ABSTRACT
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), established in 1934, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the U. S. government and are responsible for preserving and making accessible the permanently valuable records of the federal government and other historical materials donated directly to NARA. NARA began accessioning audiovisual records shortly after its establishment, and its holdings have grown exponentially in the last eighty years. Spanning from the early decades of the twentieth century to the first decades of the twenty-first century, newsfilm and "newsfilm-like" content can be found in both military and civilian Record Groups, most notably Record Group 111, Record Group 208, Record Group 255, Record Group 263, and Record Group 306. The popularity of the Universal Collection can be attributed to the scope and volume of the collection, the breadth and scope of finding aids and other documentation, and the relative lack of restrictions on access and use.
