Sponsored Films

Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films

In 2006 the National Film Preservation Foundation published The Field Guide to Sponsored Films by Rick Prelinger. Made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, this annotated filmography singles out 452 sponsored films of particular historical, cultural, and artistic interest from the more than 300,000 thought to have been made. From animated propaganda in Technicolor to a call for racial tolerance from Frank Sinatra, these films often go overlooked in the study of film history. Made by corporations, schools, medical organizations, religious groups, political entities, and more, these films were produced to record, orient, train, sell, and persuade.

Calling attention to these films was the first step. Because most films in the guide are unavailable for study and those that can be viewed are often available only in subpar viewing quality, the NFPF has partnered with the Library of Congress and the Internet Archive to make 159 films featured in the guide available for viewing, with most also available for free download. Also contributing to this digital access project are Anthology Film Archives, A/V Geeks, George Eastman Museum, Hagley Museum and Library, The Museum of Modern Art, National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Historic Film, Orgone Archive, Prelinger Archives, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and USC School of Cinematic Arts Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive.

 

1104 Sutton Road (1958)

Champion Paper and Fibre Co.

17 Days: A Story of Newspaper History in the Making (1945)

New York Daily News

1999 A.D. (1967)

Philco-Ford Corp.

24 Hours of Progress (1950)

American Petroleum Institute

500,000 to 1 (1954)

Sinclair Refining Co.

Accuracy First (1928)

Western Union Co.

Activity Group Therapy (1950)

Jewish Board of Guardians

Admiral Cigarette (1897)

Admiral Cigarette

Adventure in Telezonia (1949)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Adventuring in the Arts (1956)

Girl Scouts of America

The Age of Curiosity (1963)

Seventeen Magazine

Alaska’s Silver Millions (1936)

American Can Co.

Albert in Blunderland (1950)

Harding College

All My Babies (1952)

Georgia Dept. of Public Health

The American Cowboy (1950)

Ford Motor Co.

American Harvest (1951)

General Motors Corp.

An American in the Making (1913)

United States Steel Corp.

American Look (1958)

General Motors Corp.

The American Road (1953)

Ford Motor Co.

America Sails the Seas (1946)

National Federation of American Shipping

Anarchy, U.S.A. (1966)

John Birch Society

Anatomy of a Lie (1962)

International Association of Machinists

And So They Live (1940)

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

And Ten Thousand More (1951)

City of Los Angeles

And Then There Were Four (1950)

General Petroleum Corp.

And Women Must Weep (1962)

National Right to Work Committee

Angry Boy (1950)

Mental Health Film Board

Art in the Negro Schools (1940)

Harmon Foundation

Ask Me, Don’t Tell Me (1960)

American Friends Service Committee

The Atom Comes to Town (1957)

Chamber of Commerce of the United States

Attack on the Americas (1980)

American Security Council Foundation

Autopsy on Operation Abolition (1961)

Catechetical Guild

The Baltimore Plan (1953)

Baltimore Redevelopment Commission

Behind Your Radio Dial (1947)

National Broadcasting Co.

The Big City (1956)

City of St. Louis

Big Idea (1951)

Swift & Co.

Bitter Welcome (1958)

Mental Health Film Board

Blame It on Love (1940)

Edison General Electric Appliance Co.

Booked for Safekeeping (1960)

Louisiana Association for Mental Health

Boy in Court (1940)

National Probation Association

Boy Meets Dog (1938)

Bristol-Myers Co.

Boy with a Knife (1955)

Los Angeles Community Chest

Breast Self-Examination (1950)

American Cancer Society

The Bridge (1944)

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Brink of Disaster (1972)

National Education Program, Harding College

Brotherhood of Man (1947)

United Auto Workers

Buy at Home Campaign (1930s)

Merchants of Burlingame, California

A Case of Spring Fever (1940)

Chevrolet Motor Co.

The Children Must Learn (1940)

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Children Who Labor (1912)

National Child Labor Committee

A City Decides (1956)

Fund for the Republic

The Clean Look (1951)

Armour & Co.

Clean Waters (1945)

General Electric Co.

Coffee House Rendezvous (1966)

Coffee Information Service

Color and Texture in Aluminum Finishes (1956)

Aluminum Co. of America.

Conquest of the Hudson (1938)

Port of New York Authority

A Continent Is Bridged (1940)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

The Co-ops Are Comin’ (1941)

Harmon Foundation

The Cost of Carelessness (1913)

Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co.

The Crime of Carelessness (1912)

National Association of Manufacturers

Crowded Out (1958)

National Education Association

Decision for Chemistry (1953)

Monsanto Chemical Co.

De-Light: Making an Electric Light Bulb (1920)

Ford Motor Co.

Design for Dreaming (1956)

General Motors Corp.

Destination Earth (1956)

American Petroleum Institute

Down the Gasoline Trail (1935)

Chevrolet Motor Co.

Ellis in Freedomland (1952)

Westinghouse Electric Co.

The End of the Road (1919)

American Social Hygiene Association

Enterprise (1948)

Cluett, Peabody & Co. Inc.

An Equal Chance (1949)

New York State Commission Against Discrimination

An Evening with Edgar A. Guest (1938)

Household Finance Corp.

Fallen Eagle (1950)

P. Lorillard & Co.

Fears of Children (1951)

Mental Health Film Board

Feeling All Right (1948)

Mississippi State Board of Health

Fibers and Civilizations (1958)

Chemstrand Corp.

Finding His Voice (1929)

Western Electric Co.

Flight to the Future—To the World of Plastics (1952)

Bakelite Co.

Ford Animated Weekly (1916)

Ford Motor Co.

The Forgotten Frontier (1931)

Frontier Nursing Service Inc.

For the Record (1946)

Unknown sponsor

From Mud to Mug (1919)

Ford Motor Co.

From Pod to Palate (1935)

Reid, Murdoch & Co.

Gift of Life (1920)

American Social Hygiene Association

The Goodall Summertime (1932)

Goodall Worsted Co.

Goodbye, Mr. Germ (1940)

National Tuberculosis Association

Good-bye, Mr. Roach (1959)

Velsicol Corp.

Hampton Institute Presents Its Program of Education for Life (1941)

Harmon Foundation

The High Wall (1952)

Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith

Hope—A Red Cross Seal Story (1912)

National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis

Hotel Del Monte (1897)

Southern Pacific Railroad

The House I Live In (1945)

Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith

The House in the Middle (1954)

National Paint, Varnish, and Lacquer Association

Industry’s Disinherited (1949)

United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America

The Inheritance (1964)

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America

In My Merry Oldsmobile (1931)

Olds Motor Works

The Inner Man Steps Out (1951)

General Electric Co.

In the Suburbs (1958)

Redbook Magazine

A Is for Atom (1953)

General Electric Co.

It’s Everybody’s Business (1954)

Chamber of Commerce of the United States

Jerry Pulls the Strings (1938)

American Can Co.

Just Imagine (1947)

Preserved by Library of Congress

Keep it Clean (1959)

National Association of Manufacturers

Labor's Reward (1925)

American Federation of Labor

Land of White Alice (1960)

Western Electric Co.

Language of Faces (1961)

American Friends Service Committee

Last Date (1950)

Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.

Let’s Go America! America Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1936)

National Association of Manufacturers

The Living Circle (1956)

United Fruit Co.

The Magic Key (1950)

Chamber of Commerce of the United States

The Making of an American (1920)

Dept. of Americanization, State of Connecticut

Man Against Microbe (1932)

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

The Man in the Doorway (1957)

American Cyanamid Co.

Man to Man (1954)

Mental Health Film Board

Master Hands (1936)

Chevrolet Motor Co.

Meet King Joe (1949)

Harding College

Men and Dust (1940)

Tri-State Survey Committee Inc.

Men and Machines (1936)

National Association of Manufacturers

Mental Hospital (1953)

Oklahoma State Dept. of Health

The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939)

Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

More Than Meets the Eye (1952)

Columbia Broadcasting System

The Nation at Your Fingertips (1951)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

The New Age of Architecture (1958)

Architectural Forum Magazine

New York Calling (1942)

New York Central Railroad

Not by Books Alone (1945)

Rochester Public Library

Now You're Talking (1927)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Once Upon a Honeymoon (1956)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Once Upon a Time (1934)

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

One World or None (1946)

National Committee for Atomic Information

On the Map (1959)

National Association of Manufacturers

The Ordeal of Thomas Moon (1957)

Smith, Kline & French

Original Films of Frank B. Gilbreth (1945)

Society for the Advancement of Management

Palmour Street (1949)

Georgia Dept. of Public Health

The Passaic Textile Strike (1926)

International Workers Aid

People of the Cumberland (1937)

Highlander Folk School

Pete-Roleum and His Cousins (1939)

Petroleum Industry Exhibition Inc.

A Place to Live (1941)

Philadelphia Housing Association

Portrait of a Library (1940)

Montclair Public Library

The Power behind the Nation (1940)

Norfolk & Western Railway Co.

The Reward of Thrift (1914)

American Bankers’ Association

Rhapsody of Steel (1959)

U.S. Steel Corp.

Saint Paul Police Detectives and Their Work: A Color Chartoon (ca. 1941)

Saint Paul Police Dept.

School (1939)

Progressive Education Association

Seconds for Survival (1960)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Seed for Tomorrow (1947)

National Farmers Union

Service Center for Industry (1960)

National Association of Manufacturers

Shake Hands with Danger (1975)

Caterpillar Tractor Co.

Sightseeing at Home (1943)

General Electric Co.

Singing Wheels (1937)

Motor Truck Committee and Automobile Manufacturers Association

Steel: Man’s Servant (1938)

United States Steel Corp. of Delaware

The Stenographer’s Friend (1910)

Edison Manufacturing Co.

Stepping Along with Television (1949)

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

The Steps of Age (1950)

Mental Health Film Board

A Study of Negro Artists (1935)

Harmon Foundation

Television: An RCA Presentation (1939)

Radio Corp. of America

The Things People Want (1948)

Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corp.

This is Hormel (ca. 1964)

Hormel Company

This Is Life (1950)

American Meat Institute

To the Fair! (1964)

New York World’s Fair Corporation

Trees and Men (1938)

Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.

Ulcer at Work (1959)

Oklahoma State Dept. of Health

United Action Means Victory (1939)

United Auto Workers

The Usurer’s Grip (1912)

Russell Sage Foundation

The Vanishing Frontier (1964)

North Carolina Film Board

A Voice Shall Be Heard (1951)

General Electric Co.

Westinghouse Works (1904)

Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

With These Hands (1950)

International Ladies Garment Workers Union

The Wizardry of Wireless (1923)

General Electric Co.

Wohelo Camp (1919)

Wohelo–The Luther Gulick Camps

Working and Playing to Health (1953)

Mental Health Film Board

The Your Name Here Story (ca. 1962)

Calvin Communications

Your Share in Tomorrow (1957)

New York Stock Exchange