UCLA Film and Television Archive

Cary Grant as Roger Adams and Irene Dunne as Julie Gardiner Adams with their adopted daughter Trina (played by Baby Biffle) PENNY SERENADE (1941), directed by George Stevens. Courtesy: University of California, Los Angeles, Film and Television Archive, Powell Library.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive is internationally renowned for its pioneering efforts to preserve and showcase not only classic but current and innovative film and television. It is dedicated to ensuring that the moving image history of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come. A unique resource for media study, the Archive constitutes one of the largest collections of media materials in the United States—second only to the Library of Congress—and the largest of any university in the world. Its vaults hold more than 220,000 motion picture and television titles and 27 million feet of newsreel footage.

Basil Rathbone as Captain Esteban Pasquale and Tyrone Power as Diego Vega (a.k.a. Zorro) in THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940), directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Courtesy: University of California, Los Angeles, Film and Television Archive, Powell Library.

The archive preserves media heritage through an aggressive program of acquisition, preservation and restoration, transfer, and maintenance of its extensive collections of motion pictures, broadcast programming, and newsreels. In general, the term "preservation" refers to the process of gathering the best surviving materials from a film or television program and transferring them to the most stable format possible. "Restoration" usually refers to even more time-consuming and complicated projects in which altered or missing material is restored to the film, bringing it as close as possible to its initial release form.  Through the work of its 12 preservation staff members and other supporting staff, the Film and Television Archive has been able to preserve or restore such classics as Penny Serenade, 1941, and The Mark of Zorro, 1940.