For archival producers and nonfiction production teams
A physical-film archive built for archival research and nonfiction production.
Stockfilm gives researchers and production teams access to authentic home movies documenting everyday twentieth-century life. Search by time, place, activity, environment, or material detail, then review available provenance, build a research board, and license eligible masters directly.
162,000+ searchable clips · 115,000+ directly licensable · 1,600+ cataloged physical reels · 1930s-1980s
What home movies contribute
Home movies are primary sources: privately filmed, unposed, and made without an audience in mind. For nonfiction work they contribute what professional archives often cannot.
Unposed behavior
Domestic and social life as it happened, not as it was staged for a camera crew.
The context around events
Incidental details surrounding larger historical moments: the street outside, the kitchen, the crowd before and after.
Environments crews never filmed
Small towns, back yards, workplaces, and interiors that no news camera visited.
Personal geography
Travel and place from the traveler's own point of view.
Period-accurate material culture
Buildings, roads, vehicles, clothing, products, signage, and interiors, dated by the film itself.
Emotional and transitional imagery
Human texture for documentary sequences between the archival set pieces.
Stockfilm complements, not replaces, news, broadcast, institutional, government, and specialist archives.
Search by production need
Everyday life by decade
Browse the archive index by decade and place, 1930s through 1980s.
Open resultsFamily and domestic life
Households, meals, backyards, and the texture of home.
Open resultsWork and industry
Farms, factories, trades, and working life on film.
Open resultsCities, streets, and transportation
Street scenes, storefronts, signage, traffic, and transit.
Open resultsTravel and geography
Road trips, tourism, and personal records of place.
Open resultsHolidays, rituals, and leisure
Celebrations, ceremonies, vacations, and social life.
Open resultsInteriors, clothing, and period detail
Rooms, wardrobe, products, vehicles, and incidental material culture.
Open resultsLandscapes and environmental context
Countryside, coastlines, mountains, and the built environment.
Open resultsThe evidence behind the image
Published clips trace back to physical source reels. Where documentation exists, a clip carries it: the reel it was scanned from, a transcription of the original label, the basis for its date and location, content flags from catalog review, and its licensing route. This is a live record from the catalog, not a mockup:
- Clip ID
- 123429455
- Source reel
- Reel 1038
- Original film format
- 8mm
- Reel size
- 5″ reel
- Original reel label
rockefeller center rockettes, baby grag, sylvia,mom,jack,stuart,robert,toni
- Reel-level year note
- 1955
- Reel-level location note
- new york city
- Date
- 1955 Corroborated (Supported by multiple independent clues.)
- Date evidence
- Catalog year matches an independent year note filed with the physical source reel.
- Location
- Hicksville, New York, United States Corroborated (Supported by multiple independent clues.)
- Location evidence
- Catalog place matches an independent location note filed with the physical source reel.
- People visible
- Yes
- Minors visible
- Yes
- Logos or trademarks
- Not detected in review
- Audible music
- Not detected in review
- Licensing route
- Direct license available from Stockfilm
Content flags are screening aids from catalog review, not legal opinions. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed clear.
How confidence is labeled
- Confirmed (Supported by direct contemporaneous evidence.)
- Supported by an original label, container, acquisition record, or other direct contemporaneous evidence tied to this specific footage.
- Corroborated (Supported by multiple independent clues.)
- Supported by multiple independent clues, such as a note on the source-reel record combined with the catalog analysis of the footage itself.
- Estimated (Based on visual or technical evidence.)
- Based on visual or technical evidence such as film stock, automobiles, clothing, signage, architecture, packaging, or production characteristics. An estimate, not a documented fact.
- Unidentified (Insufficient evidence for a responsible conclusion.)
- Insufficient evidence exists for a responsible conclusion. The field is left open rather than guessed.
From brief to delivery
Search
Query by time, place, activity, material detail, or scene, and filter to directly licensable footage.
Search the archiveResearch board
Save selects and alternates with notes, share a read-only review link with the director or editor, and export the list.
Open Research BoardsSource and rights review
Check each clip's documentation panel, confidence labels, and content flags; request source information where more is needed.
How documentation worksLicense and deliver
License eligible 4K masters directly from Stockfilm and keep the clip documentation with the project record.
Read the Licensing Guide
Research Boards
Organize selects, alternates, and notes in one project workspace. Boards are stored server-side and private to your browser; a read-only share link (revocable at any time) lets a director, editor, or counsel review the pull without an account. Items carry per-clip notes, drag-and-drop ordering, and an export for the production log.
Production Brief
Two ways to run a brief against the archive:
Human-reviewed research pull
Send the story context, date range, geography, required scenes, exclusions, and deadline. The archive team searches the full catalog, including material that automated search surfaces poorly, and replies with candidates and available source information.
Send a production briefInstant archive match
Paste a scene description into the footage brief tool and get an immediate machine-assembled sequence of candidate clips to react to.
Try an instant matchSample brief (illustrative, not a client project)
“Feature documentary on postwar suburbanization in the American Midwest. Seeking 1947–1962 exteriors of new subdivisions, street construction, shopping areas, family arrivals, automobiles, and domestic interiors. Prefer footage with confirmed or corroborated date and location. Flag minors, trademarks, uncertain geography, and possible third-party rights questions. Need watermarked review links, alternates, and 4K availability.”
Licensing clarity
Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable clip agreement. Catalog flags help identify visible people, minors, logos or trademarks, and audible music. These flags are screening aids rather than legal opinions. Depending on the footage, context, territory, and proposed use, a production may need to evaluate additional privacy, publicity, trademark, artwork, location, music, or sensitive-use considerations.
What Stockfilm provides
- The applicable Stockfilm license
- The licensed master file
- Available source and metadata information
- Catalog content flags
- Available scan and restoration information
What Stockfilm may be able to document
- Source-reel origin
- The basis for a date or location
- Original labels or collection notes
- Known visible elements
- Adjacent clips and reel context
What the production remains responsible for
- Its own legal and editorial review
- Third-party interests outside the licensed copyright
- Use-specific privacy, publicity, trademark, artwork, location, music, or sensitive-use considerations
- Distributor, broadcaster, insurer, or platform requirements
Member of the Archival Producers Alliance?
APA Enhanced members and their productions may qualify for a 20% discount on eligible direct Stockfilm licenses.
View the APA member benefit