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Before there was television there was the news-reel. People from all over the country would visit their local movie palace to watch the news twice every week along with the latest feature film. The major American newsreel companies of the time covered world events, politics, sports, fashion, stunts, and whatever else might entertain the movie-going audience. Today, these newsreels offer a fascinating and unique look at that era and are a primary source of visual information and history.  Out of the five major sound newsreels that documented the activities of America and the World throughout the 1930's to the 1960's, only one is now owned by the American people, is royalty-free, and readily accessible for your review and use -- the Universal Newsreel. Over 14,000 reels of surviving edited stories and out-takes are accessible for your research and viewing pleasure at the National Archives.

Projected History: A Catalog of the U.S. National Stories Released by Universal Newsreel, Volume I, 1929-1930, is a well-researched book that documents the nationally released stories of what was known back then as the Universal Newspaper Newsreel. One of the great benefits of this landmark work is that all the Universal Newsreel stories that are known to exist today within the film vaults of the National Archives are noted. This is the first time that the newsreel title, description and story availability have been brought together in a single resource. Projected History will be of immense interest to students of history, film and genealogy.

Volume II contains the same fantastic information and covers the time period from 1931 to 1932.