Jon, I'm in the same boat, and was impressed by how clear the (color!) footage is. None of the newsreels I've seen were that crisp. Heh--nor did any start with the title card, "Aquaboy Johnny Weismuller," who you'll see at the top of the second clip.
About the only thing I've seen that felt close (even though it obviously wasn't) was the architectural drawing for the Perisphere and Trylon that was sitting unannounced in a back corner of the Museum of Design in Manhattan, and was definitely the highlight of that trip.
I hope it's changed in the years since I've been there, but across from the "real" museums (The American Museum of Natural History, for example, which is always a treat), the Museum of Design was sort of like walking through someone's badly-decorated apartment. Rather than more neat architectural stuff, they had exhibits of, well, tacky wallpaper swatches and silverware that had insects sculpted on the handles. There was also an empty room that may or may not have been something we were supposed to see.
"Let's skip the Egyptology stuff and dinosaurs, kids, and look at pewter bugs on spoons!" That's how school districts decide to defund the art programs, I guess.
