The Prelinger Archives is a collection of films, mostly shorts made for industrial or educational distribution. The Archives was founded by Rick Prelinger in 1982 in order to preserve what he calls "ephemeral" films: corporate advertising and promotional films (1914-1980), educational films or U.S. government productions, television commercials, theatrical trailers and ads, newsreels, amateur and home movies, and other items of cultural significance which are in the public domain because they were never registered for copyright or their copyrights have expired.