MISSOURI — Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced the launch of a new YouTube channel curated by the Missouri State Archives, a division within his office. The platform offers the public unprecedented access to historic films created by Missouri state government, along with recordings of the State Archives’ Thursday Evening Speaker Series and other Missouri history-related content.

In celebration of the launch, the channel now features four new-to-the-archives films produced in 1931 by the Missouri Bureau of Public Information for the state’s Game and Fish Department, the precursor of today’s Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri State Parks. The recordings – “Arrow Rock,” “Big Spring,” “From Whence the Rainbows Come!” (about Bennett Spring State Park) and “Meramec State Park” – were graciously donated, along with digital conversions, by Ms. Melissa Naylor Applegate. Originally created to promote the virtues of Missouri’s outdoors, they were all produced in black and white on silent 16mm film and are between six and eleven minutes in length.

“Preserving and showcasing these recordings will help inform our future generations of the great natural resources Missouri has always had to offer,” Ashcroft said. “Missouri is a beautiful state with amazing features.”

For more information about the YouTube channel or the Missouri Game and Fish Department films, contact the Missouri State Archives reference staff at archives@sos.mo.gov or (573) 751-3280.