Unique among cultural institutions that collect moving image and sound media, Washington University Libraries' Film & Media Archive is comprised not only of completed works in film and video, but also of the numerous materials that went into the creation of those works. The Archive collects photos, interview outtakes, stock footage, producers' research and notes, correspondence, treatments, and scripts, all of which provide a distinctive look at the filmmaking and storytelling process for scholars, teachers, filmmakers, and students.

Washington University's Film and Media Archive houses the Henry Hampton/Blackside Collection, the William Miles Collection, the Insignia Films Collection and the St. Louis Public School Film Collection.

Unique among cultural institutions that collect moving image and sound media, Washington University Libraries' Film & Media Archive is comprised not only of completed works in film and video, but also of the numerous materials that went into the creation of those works. The Archive collects photos, interview outtakes, stock footage, producers' research and notes, correspondence, treatments, and scripts, all of which provide a distinctive look at the filmmaking and storytelling process for scholars, teachers, filmmakers, and students.

The Film & Media Archive at Washington University in St. Louis opened its doors to the public in September 2002. The Archive houses rare and unique collections of film, videotape, audiotape, manuscripts, including scripts, storyboards, and other materials related to Civil Rights, African-American life, the history of Harlem, social justice, democracy and the arts.

The Archive's inaugural acquisition was the Henry Hampton/Blackside Collection.The Hampton Collection consists primarily of material collected in connection with the various documentary films made by the late Henry Hampton, a 1961 graduate of Washington University, and his production company Blackside, Inc.

In the spring of 2006, the Film Archive expanded its holdings with the acquisition of the William Miles Collection.

William Miles, a New York based filmmaker, selected Washington University's Film & Media Archive as the place to deposit his life's work after seeing the care and attention it would receive. As with the Hampton Collection, the Miles Collection consists of all the outtakes, rough cuts, stock footage, interviews, photos, music, and research created during production.

The Film & Media Archive also houses the Insignia Collection, a collection of stock footage video outtakes and photographs from the Insignia Films 2003 PBS program Reporting America At War, and the St. Louis Public School Film Collection, which consists of 256 titles of educational films obtained from the St. Louis Public School system film library.