A rare glimpse into the day-to-day world of late 1960s psychiatric practice is offered, in which those seeking help are received with an open mind and treated with dignity.
Where to Find...
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NLM Digital Collections
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All Digitized Films
Films are digitized and added monthly to NLM Digital Collections. Find them all under Format: Moving image.
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The Public Health Film Goes to War Collection
A curated selection from the Library’s World War II-era health films. Public health and war have long been close companions, and maybe strange bedfellows. Read More
View Digitized Films
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Tropical Disease Motion Pictures Collection
Films addressing the symptoms, treatment, and impact of tropical diseases worldwide. An accompanying subject guide to these titles can be found here.
View Digitized Films
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YouTube
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YouTube
A selection of digitized films from the collection are available on the NLM YouTube channel collected under the History of Medicine playlist.
Go to YouTube
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The finding aids below provide descriptive information about unprocessed Historical Audiovisual collections. The Contents portion of each finding aid provides a list of titles along with minimal descriptive detail. The Library may be able to process a title upon request and provide you with a viewing copy; please contact the NLM Support Center for more information. [Note that in some cases, an unprocessed collection may contain individual titles present already in the NLM collection. These are noted with an HF (Historical Film) number, as in HF1234, and may be found using that identifier in theLocatorPlus Catalog.]
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Andrew Glenn Morrow Cardiovascular Research Film Collection 1958–1969
Unprocessed Collection. Contents are 16mm film reels of varying length, most silent and in color, originating in the National Heart Institute. Films chiefly depict surgical procedures to implant artificial aortic and mitral valves in patients with cardiac conditions such as ventricular septal defect. Most of the films consist of close-up images of Dr. Morrow's hands and arms and the patient's opened chest, though some show Dr. Morrow speaking.
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Arpen Childbirth Education Film Collection 1970–1989
Unprocessed Collection. These titles were produced by foundations, academic institutions, and private sector entities to educate expectant parents about pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care.
Go to the Finding Aid
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Catholic University Medical Film Collection 1942–1977
Unprocessed Collection. Films address a range of topics including nursing, prenatal and neonatal care, infant and child development, mental health, medical ethics, aging, and human sexuality.
Go to the Finding Aid
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Nina Starr Braunwald Cardiovascular Research Film Collection 1960–1965
Unprocessed Collection. The films depict Dr. Nina Starr Braunwald performing heart surgeries at NIH, particularly the experimental implantation of artificial heart valves of her own design and fabrication.
Go to the Finding Aid
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Northwest Film Forum Collection 1930–2000
Unprocessed Collection. These mostly educational films were produced by both smaller, independent companies and major filmmaking entities during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Topics range from concerns about overpopulation to the function of human organs to divorce and racial prejudice. Many of the films deal with mental health, child development, and the health of the environment.
Go to the Finding Aid
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Catalog
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Catalog Search
Nearly all cataloged historical audiovisuals are, or can be, made available for viewing in DVD format. Patrons also may request a limited number of low-resolution “screener copies” uploaded to NLM’s FTP site for content review.
Search LocatorPlus Catalog
Guides
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Guide to Mental Health Motion Pictures
The guide contains references to nearly 200 films and video recordings produced from the 1930s up to and including 1970. Most deal with mental or psychiatric disorders as defined or recognized at the time the films were produced.
Go to the Guide
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Guide to Tropical Disease Motion Pictures
The guide contains references to films, videorecordings, and digital videocasts produced from the 1920s through 2009, with the majority shot prior to the 1960s. Materials range from ideological, documentary, educational, and training films to American war propaganda.
Go to the Guide
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Digitized Films
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Booked for Safekeeping (ca. 1959)
This is one of a series of short training films by renowned documentary filmmaker George Stoney tackling a tough topic: how police respond to people who are mentally ill, suicidal, or alcoholic, how to do so more effectively, and why the officers should care.
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What Did You Take? The Drug Abuse Emergency (ca. 1971)
Medical recognition and treatment of overdose and drug abuse situations are stressed in this film, which includes scenes are of real-life cases in the emergency room and adjoining physicians’ offices of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
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The Traitor Within (ca. 1946)
This cartoon about cancer is directed at the non-medical public. Cancer myths are refuted, cancer warning signals described, and the growth and effect of malignant cells within the body presented.
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Cataloged Films
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Idiot Child and Comparative Behavior (ca. 1940)
Ivan Pavlov uses film to examine the behavior of developmentally delayed children and adults. Animated images of the brain are shown, as are experiments with dogs, monkeys, a bear, and an elephant.
View Catalog Record
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Convulsive Shock Therapy in Affective Psychoses (ca. 1957)
This production attempts to make the case that convulsive shock therapy can terminate severe depressions and most manic states within a few weeks. Four cases are presented with behavior before and after treatment.
View Catalog Record
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The Study of Infant Behaviour (1939)
Noted child psychologist and pediatrician Arnold Gesell gives a technical overview of the methods and procedures used to study infant development at the Yale Clinic of Child Development. Gesell himself narrates the film and appears on camera several times.
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Medicine On Screen: Films and Essays from NLM
A curated portal to the National Library of Medicine's historical audiovisual collections. This site showcases unique, rare, and important medical films enriched with contextual information, scholarly essays, and related resources.
View Resource
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The Public Health Film Goes to War
A curated selection from the Library’s World War II-era health films. Public health and war have long been close companions, and maybe strange bedfellows. Read More
View Resource
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Confronting Violence: Improving Women's Lives
Featured in Confronting Violence are items from the National Library of Medicine's collection, including correspondence between Daniel Sheridan and other nurse activists, early guidelines for care, and medical training videos.
View Digital Gallery
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