collection include copies of many of the productions shown at the Museum’s annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival.

The collection also includes video recordings of lectures held at the Museum, copies of televised interviews with Museum scientists, and other miscellaneous Museum-related recordings. These materials are not yet cataloged or accessible.

Science Bulletins are documentary feature stories produced by the Museum on the latest developments in the fields of astrophysics, Earth science, biodiversity and human biology and evolution. You may view Science Bulletins online at http://www.amnh.org/sciencebulletins/.

Search Tools for the Film Collection

There are currently three resources for finding information about 291 titles in the Moving Image Collection; all three provide information about the same films, with the printed catalog providing the most details.

• The Film List provides a way to browse just the titles in the Archival Film Collection and it links to records in the Library's Catalog.

• The Library's Catalog can be searched to find Moving Images. To search by topic, select the keyword search link from the blue box, then type in a topic, and limit the search by selecting “Films, Videos, Slides” from the drop-down menu “Format.” In the resulting list of records, only those having a Special Collections location and a Film Collection number are part of the Moving Image Collection. In order to conduct searches for a specific item, select “Title Search” or “Author Search” (i.e. director) from the blue box.  

• The printed catalog, The Catalog of the American Museum of Natural History Film Archives (Garland, 1987) is out of print, but it is still available in many large library collections.

Films from the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival that have been deposited with the Library are listed in the Library Catalog. To see a list of just these films, choose the keyword search link from the blue box, then type in the phrase "Margaret Mead Film" in quotes. Next, limit the search by choosing “Films, videos, slides, etc.” from the drop-down menu of Formats. In order to conduct searches for a specific item, select “Title Search” or “Author Search” (i.e. director) from the blue box.

Inquiries and Access Policies

Please refer to our Researching Special Collections page for detail about Inquiries and Access Policies.

Reproduction and Digitization Services

Please refer to our Reproduction & Digitization Services page for details about services we provide and associated fees.

Permission and Licensing Services

Please refer to our Permission & Licensing Services page for details about services we provide and associated fees.