Most Americans get their view of history from Hollywood. This is another thing the Internet will change.

And the change begins today, with the appearance on Google Video of historic movies, documentaries and other films from the National Archives.

Google is working on a pilot program to digitize rare historic footage, and then post it on both Google Video and the National Archives Web site.

"We're excited to bring this historic footage to the world," Peter Chane, senior product manager for Google Video, told internetnews.com. "Previously, you had to go to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., to see these films. Now, you can simply sit down at your computer anywhere in the world and watch history."

The digitized films will be available free via search or browsing. Users can watch them as streaming files on the PC or download them for playback in the downloadable Google Video Player.

"This is an important step for the National Archives to achieve its goal of becoming an archive without walls," Allen Weinstein, U.S. archivist, said in a statement. "Our new strategic plan emphasizes the importance of providing access to records anytime, anywhere."

The pilot program features 103 films from the audiovisual collections, including "Carmencita -- Spanish Dance" from 1984, the earliest film preserved in the National Archives; a sampling of documentaries produced by NASA on the history of the spaceflight program; and films from the 1930s documenting the establishment of the national and state park systems.

Google launched video searching last June, following a January rollout limited to stills and information about TV programming.


Full article: internetnews.com