Scarecrow Video

Who We Are

Scarecrow Video is a nonprofit cultural museum and the largest publicly-accessible physical-media library in the world, located in Seattle’s University District and accessible nationwide via our rent-by-mail program.

Scarecrow began as an independent, neighborhood video store in 1988. By 2014, facing permanent disruption to the physical-media landscape, the staff joined together to transform it into a nonprofit to keep our unparalleled library accessible and continue the stewardship and preservation of its collection, currently more than 150,000 items representing nearly 200,000 films. 

Scarecrow’s archive houses three times as many films as all mainstream streaming services combined and showcases deep and diverse wells of cinematic history, featuring films in 127 languages from 138 countries and spanning more than 128 years of film history. 

Of Scarecrow's one hundred rarest, out-of-print titles:

• Thirty three are held by five or fewer public collections
• Eight-eight aren't even held in the Library of Congress
• Forty-four might be the only publicly-accessible copies in existence
  
  

Sustain Our Scarecrow (S.O.S.)

Last June, facing possible closure, Scarecrow launched the S.O.S. campaign in a decisive effort to prevent this irreplaceable archive from disappearing forever. The community response has been nothing short of extraordinary, and it allowed Scarecrow to keep the doors open and add new leadership, essential for charting a sustainable path forward. 

S.O.S. renewed public interest in the irreplaceable artistic value of this collection to the cultural fabric of Seattle and beyond. Our community knows the rare value of Scarecrow as a destination where anyone can access infinite multitudes of human stories at their fingertips. As a place where memories are made, where first dates can morph into something much more, where childlike wonder remains tangible to the young and the young-at-heart, and where—no matter who you are—you can truly find an authentic representation of yourself on-screen.

GiveBIG

Our GiveBIG goal this year is to raise $8,888 in honor of Scarecrow’s founding in 1988.

Make your gift today to sustain our legendary physical-media archive and empower our efforts to preserve and make accessible the world’s diverse cinematic cultural heritages!

Every gift, no matter the size, truly makes a difference. Whether or not you can give, please consider amplifying our message by sharing this page with your friends, family and colleagues!

Your support creates a sustainable future for Scarecrow and protects this irreplaceable artistic and cultural archive for future generations!