I've passed this on to the Ruffle team, thanks! They are working on improving support for external videos, which was added only a few months ago.
For what it's worth, the videos are still there (e.g. https://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/flash/Gallery7Responses2.fl... you can see these URLs getting requested in your browser's Network inspector) and can be readily played offline with e.g. VLC, ffplay, etc., and could be converted to a more modernly playable format just as well.
Re:Ruffle: Flash Player Emulator
by amjoshuamichael on Monday October 23, 2023 @10:52AM
(#37986466)
Ah, good idea! For those who are curious, here is the completed set of links.
https://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/flash/Gallery2Responses2.fl... https://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/flash/Gallery7Responses2.fl... https://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/flash/Gallery9Responses2.fl...
The videos are densely packed with great insight from many different points of view. I'm very happy I was able to watch them.
The only thing I've seen it fail with is the [video galleries]https://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/gallery_2_responses.htm) on the same exhibit site. They're supposed to be video clips that people took in dedicated booths after going through the exhibit. I've read about the exhibit extensively and it seems like these videos were a really good insight into the way the New York public viewed slavery at the time: "They have the awkwardness of amateur home videos: background noise, long silences, people looking away from the camera." (taken from The Anger and Shock of a City's Slave Past, New York Times) It's supposed to be a subset of some 400 videos, but I can't get Ruffle to work on these pages specifically. I've had a couple flashes of audio come out of the tab while trying to view one, so I know that something is going on, but I've never been able to watch any of the videos. Does anyone with more knowledge than me know what's going on here? I'd hate to see all that disappear.