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Abstract

The United States Information Agency (USIA) was an independent government agency created in 1953 to support American foreign policy while promoting U.S. national interests abroad. Building on the work of predecessors, including the Foreign Information Service (FIS), the Office of War Information (OWI), and various offices within the Department of State, USIA sought to achieve greater mutual understanding between the U.S. and foreign societies, and this aim was accomplished in part through the work of the agency’s motion picture film division. Although some of the film productions shown to audiences overseas were acquired from external sources, the USIA produced hundreds of documentaries internally, often through contracts with independent production companies such as Allegro Films, the Thomas Craven Film Corporation, and many, many others. The USIA existed until 1999, when it was disbanded under the provisions of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, and its functions were transferred to the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). However, the legacy of over 45 years of USIA filmmaking and acquisition remains, and that legacy is now waiting to be rediscovered through the holdings of the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA).

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