Time Travel to Old Marin (trailer)

Between 1970 and 1980, film students from San Rafael and Terra Linda High Schools produced or restored over a dozen films showing historic aspects of Marin County and San Francisco from the early 20th century to the mid-1970s.

Under the direction of teacher David Swingle, old motion pictures and stills were collected and re-mastered by the high school students as new 16mm prints which in turn were used as source materials for the creation of local history documentaries, many of which premiered in 1976 during Marin County’s celebration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.

All of these films and their related raw footage have been restored, digitized and re-mastered by Karl and David Swingle of Centennial Films. Through the generosity of Centennial Films and with additional funding provided by Marin philanthropist Jeff Craemer, this important historic film archive and its copyright has been donated to the Marin County Free Library’s Anne T. Kent California Room.

Nine of these films are now available to the public through the Library's catalog and we invite you to check them out:

Marin In the Innocent Years: 1914-1915
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

Echoes ‘76: Marin History from Miwok Days to 1976
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

San Rafael Illustrated: History from Miwok & Mission Days to 1976
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

The Crookedest Railroad in the World: Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

Tanker: History of Marinship during World War II
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

Colin D. Edwards’ documentary on the Marin County Civic Center, c.1963
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

Building the Golden Gate Bridge. Bethlehem Steel Co., c.1937
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

The Innocent Fair: 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...

Disaster at Dawn: Eyewitness Story of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire
https://discovery.marinet.lib.ca.us/i...