Three new exciting search & discover features have been added to News on Screen (NoS). You can now

• Search across 80,000 newsreel production documents
• Listen to five interviews with newsreel staff (HE/FE only)
• Browse over 100 souvenir programmes & brochures (HE/FE only)

Search Production Documents really opens up the possibility of discovering new stories and footage since it doesn’t rely on what a story was called or how it was catalogued. You can find a wealth of information behind the one line synopsis through shotlists and commentaries: where an event took place, all the people involved, who shot it and where the footage came from. A guide to the types of documents available is embedded in the search page for easy reference.

The five BECTU History Project interviews provide us with a unique insight into some of the intangibles of newsreel history and production: the day-to-day working culture; issue of self-censorship; the development of the union; political bias and faking footage. All the interviews are divided into thematic chapters to give you a detailed overview of what is discussed & enable you to go straight to the topics that interest you. The audio player also incorporates a synchronised transcript to enhance your experience of these oral histories.

The Souvenir Programme Map contains a selection over 120 specially cleared brochures, leaflets and programmes can be browsed by location and subject, providing a fascinating snapshot of how Britain marked the events that made the news in the 1940s and 1950s. From the Motor Show brochures to Manchester University’s Rag magazine, newsreel cameramen would pick up souvenir programmes on assignments to provide contextual information for the editorial department. The full spectrum is here from Venetian fetes in Hythe to the National Town Criers Competition in Hastings together with highlights from the sporting calendar: the Boat race, the National, Wimbledon and the FA Cup.

These developments have been made possible through the Jisc funded project, News on Screen: OCR, Oral Histories & Ephemera.