Fear not brave producer. Thirty thousand hours of these and other definitive events from the 20th century are lurking in the vaults of the WPA stock footage library. The last of the large independent historic libraries, the collection ranges from the crazed, obscure, demented and jaw-droppingly bizarre to the monumental, poignant, and historically important.

Unlike other genres of stock where the choice to shoot it custom may be tempting, historical footage most often cannot be recreated. The value and rarity of the footage is magnified by the fact that events from the first half of the last century were often only covered by one camera.

According to Waleed Ali, president of parent company MPI Media, "Virtually every time you see an ad that has historic footage in it, particularly footage shot before 1960, chances are they got it from us." Who are they? Recent retro happy clients include Subway, IBM, Phillips, AIG and Nikon.

The bulk of WPA's business comes from TV producers, feature films and documentaries. This has insulated the company from the recent sag in the spot business, which in a normal year generates 10 to 12 per cent of sales.

Ali started MPI Media while he was still in college. "We were producing documentaries, using a lot of old footage from newsreels and such," he says. "We reasoned that we should start accumulating it."

So in 1989, Ali and a partner bought tiny stock house WPA and accelerated their purchases of historical libraries. "One of the acquisitions that helped turn it around was the British Pathe library, considered the most complete library of 20th century news material. It actually started in 1895 and continued until 1970."

The newest addition to the library is a quirky collection of television shows musician Willie Nelson bought from legendary movie man Norman Lear in 1984. The assortment includes classic country and western programs, and variety shows that feature musical acts from soul to jazz and from Dolly Parton to Otis Redding.

Like the rest of the stock world, Ali is making inroads on-line. February 2002 marks the start of WPA's Internet visual database designed specifically for advertising clients.

In what could be considered a more altruistic effort, Ali is also ready to launch WPA's Web-based 20th Century Resource Center. "We are digitizing 1000 hours in virtually every aspect you can think of: Military, geopolitics, pop-culture, personalities, fashion, etc., with more material added every six months," he says. This visual database is designed for students and is available to schools for a mild subscription fee.

Webfiles:

WPA Film Library> http://www.wpafilmlibrary.com