As featured in the IDS, Indiana University has digitized more than 125 rare and out-of-print films in the Lilly Library's historic David S. Bradley Film Collection.

With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the IU Digital Library Program has transferred the 16mm films to master videotapes and DVD-viewing copies. The films, many of which are in the public domain but unavailable commercially, include silent comedies as well as forgotten gems featuring Harold Lloyd (best remembered as the man dangling from a clock tower in the 1923 classic Safety Last) and Pearl White (who famously evaded danger when she was tied to railroad tracks in the episodic series The Perils of Pauline). Peer Gynt, Charlton Heston's first film, is also part of the collection.

The films were selected by IU faculty members for their importance to instruction and research.

"Digitizing these important films is an essential step in preserving our prints," said Kristine Brancolini, project leader and director of IU's Digital Library Program. "Creating high-quality surrogates that teachers, researchers and students can use reduces wear and tear of the original film."

Bequeathed to the Lilly Library in 1997, the Bradley Film Collection represents one of the most comprehensive private collections of films ever assembled. From American masterpieces to French avant-garde, the 3,200 films in the collection are complemented by manuscripts, books and periodicals devoted to Bradley's life and work as a film historian. The Bradley Film Collection is the library's first acquisition of a major film collection.