New video series from the United Nations: Stories from the archive

United Nations, New York (October 27, 2023)—Colin Powell’s infamous ‘weapons of mass destruction’ speech to the United Nations Security Council. Fidel Castro delivering one of the longest addresses the world has ever heard. Presidents, prime ministers, popes and queens. Pop stars, rock stars and superstars – glimpses of hope from principled people and young activists on the global stage. Harrowing accounts of loss and tragedy, and unknown moments and breakthrough agreements from the past. Nuggets of history captured for anyone who cares about the forces of the past and the portents for the future.

This is Stories from the UN Archive, a new series that gives viewers a front-row seat on the iconic moments that shaped our common destiny.

Drawn from a wealth of footage, much of it recently digitized and never before widely seen, the series encapsulates key inflection points—some that resonated in their day, and some that have rich new meaning when viewed with hindsight.

The UN’s audiovisual collection has approximately 6,330 hours of 16mm and 35mm films, 49,400 hours of video recordings, and 18,000 hours of audio chronicling the activities of virtually every recognizable name in the past century of global politics, along with many from the realms of religion, activism, academia, the arts and more.

“The AV archives have contents not available in any other source and they can be used to tell the audiovisual history of the Organization,” explains Antonio da Silva, Acting Chief of the UN’s Audiovisual Services Section.

He points out the critical value of accurate historical materials amid the current deluge of false and deliberately misleading content. “During a time of widespread misinformation and disinformation with the use of social media to spread fake news, it is crucial to safekeep trustworthy AV archives sources with accuracy and completeness.”

Mass digitization of the A/V collection began in 2016 thanks to a $4.5 million donation from the Government of Oman with a view to preserving, archiving and making publicly accessible via the AV Library website approximately 70 percent of the historic film, video and audio recordings covering the history of the United Nations from its inception to the mid-2000s. Alongside the UN Photo Library, more invaluable historic materials become accessible every day.

Be a Part of Making History by Showing History

The Series welcomes promotion through links within YouTube—either as suggested content, through the Community feature, or with coverage—or beyond YouTube on broadcasts, podcasts, Instagram, X, TikTok and other social platforms. All materials are free of charge. We also welcome broadcast, digital and museum partners around the world.

Hosted on @UNStory on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLARfz3-vanazCXdYz12iOJOSJF3UfKbj-, the series itself can be promoted with this teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLL2JkNAX5A