Search Our Film Collections
The Citizens’ Council Forum Film Collection, Private Films Collection, WDAM Newsfilm Collection, and WLBT Newsfilm Collection are searchable online, and each collection features its own online shopping cart system.
You may search the collections using key words. One word search terms are suggested.
If you are onsite at the William F. Winter Archives & History Building, you will be able to see item descriptions and view the clips in our library’s Media Reading Room. Clicking on the clips that you would like to request will add them to your shopping cart.
If you are offsite, you will only see item descriptions but will still have access to the shopping cart system.
If you would like to request footage of moving images that are not included in this list, please contact the audiovisual archivist by email at AVarch@mdah.ms.gov.
Make an Audiovisual Order Request
- Research and request reference footage. A list of collection descriptions is below. Film collections may be requested in the shopping cart system by clicking on the clip and then clicking add to cart thereby creating a wish list for reference footage. Reference footage is low res footage for research purposes only. It comes with a time code and MDAH watermark.
- When all selections have been made, patrons may view cart, make any changes, fill out the form fields, and submit the request.
- The Audiovisual Archivist will then email the appropriate paperwork, including an invoice, to the patron.
- A link to the requested reference footage will be emailed to the patron once the archivist has received the signed paperwork and payment from the patron.
- Patrons may return paperwork via email, fax or mail.
- Acceptable forms of payment for AV orders are check, money order and credit card.
- Credit card payments will need to be arranged with the audiovisual archivist.
- Please note, the credit card company charges a small fee to process credit card payments.
- If returning the form and payment by mail, send it to the following address in order to avoid delays in processing your request:
Celia Tisdale, Audiovisual Archivist
Archives and Records Services
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
P.O. Box 571
Jackson, MS 39205-0571
If returning the form and payment by FedEX, send it to the following address in order to avoid delays in processing your request:
Celia Tisdale, Audiovisual Archivist
Archives and Records Services
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
200 North Street
Jackson, MS 39201
- If you wish to order broadcast quality footage after viewing the reference footage, please contact the audiovisual archivist by email at AVarch@mdah.ms.gov with the request. All other requests for materials including audio may be made using this email also.
Citizens' Council Forum Films Collection
The first Citizens' Council was formed in 1954 in Indianola, Mississippi, to resist integration. By March 1955, 167 Citizens' Councils were reported in Mississippi; these were loosely affiliated into a state organization. That same year the state organization began producing fifteen-minute weekly films under the name Citizens' Council Forum Films. These films consisted of interviews by producer Dick Morphew with American and foreign conservatives and were shown on local television stations throughout the country. The programs were created to persuade public opinion regarding two main issues: integration and communism. Some of the films in this collection were not produced by the Citizens' Council Forum Films, but by similar groups. Contained in the collection are 132 reels of film, approximately 90,000 feet.
Private Films Collection
The Private Films Collection at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (ca.1920s-ca. 2000s) documents almost a century of changes in Mississippi. The collection consists black-and-white and color film footage and include professional and amateur films, as well as home movies. MDAH film collections contain historical footage that is Mississippi related and unique. The Private Films Collection is made up of more than 40 individual collections. Many of the reels are silent.
The Private Films Collection contains footage of a wide variety of events: agriculture, town scenes, parades, aviation, education, advertising, crime, entertainment, architecture, natural disasters, home life, business, sports and culture. These films depict things that history books and other documents overlook such as the way homes were decorated, games children played in the past, community events and activities and how business was conducted. Films from the collection have been used in many films, television programs and other productions.
WLBT Newsfilm Collection
The WLBT Newsfilm Collection (1954-1971) documents two decades of intense social and political change in Mississippi. It primarily consists of more than 520,000 linear feet (635 16mm reels) of black-and-white and color film footage from WLBT, the National Broadcasting Company’s affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. The collection is made up of film shot in the field.
The WLBT Newsfilm Collection contains footage of a wide variety of events: legislative activities, political campaigns, education, crime, entertainment, natural disasters, human interest, and sports. National concerns of the era including the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, women’s rights, and America’s War on Poverty are also represented.
The MP 2017.01: WLBT Videotape Collection is currently being processed and is not available via the AV quick search link.
WDAM Newsfilm Collection
The WDAM Newsfilm Collection and Accretion consist of local television news film from television station WDAM-TV covering the Hattiesburg/Laurel area. Stories related to the Forrest, Jones, and Perry County areas were produced between approximately 1970 and 1975. They include national, state, and local politics; civil rights activities; sports; and natural and man-made disasters.
WLBT Videotape Collection*
The WLBT Videotape Collection spans ca. 1981-1999 and includes local and national news from WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi. The collection is still undergoing processing and requires special permission from the Audiovisual Archivist.
The MP 2017.01: WLBT Videotape Collection is currently being processed and is not available via the AV quick search link. Please see the WLBT Videotape Collection order procedures document.