I'm working on a documentary involving Western North Carolina and I'm in need of Archival Footage/images (pre-1940).
I have searched the Prelinger Archives and Creative Commons(not really archival) without much luck.

Anyone know of any good places to look for Archival Footage?

Also, isn't there a 50 year age limit on copyrights. Or Is this not always the case?

Footage of what exactly? The right source would depend on the subject your are looking for.

One place to start: http://www.footage.net/index.aspx

This site has links to many of the major providers.

Here's a good resource for information on copyrights, including how long they last.

Stanford Copyright & Fair Use - Copyright FAQs (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter0/index.html)

I'm working on a documentary involving Western North Carolina and I'm in need of Archival Footage/images (pre-1940).
I have searched the Prelinger Archives and Creative Commons(not really archival) without much luck.

Anyone know of any good places to look for Archival Footage?

Also, isn't there a 50 year age limit on copyrights. Or Is this not always the case?

Both the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress have images available.

Footage of what exactly? The right source would depend on the subject your are looking for.

One place to start: http://www.footage.net/index.aspx

This site has links to many of the major providers.

Old B&W footage of forestry, Blue Ridge Parkway Development, family recreation, hunting, fishing, etc. I'm doing a kind of nature/historical documentary of a particular area in North Carolina.

I did some copyright/publc domain research after I posted and found out that public domain is anything but simple. I just assumed that anything "old" would be public domain....doh!

Thanks for the links everyone, I'll keep searching.

Silly question possibly but I haven't seen it directly answered just yet in the discussion above. If I go to the Library of Congress and get public domain photos and videos (in this case about The Great Depression), I can use them in my documentary even if it gets picked up by a studio down the line and released? It doesn't violate rights, or cost money, etc...?

Here are some resources for you.
Image Resources from the Government (http://govdocs.evergreen.edu/image-resources.html)

USDA Forest Service - Caring for the land and serving people. (http://www.fs.fed.us/photovideo/)

Extensive digitized U.S. Forest Service photo collection now available (http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=155439)

US Forest Service Photographs (http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/photo/usfs/Default.htm)

Science.gov topic Forest Science for user category All categories (http://www.science.gov/browse/w_131C.htm)

Silly question possibly but I haven't seen it directly answered just yet in the discussion above. If I go to the Library of Congress and get public domain photos and videos (in this case about The Great Depression), I can use them in my documentary even if it gets picked up by a studio down the line and released? It doesn't violate rights, or cost money, etc...?

Truly public domain material is just that - ownded by the public and free of copyright restrictions on its use by anyone.