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.
Champion Paper and Fibre Co.
New York Daily News
Philco-Ford Corp.
American Petroleum Institute
Sinclair Refining Co.
Western Union Co.
Jewish Board of Guardians
Admiral Cigarette
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Girl Scouts of America
Seventeen Magazine
American Can Co.
Harding College
Georgia Dept. of Public Health
Ford Motor Co.
General Motors Corp.
United States Steel Corp.
General Motors Corp.
Ford Motor Co.
National Federation of American Shipping
John Birch Society
International Association of Machinists
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
City of Los Angeles
General Petroleum Corp.
National Right to Work Committee
Mental Health Film Board
Harmon Foundation
American Friends Service Committee
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
American Security Council Foundation
Catechetical Guild
Baltimore Redevelopment Commission
National Broadcasting Co.
City of St. Louis
Swift & Co.
Mental Health Film Board
Edison General Electric Appliance Co.
Louisiana Association for Mental Health
National Probation Association
Bristol-Myers Co.
Los Angeles Community Chest
American Cancer Society
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
American Bridge Division, United States Steel Corp.
National Education Program, Harding College
United Auto Workers
Merchants of Burlingame, California
Chevrolet Motor Co.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
National Child Labor Committee
Fund for the Republic
Armour & Co.
General Electric Co.
Coffee Information Service
Aluminum Co. of America.
Port of New York Authority
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Harmon Foundation
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co.
National Association of Manufacturers
National Education Association
Employers Mutual of Wausau
Monsanto Chemical Co.
Ford Motor Co.
General Motors Corp.
American Petroleum Institute
Chevrolet Motor Co.
Westinghouse Electric Co.
American Social Hygiene Association
Cluett, Peabody & Co. Inc.
New York State Commission Against Discrimination
Household Finance Corp.
P. Lorillard & Co.
Mental Health Film Board
Mississippi State Board of Health
Chemstrand Corp.
Western Electric Co.
Bakelite Co.
Ford Motor Co.
Frontier Nursing Service Inc.
Unknown sponsor
Ford Motor Co.
Reid, Murdoch & Co.
National Industrial Council
American Social Hygiene Association
General Electric Co.
Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.
Goodall Worsted Co.
National Tuberculosis Association
Velsicol Corp.
Harmon Foundation
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis
Southern Pacific Railroad
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
National Paint, Varnish, and Lacquer Association
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Olds Motor Works
General Electric Co.
Redbook Magazine
General Electric Co.
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
American Can Co.
Preserved by Library of Congress
National Association of Manufacturers
American Federation of Labor
Western Electric Co.
American Friends Service Committee
Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.
National Association of Manufacturers
United Fruit Co.
Frigidaire Division, General Motors Corp.
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
Dept. of Americanization, State of Connecticut
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
American Cyanamid Co.
Mental Health Film Board
Chevrolet Motor Co.
Harding College
U.S. Rubber Co.
Tri-State Survey Committee Inc.
National Association of Manufacturers
Oklahoma State Dept. of Health
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
Columbia Broadcasting System
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Architectural Forum Magazine
New York Central Railroad
Rochester Public Library
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
National Committee for Atomic Information
National Tuberculosis Association
National Association of Manufacturers
Public Relations Staff, General Motors Corp.
Smith, Kline & French
Society for the Advancement of Management
Georgia Dept. of Public Health
International Workers Aid
Highlander Folk School
Petroleum Industry Exhibition Inc.
Philadelphia Housing Association
Montclair Public Library
American Crayon Co.; National Kindergarten Association
American Bankers’ Association
Cotton Producers Association
U.S. Steel Corp.
Saint Paul Police Dept.
Progressive Education Association
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
National Farmers Union
National Association of Manufacturers
Caterpillar Tractor Co.
General Electric Co.
Motor Truck Committee and Automobile Manufacturers Association
United States Steel Corp. of Delaware
Edison Manufacturing Co.
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Mental Health Film Board
Harmon Foundation
Anti-Narcotic League of America
Radio Corp. of America
Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corp.
Hormel Company
American Meat Institute
Field Day Committee, Detroit Police Dept.
Lutheran Film Associates
American Cancer Society
Mental Hygiene Division, Oklahoma State Dept. of Health
S.C. Johnson & Son
U.S. Steel Corp.
Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corp.
United Gas Corp.; Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.
New York World’s Fair Corporation
Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.
Oakland Tribune; American Theatre
Oklahoma State Dept. of Health
United Auto Workers
Russell Sage Foundation
North Carolina Film Board
General Electric Co.
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp.
International Ladies Garment Workers Union
General Electric Co.
Wohelo–The Luther Gulick Camps
Mental Health Film Board
Calvin Communications
New York Stock Exchange
