Moving Image

Some of the oldest films are from the 1890s. In the collection are an early travelogue produced by Charles Urban, early colour film and experiments with special effects, and important audio and sound recordings.

In 2018, SWFTA joined with The Box, and its films and team of experts joined the collections and team who look after the city’s heritage services.

Today, the SWFTA Collection is preserved and maintained in its original analogue and born digital formats alongside other media archive holdings in specialist environmentally-controlled stores. In addition to building upon SWFTA's important regional collecting remit, The Box continues to improve accessibility to the collections for all through dynamic exhibition programming, digital commissions, engagement and learning initiatives, and through ongoing cataloguing and research.

Our collection highlights:

Our oldest moving image

Produced in 1896 by renowned Anglo-American film producer Charles Urban, this was shot in the South West and is one of the earliest surviving examples of a commercial travelogue.

Early special effects

Some films in the Mervyn Heard and Claude Endicott Collections show how filmmakers were trying out new tricks and special effects in the 1900s.

Pre-World War II community life:

We have a wonderful colour film of Gunnislake Carnival from 1939 shot by amateur filmmaker Mr Nicholls of Plymouth, just one month before the outbreak of war. It is the earliest colour film work in the collection.

Home movies, amateur films and semi-professional works

These show many important and iconic local and regional events. They include:

• The Prince of Wales opening Roborough Aerodrome (Plymouth Airport) in 1931
• The royal family visiting Plymouth during World War II in 1941
• Plymouth being rebuilt after it was bombed in the war
• Street parties for the Queen's coronation
• The china clay industry
• The last days of steam trains
• American soldiers planting a peace tree in Barnstaple in 1944

TV works from Westward and TSW (Television South West)

These show how our region has changed since the 1960s. Some highlights are:

• The Beatles visiting Plymouth in 1963 and 1967
• A political speech by Enoch Powell at Exeter University in 1968
• The Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967
• Programmes focusing on diverse and often under-represented identities in the region including a 1969 documentary about an independent foster home in Cornwall for children from different racial backgrounds.