CriticalPast LLC

people: famous people

society / culture: war / disasters, history

transport: air / space

places / maps: cities, historical scenes

Over 57,000 Historic Clips and 7 Million Stills for Immediate Download. CriticalPast is your source for imagery of worldwide events, people, and B-roll spanning the 20th century.

Fully digitized and searchable, the CriticalPast collection is one of the largest royalty-free archival footage collections in the world. Search and view thousands of historic video clips and millions of still images, all available for immediate download in many formats, including multiple variations of HD and SD. All clips and stills are licensed royalty-free, worldwide, in perpetuity. The average HD clip price is only $200 for 2 minutes. Stills are licensed for only $25. CriticalPast offers immediate downloads of full-resolution HD and SD masters and full-resolution time-coded screeners, 24 hours a day, to serve the needs of broadcast news, TV, film, education, and publishing professionals.

Drawn largely from U.S. government sources, CriticalPast contains a huge number of military and war clips as well as 20th century propaganda and educational films from many countries. The CriticalPast war collection is second to none, and includes footage from World War I, World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, and The Cold War.
Other specialties include worldwide Political Figures, Industrialization, the Great Depression, Culture, Civil Rights, Transportation, Aviation, and Space.