The Media Burn Independent Video Archive contains over 35 years of nonfiction videotapes.  Many of these tapes were some of the first experiments with portable videotape, a medium which has only existed since around 1970. 

The tapes in our collection are stylistically different from what one usually expects from any of the analogous media (TV shows, documentary movies, and internet video). 

We estimate that more than 80% of the videos on mediaburn.org do not exist in any viewable form anywhere in the world.  We have saved them, digitized them, and made them available free to everyone. Several hundred videos are available online now and several thousand more are in the physical collection but have not yet been digitized.

We have presented these pieces in their original, uncut versions, often alongside the original raw footage and outtakes. This means that researchers, students, and anyone else interested in the making of a tape are able to see "behind-the-scenes" footage that was not included on the original program. 

You can browse a list of all titles in the Title Index. However, if you are unfamiliar with the material in our collection, here is a list of tapes that are a good place to start. 

Early video:

Four More Years - 1972 Republican National Convention
World's Largest TV Studio - 1972 Democratic National Convention
Lord of the Universe - 1974 Religious cult movement, the Divine Light Mission
The Good Times Are Killing Me - 1975 Cajun culture and music
Greetings From Lanesville - 1976 Video collective called Videofreex in upstate New York
Media Burn - 1975 art event by Ant Farm

Chicago politics:

Vito Marzullo - 1978 documentary plus camera originals
Congressman Dan Rostenkowski - 1982 documentary plus camera originals
Mayors Richard J. & M. Daley
Mayor Jane Byrne - two good ones are here and here
Mayor Harold Washington

Chicago people:

sports legend Bill Veeck - 1985 doc, sports show
an extensive collection of work featuring author, raconteur, and all-around character, Studs Terkel - try starting here

For a good mix of nonfiction from outsiders' points of view, screen episodes of "THE 90'S," which features work by about 500 videomakers around the world. 52 hour-long episodes and hundreds more raw tapes are in the collection.