V&A to add first ever YouTube video to collection

Museum has acquired ‘Me at the zoo’, the first clip uploaded to YouTube, as well as a reconstructed version of the early web page

The Victoria and Albert museum is set to add the first ever YouTube video to its collection in a landmark move for the museum.

While more than five billion videos have been posted on the content sharing platform since it first launched more than 20 years ago, the video obtained by the London institution comes with a lot of history.

The display will feature the first ever video uploaded to YouTube by co-founder Jawed Karim on 21 April 2005. Titled “Me at the zoo,” the 19-second clip will be available to visitors to the museum from Wednesday (18 February).

It was purchased along with a reconstructed early version of the YouTube web page taken from 8 December 2006, which marks the oldest timestamp documented online. The team have spent 18 months rebuilding to recreate the design and experience of early YouTube’s earliest days.

Corinna Gardner, a senior curator of design and digital at the V&A, said that “this snapshot of YouTube during the early days of web 2.0 marks an important moment in the history of the internet and digital design”.

“The acquisition opens new storytelling opportunities for us to showcase and explore the ways in which the internet has shaped our world, from the birth of mainstream video sharing platforms through to today’s hyper visual world and the media and creator economy that go with it.”

The YouTube homepage as displayed on a computer screen in October 2006 (PA)

While YouTube has undergone many design changes over the last two decades – with the launch of TikTok-style vertical videos called YouTube Shorts in 2024 being a major recent move – early core features like the uploading and sharing of and engaging with videos have remained the same.

Filmed on a digital camera, the uploading of Karim’s video marked a key turning point in user-generated content and reshaped how media could be created and consumed. It has been viewed nearly 380 million times and liked over 18 million.

Jawed Karim's Me at the Zoo, which has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum (Victoria & Albert museum/PA Wire)

The V&A – which opened in 1852 – said that the video represented a “a seminal moment in the history of the internet” that serves as a “digital time capsule” of the early web.

Speaking about the addition to the V&A’s collection, YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan said: “By reconstructing the original 2005 watchpage, we aren’t just showing a video; we are inviting the public to step back in time to the beginning of a global, cultural phenomenon.

“It is a proud moment to see this piece of digital history housed in the V&A where we hope it will inspire generations to come.”

Additional reporting by Agencies.