A government minister visited the world's largest film archives that are in Berkhamsted to celebrate the launch of a new online service.
A collection of 150 films dating back to 1896, which are stored at the British Film Institute's (BFI) archives on Kingshill Way, have been loaded onto the video sharing website, YouTube, with the hope of attracting new audiences.
To mark the occas
ion the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, Margaret Hodge, visited the Berkhamsted site last Wednesday (July 9).
Under tight security the Kingshill Way facility, which is known as the J. Paul Getty Conservation Centre, is home to vaults full to the brim with 200,000 films, 675,000 television programmes and stacks of memorabilia, including a handwritten script from Chariots of Fire and first Coronation Street script.
The MP said of her visit: "This wonderful collection of achieve film dates back to the earliest days of the moving picture. It's a fascinating visual insight into Britain's history and undoubtedly is one of the world's greatest collections of film and TV.
"Making the archive available through YouTube takes them out of the vaults and directly into people's homes, and means millions more people can enjoy these carefully preserved treasures."
All of the 150 films came from a larger collection from the Berkhamsted archives that have already been digitised and put on display at BFI Southbank in London, following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Also touring with the MP was the director of the BFI, Amanda Nevill, who explained: "The archives hold the greatest collection of
film and television on earth and our job is as much to make it widely accessible as it is to care for it."
"YouTube is a fantastic way for us to show people what is in the collection and we can reach many new audiences this way."
To watch the films visit http://uk.youtube.com/BFIfilms.
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