Collections
CFA's collections contain professional and amateur films of all genres, including documentaries, experimental films, and home movies, depicting histories of Chicago, the Midwest and the world. Our online catalog contains thousands of digitized items from our collections along with descriptive catalog records.
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The Dan Andries Collection is a collection of 16mm and 8mm films, some of which were produced by Fred Niemann Productions and sponsored by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
Dan Andries found this collection of mid-20th century films outside of the radio station WFMT, the likely previous home of these films. Alongside these films were labels and shot lists suggesting the films’ content as prohibition melodrama, various depictions of urban life, shoreline vistas, and even some footage shot outside Illinois: Florida, California, Alaska.
Dan Andries found this collection of mid-20th century films outside of the radio station WFMT, the likely previous home of these films. Alongside these films were labels and shot lists suggesting the films’ content as prohibition melodrama, various depictions of urban life, shoreline vistas, and even some footage shot outside Illinois: Florida, California, Alaska.
1925 – 1963
Though the Anti-Cruelty Society's film collection used to be more vast, the nine items in this collection are all that remains. This collection contains a cross between professionally produced educational shorts, as well as amateur film footage. The films feature imagery of petting zoos, animals getting check-ups at a Society clinic, animal training instructions, and the Anti-Cruelty Society's building on Grand Avenue circa 1940.
circa 1926 – 1985
This collection of home movies documents the lives of the Armstrong family, who lived and worked in Chicago during the 1920s - 40s, then moved to the suburbs in the post-war era. The films depict family vacations to Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin, alongside a few amateur horror films made by the younger generations during the 1980s.
1933 – 1979
A collection of 4 16mm films documenting the history of social movements from the Great Depression onwards, while also providing a vivid glimpse of life in Chicago during the 1930s through the late 1970s.
1942 – 1987
The entire Baker collection was shot by commercial artist Jack Baker on 8mm film between the 1940s and 80s, with the exception of one 16mm film of unknown origin. The collection consists of in-house industrial films Jack made for work and home movie footage he took of his wife and two kids. The films he made on the job consist of downtown Chicago scenes, an American Can Company plant and trips to Milwaukee, New Orleans, and New York City. The home movies include suburban construction, numerous children's birthday parties, a few Christmas celebrations, an adult Halloween party, a Cubs game and trips to the Indiana dunes and Wisconsin's Lake Geneva.
circa 1965 – 1977
This collection of films was made by filmmaker DeWitt Beall in Chicago during the 1960s. A large portion of the collection consists of elements and prints related to LORD THING, a film about a Chicago-based gang named the Conservative Vice Lords. The film was never released, but won an award at the Venice Film Festival in 1971. Various other educational films, documentaries and PSAs are in this collection, including the EARTHKEEPING series which aired on PBS in the early 1970s.
1932 – 2001
This collection of films was compiled by Jack Behrend who owned a camera equipment rental house and worked as a professional industrial filmmaker from the 1950s until the 1990s. Included in this collection are 13 reels of raw footage from an unfinished documentary of historical inns of America and time lapse footage of Grant Park, the Equitable Building and Lake Point Tower as they were being constructed. The collection includes industrial films about steel foundries, the making of railroad wheels and a film about the teachers' strike at Niles North in the 1970s. Also within this collection are films made by Gordon Weisenborn, a Chicago filmmaker who gave his films to Jack Behrend before his death. Behrend has donated the prints and rights of his films and those of Gordon Weisenborn to CFA. He has also donated 52 prints made by the National Film Board of Canada.
1970 – 1975
James Benoit is a Chicago-based filmmaker and producer who has been active in the industry for more than four decades. He worked for many years with Joe Sedelmaier, a recognized director of television commercials, and has also served as a CFA board member in the past.
1903 – 1904
This collection contains the preserved and restored archival materials from 7 original 35mm nitrate reels, which contain 8 distinct rolls or "views" of THE PICTORIAL STORY OF HIAWATHA, a live pageant performed in Desbarats, Ontario by the Garden River Ojibway community in 1902 - 1903. Katharine and Charles Bowden filmed this pageant so they could screen the moving images as part of their Chautauqua Lecture Circuit presentation of the same name. The reels were discovered in the Valparaiso University Special Collections Library by Judith Miller. Clearly there are reels of the pageant that are missing.
1931 – 1967
This collection of home movies was shot by Chicagoan Frank "Burt" Bryant and document his wife (Anne Geraldine McCabe Bryant), mother (Hilda Jernberg Bryant), children (Peter, Ricard, David and Judith) and their family travels. The Bryant family lived primarily in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, at 1726 W. Jarvis Avenue. All four of the Bryant children attended St. Jerome's Grammar School. The boys attended Loyola Academy for high school, while Judy attended St. Scholastica Academy. These family films include scenes of Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, as well as footage of the family's annual summer trip to Eagle Lake, Wisconsin, where the McCabe family owned a cottage.
1922
This collection contains one 35mm home movie shot by Margaret Converse Butler in Evanston, IL during the early 1920s.
after 2000
This collection contains items created by or in collaboration with Chicago Film Archives in connection with its programs, including recorded oral histories with individuals related to CFA collections and original video works created by pairings of artists as part of CFA's annual Media Mixer event.
The Chicago Public Library film collection is Chicago Film Archives' (CFA) founding collection. CFA formed in order to care for this collection of about 5,000 16mm films that the library no longer could keep. The collection contains a broad sweep of genres. A large number of films are educational and travel films, but there are also silent films, foreign and American-made theatrical films, documentaries, industrials, newsreels, sports events and children's films. Together these films comprise a rich snapshot of an educational and cultural pathway the City of Chicago built for its citizens during the mid twentieth century.
1930 – 1989
The John T. and Jane D. Clark collection consists of home movies primarily shot by John T. Clark and his father, Herbert Clark, from 1930 - 1989. The films are of three generations of a Chicago Irish family in Oak Park & River Forest, Illinois and the Western shores of Michigan. They capture holiday gatherings, family reunions, the Lake Michigan shoreline, religious rituals, and social events as well as annual vacations to watering holes in Wisconsin and Michigan, especially Long Beach, IN; New Buffalo, MI; Palisades Park & South Haven, MI.
1902 – 2007
The Margaret Conneely Collection contains the films and papers of Margaret Conneely, a prolific and respected Chicago amateur filmmaker. The collection includes medical films she made as a cinematographer for Loyola University, story films she made with other local hobbyists and professional filmmakers, films made by other amateur filmmakers, such as Carl Frazier and Nora Rafferty, and commercial films that she collected. Four of her films have been preserved by the National Film Preservation Foundation and the New York Women in Film & Television sponsored Women's Film Preservation Fund. The papers include a wealth of correspondence between Conneely and other amateur filmmakers, documents and publications from amateur film and photography associations, as well as photographs of Conneely and other filmmakers.
1963 – 1975
The Camille Cook Collection consists of outtakes, work prints, original negatives, collected films, home movies, and edited diary films of the experimental and personal work of Camille Cook, filmmaker and founder of The Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (now The Gene Siskel Film Center). The films depict various aspects of Cook’s life in Chicago throughout the mid 1960s, ranging from images of city street life to moments with her friends and family in Western Springs, IL, as well as her experiments in structural filmmaking.
1927 – 1966
This 16mm home movie collection documents the Cring family of St. Louis, Missouri. Highlights of the collection include its railroad footage, Brentwood High School football games, an entertaining teenage dance party and a rare glimpse of Charles Lindbergh at a Mexican bull fight. This collection is sponsored by Susan Hayes.
1929 – 1984
The John Dame Collection consists of 16mm and 8mm home movies shot by multiple generations of an Illinois family. Most of the home movies document life in the western Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Illinois, including community parades, graduations, weddings and high school football games. The collection also contains extensive footage of global travel, sailing, and kayaking.
circa 1935 – 1975
The Robert & Theresa Davis collection primarily consists of travelogue films created by the Illinois-based husband and wife duo Robert & Theresa Davis. Places that are filmed include: Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, Tunisia, Sicily and Yugoslavia. The collection also contains a few amateur short films and musical productions as well as a handful of educational films. Additionally, the collection contains extensive papers and ephemera, including scrapbooks, photos, maps and diaries that describe the Davis' career as filmmakers, lecturers and tour guides.
1932 – 1970
The Russ and Sylvia Davis Collection contains 16mm film prints and elements produced by the couple's production company, IWF Inc. The majority are from a syndicated wrestling television show from the 1950s that included wrestlers such as Verne Gagne, Gorgeous George, and Lou Thesz. Russ was a pioneering TV personality in the Chicago broadcast area at WBKB-TV. Sylvia worked as president of their company and a producer on a number of Russ' shows.
circa 1943 – 1956
The Raymond and Jane Dean Collection consists of films made and collected by the Dean family of Rockford, IL. The films depict the family at leisure at home and on their farm, including hiking, golfing at the Sinnissippi Golf Course, and celebrating Christmas, Easter, and other holidays. Trips to nearby towns and locations include Belvidere, Edgebrook, Beloit (WI), Lake Geneva, and Auburn (IN), and at least one film depicts a 1943 game of the Rockford Peaches women's baseball team. Included with the collection is a spiral-bound notebook that describes some of the home movie reels in detail.
1977 – 1997
The Dan Dinello Collection consists of 16mm prints and DVDs of films directed by Chicago-based experimental filmmaker Dan Dinello. The films were all independently produced, financed through a mixture of grants, personal funds, and money raised by the filmmaker's friends and supporters. The collection includes fictional narrative and experimental films made between 1977 and 1997.
Many of the films were created in collaboration with artists in Chicago, and focus on telling the stories of society's outliers. While the works are concerned with expressing socio-political issues, they also share a dark sense of humor. Included in the collection are the films Shock Asylum (1996), Wheels of Fury (1997), and Rock Lobster (1980).
Many of the films were created in collaboration with artists in Chicago, and focus on telling the stories of society's outliers. While the works are concerned with expressing socio-political issues, they also share a dark sense of humor. Included in the collection are the films Shock Asylum (1996), Wheels of Fury (1997), and Rock Lobster (1980).
1988 – 1990
The Susan Dobinsky Collection consists of outtakes and elements from an unfinished film made about murals in Chicago shot during 1988-1991. The footage captures murals in the neighborhoods of Pilsen, Little Village, West Town, and Humboldt Park during this time; accompanying audio tapes feature interviews with local artists. The unfinished film was spearheaded by Dobinsky and Julia Kurtz and funded primarily through a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and supported by filmmakers Ronn Bayly and Susan Regele's then Chicago-based company Lightbound, which was active from 1980-1990.
1965 – 1973
The Robert R. Dockum collection contains the home movies of Robert ("Bob") Dockum (b. 1938), a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. The movies in this collection were made between 1965 and 1973 on 50-foot rolls of Super 8mm film. They include scenes of Bob's homecoming from the Vietnam War in 1968, family camping trips in Wisconsin, pony and tractor rides at Dockum's parents' farmhouse in Ohio, and the Butler County Fair. The individuals that appear in these films include Dockum; his first wife, Joanne; his parents and extended family members; and his children, Todd, J.R. and Leah.
1937 – 1978
The Ron Doerring Collection contains numerous award-winning amateur films made in the Midwest by members of the Society of Amateur Cinematographers. The majority of the films in the collection were made by John and Evelyn Kibar, a husband and wife filmmaking team from Racine, Wisconsin. The Kibar’s films include travelogues, documents of historical reenactments, and polished, often humorous, amateur shorts. The collection also contains amateur works by other members of the Society of American Cinematographers including Billy Meers, Will Marshall, George Ives, Sidney Moritz and two experimental films by Sol Falon.
1933 – 1961
The David Drazin Collection contains both commercial prints that were created for the home market and home movies that were made at the Holy Family Academy school in Chicago between 1939 and 1946. The commercial films include educational films, a Dick Tracy cartoon, and Charlie Chaplin’s 1916 short “Behind the Screen.” The Holy Family Academy was an all-girls Catholic school on Chicago’s north side, and the home movies document nuns and young girls playing outside and on various outings in and around Chicago, as well as seasonal dance recitals.
1967 – 1990
The JoAnn Elam collection primarily consists of films made by independent filmmaker JoAnn Elam. Elam primarily shot on 8mm film, although she did work extensively with 16mm, Super-8mm film and early video. A number of 8mm films have been printed to Super-8mm stock, and films like Rape (1975) and the unfinished Everyday People employed multiple formats (16mm, video, and 8mm). This collection also contains several historically important medical films made by James O. Elam, M.D., JoAnn Elam's father, which document his development of the "rescue breathing" technique and numerous other advances in clinical anesthesiology and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Additionally, there are at least two titles by experimental filmmakers and artists Dan Perz and Ruth Klasses. This collection is sponsored by Susan Elam, Kenneth Belcher and Sandy Ihm.
1966 – 1969
The Film Group was a Chicago commercial film production company that made television commericials and political documentaries in the late 1960s/early 1970s. This collection includes original prints and preservation elements of their political documentaries on the 1968 Democratic National Convention including AMERICAN REVOLUTION II and the educational series URBAN CRISIS AND THE NEW MILITANTS. Filmmakers associated with the Film Group include Mike Gray, William Cottle, Howard Alk, Mike Shea, and Chuck Olin.
1929 – 1953
The Richard J. Finnegan collection is a series of home movies, travelogues and amateur shorts shot by Chicago Sun-Times editor Richard J. Finnegan between 1929 and 1953. Many of the films in this collection creatively meld narrative inter-titles with non-fiction footage, and employ cinematic conventions such as slow motion and narrative-style editing. Subject matter spans trips to Yellowstone, Eureka, Bermuda and various parts of Northern and Southern California, personal films of notable events such as the 1929 Olympics in Los Angeles, and "classic" home movie family films of vacations, holidays and events, including birthday parties, baptisms, a wedding, Christmas and Halloween celebrations.
1966 – 1977
The Robert Flaxman Collection consists of 16mm film prints and elements made or worked on by Chicago-based filmmaker Robert Flaxman in the 1960s and 1970s. The films include theatrical short subjects such as CLEO (1966), featuring an enterprising young shoe-shiner, and THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO RALPH WILLIAMS (1969) about the 1968 Chicago Auto Show; a segment of an unfinished feature film starring the cast of Second City ("PTA MEETING"); commercials for products like Yellow Pages phone books and new ATM banking technology; three educational films produced by Coronet Films, including the award-winning BOYHOOD OF GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (1973); and industrial films.
1962 – 1964
The Robert Ford Collection consists of four short films made by Robert Ford while he was living in Chicago in the 1960s. Ford was a student at Northwestern University, and the collection includes a film made while he was a graduate student, “The High Up Doll,” a whimsical look at childhood desire that includes both live-action and collage animation techniques. Ford’s three subsequent films were produced with the assistance of Northwestern University and examine subjects including the Chicago Vice Lords street gang in “The Corner,” the rehabilitation of individuals with physical disabilities in “The Way Back,” and homing pigeon racing in "The Homing Pigeon."
1970s
The Robert Frerck Collection consists of elements and different release prints of two documentaries created by Chicago-based filmmaker and photographer Robert Frerck: "Stella" documents the life of Ray Slupik, captain of the ship Stella and the last commercial fisherman in Chicago. "Al Andalus" (also titled Spain: The Moorish Influence) tells the history of the Moorish Culture of Spain, shooting on location in France, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Also included is stock footage and Kodalith artwork incorporated into the production of "Al Andalus."
1926
This black and white 16mm film depicts the leisure activities of an affluent family on Chicago's north side. Scenes include a grandiose building that is possibly the Edgewater Beach Hotel and a football game at University of Chicago.
1980
The Bernie Fry collection consists of a short claymation film shot on 16mm film as part of his senior Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis in 1980. It illustrates his views on how political and religious differences separate peoples into tribes who build walls to divide themselves from each other.
1964 – 1965
Home Movies shot by Ellen Galt and Ann Calfee Alden featuring pop and rock concerts in St. Louis and Chicago as well as footage from Ann and Ellen's train ride from St. Louis to Chicago to see the Beatles in August of 1965. The majority of the collection consists of music performances filmed off the television.
1936 – 1940
The Benjamin Gasul Collection includes 5 reels of 16mm home movies shot by a well-respected Chicago area pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin M. Gasul. The films date from 1936 to 1940 and include footage of Brookfield Zoo and trips to Mackinac Island, Niagara Falls, Cuba, Miami, New Orleans and the 1939 New York World's Fair.
1934 – 1978
The Glick-Berolzheimer Collection contains home movies by Diane Berolzheimer's father Jacob Glick from the mid 1930s through the early 1960s. It also includes home movies made by Diane and her husband Karl Berolzheimer from the mid 1950s through the mid 1970s. The home movies in this collection depict the leisure activities of the larger Glick/Berolzheimer family, rituals of Jewish life, and numerous fishing trips by Mr. Glick.
1951 – 1978
A collection of home movies documenting the Godman family of Chicago and Evanston, Illinois. The patriarch of the family, Carl Lawrence Godman, shot the majority of the collection. The films primarily feature his wife, Fay F. Godman, and their three sons, David, Andrew, and James. Collection highlights include a 1968 Chicago River boat tour, a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo as well as home movies Carl shot while serving in the Korean War.
circa 1964 – 1971
About 80 reels of 16mm film and related materials, including films made, produced, or otherwise associated with Marv and Sue Gold. Both filmmakers, they were involved with Chicago's Center Cinema Co-op during the 1970s. Marv taught film production at Columbia College Chicago and also worked on commercial and educational films, including for Kling Productions and Coronet Films.
1942 – 1980
Morton & Millie Goldsholl ran Goldsholl Design & Film Associates, one of Chicago’s leading graphic design studios in the 1950s through 1970s. The studio became recognized for their animations, progressive hiring practices and developing corporate branding packages for various companies. Their collection, donated to CFA in 2006 and 2010, contains commercials and industrial films that Goldsholl Associates made for their clients, experimental films and animations made by both Morton and Millie, unedited travel films shot by Morton and Millie and films (primarily animated) that the two collected over the years.
1931 – 1964
The David Gray Collection contains home movies shot by Uriel Hadley of St. Louis, Missouri. Highlights include footage shot at the Chicago World’s Fair (A Century of Progress International Exhibition) in 1933-34, the St. Louis Botanical Gardens and holiday celebrations with the family. Hadley worked for Eastman Kodak and he often shot these home movies on or with the latest technology being developed by the company.
1936 – 1941
The Charles Grimm collection contains one collected 16mm film depicting the goings-on of a orthopedic brace company in Chicago in the late 1930s.
The William Franklin Grisham Collection consists of release prints and outtakes of two major films Grisham directed about Chicago film studios in the 1970s: The Very Last Laugh, which documented the history of Ebony Studios; and A Beautiful Lady, a documentary exploring the career of actress Beverly Bayne and the landmark Essanay Studios. In addition, the collection includes 16mm prints of the all known existing works produced by Ebony Studios in the early 1900s (the original 35mm nitrate prints are believed to have disintegrated long ago). There are also numerous commercial films which Grisham either directed or provided copywriting for during his long career as an advertising executive - which ran parallel to his professional life as a film historian and documentarian.
Alongside this, the collection consists of audio tapes capturing interviews with Luther J. Pollard, producer (and possibly the sole founder) of Ebony Studios, as well as Charles David who worked as his cameraman, and other notable figures who were instrumental in the shaping of Chicago's early film history. There are also several boxes of paper and ephemera relating to Grisham's work on both of his documentary films, as well as the extensive history conducted on the history of Essanay Studios.
Alongside this, the collection consists of audio tapes capturing interviews with Luther J. Pollard, producer (and possibly the sole founder) of Ebony Studios, as well as Charles David who worked as his cameraman, and other notable figures who were instrumental in the shaping of Chicago's early film history. There are also several boxes of paper and ephemera relating to Grisham's work on both of his documentary films, as well as the extensive history conducted on the history of Essanay Studios.
1938 – 2001
The Julian Gromer Collection includes 15 travelogues and related papers by filmmaker Julian Gromer. The films depict his travels to Cuba, Nigeria, around Lake Michigan, Hawaii two months before Pearl Harbor, Canada, up the Amazon and Hudson rivers, and three films of cross-country cycling. Gromer was represented by the Redpath Bureau and co-owned Ralph Windoes Travelogues, Inc. His work is representative of post-World War II travelogue lectures that were exhibited in a variety of non-theatrical venues.
1961 – 1992
The Byron Grush Collection contains experimental and animation films made by Chicago filmmaker and animator, Byron Grush. Byron has ties to numerous local universities and organizations including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Academy of Fine Art, Goldsholl Design Associates, and Center Cinema Coop. This collection’s experimental films consist of hand drawn animated works and abstract short films, made primarily between the years 1961 and 1976. Films by other local filmmakers and artists are included in this collection. Also found in this collection are: an original drawing from Byron's film Why We Fight, a signed copy of The Shoestring Animator, newspaper clippings of Byron’s work, and other ephemera.
circa 1938 – 1973
These films contain folksingers performing at the Earl of Old Town in Chicago. It has been speculated that Ed Holstein is one of the singers.
1972 – 1979
The Bob Heiber Collection is made up of student films, 16mm industrial films and 35mm filmstrips produced at Pilot Productions in Evanston, Illinois from 1976 until 1979. For all of the films in the collection, Bob was the film editor and sound mixer. In the later films he was also the director. These films are representative of the kinds of corporate sponsored films made to demonstrate new products or techniques. With the introduction of video technologies at the end of the 1970s much of this work was taken “in-house” to corporate communication departments and 16mm film production for corporate films rapidly declined.
In the Bob Heiber Collection, locations range from constructions sites all around the United States as well as scenes filmed around the Chicagoland area.
In the Bob Heiber Collection, locations range from constructions sites all around the United States as well as scenes filmed around the Chicagoland area.
1924 – 2004
The Heidkamp Family Collection consists primarily of home movies shot by Herbert A. Heidkamp, a Chicago optometrist and realtor. The 16mm films were shot between ca. 1924 - 1956 and depict the life of the Heidkamp family in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. Events recorded include First Communions, May Day celebrations, and various weddings - almost all at Queen of Angels church on Sunnyside Ave. Heidkamp also filmed historic events in the city, including the 1928 Graf Zeppelin flyover from Grant Park and a 1939 Armistice Day parade, as well as footage of notable Chicago landmarks (Wrigley Building, Field Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory, etc.) over the decades.
The collection also contains a handful of collected commercial films (mostly German cartoons), home movies shot by Herbert's brother George, and 8mm and Super 8 home movies from the next generation of Heidkamps.
The collection also contains a handful of collected commercial films (mostly German cartoons), home movies shot by Herbert's brother George, and 8mm and Super 8 home movies from the next generation of Heidkamps.
1962 – 1976
This collection includes ethnographic films produced or shot by the pioneering visual anthropologist, Paul Hockings. It covers films shot by Hockings as part of his reasearch on the Badaga people in the Nilgiris Hills in India; THE VILLAGE shot in western Ireland, on which Hockings was the consulting anthropologist; and work created under his mentorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago including Susan Stechnij's examination of a Mexican immigrant family, MI RAZA: PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY.
circa 1939 – 1983
The Cynthia Holmberg Collection consists of 16mm home movies shot primarily by Henry Brooks, Cynthia’s father, and 8mm home movies shot by Cynthia’s husband Ron Holmberg. Ranging from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, the 16mm films document Cynthia’s childhood and the life of a middle class family living in Chicago. The 8mm home movies document Ron and Cynthia Holmberg’s family and life in the suburbs of Chicago in the 1970s and early 80s. They include various locations around Chicago as well as family trips to Wisconsin, various U.S. National Parks, and Florida.
circa 1950 – 1989
This collection contains amateur travelogue films and audio reels made by J. Gerald Hooper. Hooper was a member of a local amatuer film club, whose name and location have yet to be identified.
1967 – 1971
The Mary Heftel Hooton collection includes Super 8mm home movies of vacations she and her husband, William Heftel, took from 1967-1973. The films document trips to Japan, Hawaii, Norway, Antartica, Australia, and the Bahamas. Hooton was a lawyer and Illinois judge. Heftel was a Chicago area realtor.
1935 – 1946
A home movie collection that documents the Homer Henselt Howard family of Skokie and Glenview, Illinois. Included in the collection are suburban residential scenes shot in Skokie, Illinois, a glimpse inside a Kingsley Stamping Machine factory as well as trips to Los Angeles and Wisconsin's Lake Geneva.
This collection of films contains prints and elements of industrial films made by the International Minerals & Chemical Corporation (IMC Global). Formerly headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, International Minerals & Chemical Corp was a mining and production company that was once among the world's leading producers of phosphate and fertilizer. The company was originally founded in 1909 as International Agricultural Corporation. In 2004, IMC Global merged with Cargill, Inc.'s crop nutrition division to form The Mosaic Company, a crop nutrition company.
1932 – 1968
The Ferd Isserman collection consists of 16mm home movies shot primarily in Chicago from the early 1930s through the late 1960s. Documenting leisure time, trips and holidays, highlights from the collection include family visits to the Chicago World’s Fair (A Century of Progress International Exposition) in 1933-34; a legion marching band and USO dedication in Chicago during WWII; the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1932; the 20th Miss America pageant held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ in 1946; a trip to San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1946-47; and Thanksgiving celebrations in the 1930s, 1940s and 1968.
1960 – 1999
The Larry Janiak Collection contains experimental films and documentaries made by Chicago filmmaker, animator, and designer, Larry Janiak. The experimental films in the collection consist of direct animated works (DL1, DL2) and a handful of abstract short films, or "sketches," made by Janiak between the years 1960 and 1970. Also included in the collection are three documentary works. Two of these documentaries depict structures and ceremonies of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago (Hale House, Vedanta Temple Dedication Ceremony), while the third documents Janiak's time as an animation instructor at the Institute of Design (Animation Film Making: A Teaching Method at the Institute of Design in Chicago 1968 to 1980). The collection also contains two boxes of books, personal papers and various ephemera, including two Chicago International Film Festival Hugo awards, various books on underground film & animation, graphic design samples by Janiak and three Center Cinema Co-op distribution catalogs designed by Janiak.
1963 – 1974
Completed films and footage shot by painter and filmmaker Richard Jeske. The films were made during Jeske's time living in Chicago.
circa 1940 – 1959
The Marion and Maurice Kaplan Collection contains home movies shot and compiled by Maurice Kaplan of Chicago, Illinois. Maurice shot 16mm films from the 1940s through 1950s. The collection depicts his travels to Hawaii, as member of the U.S. Army in World War II, and family weddings, other celebrations, and vacations at Glen, Michigan; Lincoln Park Zoo; Union Pier; and Lakeside.
circa 1929
The Kautzer Collection is a pair of nitrate 35mm reels. Circa 1929, the two films are newsreels from the Chicago Daily News depicting parades, celebrations and noteworthy instances in and around Chicago from the time, e.g. the crowning of Miss Illinois, the celebrating of new fawn at the Lincoln Park Zoo, the commemorating of Veterans from three different wars in a Veterans’ March, and a fatal car accident at 91st and Buffalo St.
1939 – 1944
The Mayor Edward J. Kelly Collection consists of films collected by former Mayor of Chicago Edward J. Kelly (1933-1947) and found in his home in Eagle River, WI, after his death. Included within the films are fragments of newsreels depicting the construction of the State Street subway tunnel in 1939, the re-election of Kelly as mayor in 1939, the opening of a WWII service men's center in Chicago in 1942, and the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Thomas E. Dewey in 1944. The collection also includes a short campaign advertisement for Kelly's re-election in 1939.
1945 – 1979
The Kinnally collection consists of 16 reels of silent and sound super 8mm and silent 8mm films made and distributed by Chicago filmmaker Tim Kinally. They depict various air shows and re-enactments involving vintage planes and bombers. Included in the collection is a film called Liberators Over Europe: The Crossing of the Rhine March 24, 1945, which appears to be a re-enactment of a wartime crossing of the 44th Bomb Group of the 2nd Air Division of the 8th Airforce and their B-24 Bombers. These air shows take place throughout the United States. Also included in this collection are a number of promotional pamplets and flyers for Timkin Films, located in Tinley Park, and founded by Tim Kinally.
1972 – 1987
The Chuck Kleinhans collection consists of home movies and experimental films by film scholar Charles "Chuck" Kleinhans. His Super 8 films depict a sensitivity to daily life, gender, and leftist politics, and frequently showcase his sense of humor. Highlights include a documentary about the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, tongue-in-cheek critiques of American masculinity, and diary films of everyday life with partner Julia Lesage and friends in Logan Square.
1964 – 1986
In 2008, three experimental films made by Chicago-based filmmaker Don Klugman were preserved with the support of the National Film Preservation Foundation in 2008. NIGHTSONG is a portrait of the Chicago Near-North nightlife scene in the mid-1960s, centering on the struggles and romantic desires of an African American singer played by long-forgotten folk sensation, Willie Wright. I'VE GOT THIS PROBLEM traces the romantic relationship between a young man and woman (played by Klugman and Judy Harris) who meet in a downtown coffee shop. Their nonstop dialogue fluctuates between playful psycho-babble and sincere attempts to relay their innermost feelings. YOU'RE PUTTING ME ON seems to pick up the same couple (again played by Klugman and Harris) a few years later, as they attend a swinging bohemian party where they pilfer personal objects from the unsuspecting guests. The archival materials created from these three Klugman films comprise the Don Klugman Collection.
1969 – 1981
Bob Koester, founder and owner of Delmark Records (http://www.delmark.com/), also owns and operates the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago. In 2006, he donated this collection of 16mm Northwestern University football films (1969-1981) to CFA. The films are not entire games, but rather highlights of games and individual players. A long-time film enthusiast himself, Bob Koester acquired these films from a camera collector years ago.
1935 – 1989
The Frank Koza Collection primarily consists of news footage Koza shot from the mid-1930s through the late 1980s. Based in Chicago, Koza worked as a cameraman for Telenews, Inc. and WLS-TV, for which he filmed local, national and international events. The materials include distributed newsreels, unreleased stories, production elements, and outtakes. The collection also contains home movies and other personal films Koza shot and collected.
1916 – 1970
The Charles E. Krosse Collection contains films produced and/or distributed by a Peoria film production company, C.L. Venard Productions, a company that became known for its educational films dealing with agricultural subject matter. It was donated to CFA by Charles E. Krosse, who previously worked in the Marketing division at Caterpillar.
The collection contains both 16mm and 35mm films, a number of which may also be titles that Venard employees collected. Included in the collection are promotional and in-house training films made for Caterpillar, a fundraising film made for the city of Peoria, some soft-core erotic shorts, animated shorts, silent film comedies, and home movies.
The collection contains both 16mm and 35mm films, a number of which may also be titles that Venard employees collected. Included in the collection are promotional and in-house training films made for Caterpillar, a fundraising film made for the city of Peoria, some soft-core erotic shorts, animated shorts, silent film comedies, and home movies.
1965 – 1975
These 8mm home movies document the Kubicek family of Dearborn, Michigan from 1965 to the mid 1970s.
When donated to CFA, this collection was accompanied by detailed notes describing the people and places in the films. These notes are uncommonly personal, detailed and are very welcome as part of the collection. They provide a richness and context to the films and to the family seen in them. The films and paper documents in this collection will be invaluable as genealogical traces to coming generations of the Kubicek family.
When donated to CFA, this collection was accompanied by detailed notes describing the people and places in the films. These notes are uncommonly personal, detailed and are very welcome as part of the collection. They provide a richness and context to the films and to the family seen in them. The films and paper documents in this collection will be invaluable as genealogical traces to coming generations of the Kubicek family.
circa 1940 – 1979
The Marion Kudlick collection contains home movies and amateur travelogue films shot by amateur filmmaker Marion Kudlick, Sr. Highlights include films shot in Chicago, Poland, western Europe and Mexico during the 1960s, family vacations in Florida, and Boy Scout activities.
1965 – 1967
The six films in this collection represent the early work of documentary filmmaker and Hollywood cameraman Peter Kuttner. The films include a student film made at Northwestern University, two films he made with students at Dillard University in New Orleans as part of the War on Poverty in 1965, and three kinescopes of shows he made at Chicago's public television station WTTW.
1948 – 1962
This collection of home movies documents an unknown family at various Chicago neighborhood and downtown locations. The majority of the films document scenes shot at the outdoor pool and rooftop of the Lake Shore Club of Chicago, an 18-story luxury country club once located at 850 North Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago. Also of note are reels documenting the 1948-1949 Chicago Railroad Fair and the subsequent Chicago Fair of 1950, which both took place on Chicago's lakefront.
1919 – 1987
The LaRue Collection consists of films and film technology made and collected by two generations of Chicago-based motion picture engineers, Mervin W. LaRue Sr. and Jr. The elder LaRue filmed news subjects for Pathé in Canada before moving to Chicago to work for Bell & Howell and later establish a medical film business. His films include a mix of home movies from Toronto and Chicago, medical films depicting experiments in obstetrics and anesthesia, and Burton Holmes travelogues of Ethiopia, Bali, and Holland. A VHS copy of the film Those Roos Boys and Friends (1987), directed by Barbara Boyden, is included, featuring LaRue and his colleagues Charlie and Len Roos in Canada. The younger LaRue was also an engineer at Bell & Howell, as well as for Ampex in the 1960s. His films include home movies that show the family at home in then-unincorporated North Barrington, IL, celebrating birthdays and weddings, and traveling to Iowa and Colorado. Also included in the collection is a 16mm projector equipped with a lenticular lens to project Kodacolor.
1980 – 2010
The collection consists of home movies shot by Julia Lesage. All were captured on small gauge formats, and feature images of everyday life in Logan Square with partner Chuck Kleinhans as well as travel to Central and South America.
1935 – 1985
A collection of home movies shot by three generations of the Lieb and Hootnick families between 1936 and 1985. They are largely shot around Chicago, where both families lived, capturing family events and holidays as well as public events and locations such as the Chicago Railroad Fair in the late 1940s and the Great America amusement park in the early 1980s. Highlights include a rare sound home movie circa 1951 and several films shot by David's son Daniel.
circa 1950 – 1988
Chicago Film Archives acquired this collection from the Lincoln Middle School in Park Ridge, Illinois. The collection consists of educational films made for primary and secondary school-age children. Film producers and distributors in this collection include BFA Educational Media, Coronet Instructional Films and Encyclopedia Britannica Films. Film subjects range from grammar, science and history to social manners and world cultures. Selected highlights listed from the collection include films that tie into Chicago and the Midwest.
1970s
The Bob Link Collection consists primarily of 16mm work prints and camera originals of sailing footage from the 1970s, including sailing scenes near the shores and harbors of downtown Chicago and a sailing race aboard Ted Turner's American Eagle. The Bob Link Collection also includes 1 file folder titled "1977" filled with client correspondence, receipts, budget logs, audience testimonials and polaroid photographs.
1962 – 1984
The Harry Mantel Collection came to CFA via the University of Chicago and consists primarily of production elements (camera originals, outtakes and numerous magnetic & optical soundtracks) made by Chicago cameraman, producer, and journalist, Harry Mantel (1923-2007). The few distribution prints in the collection are part of a series titled "Harry Mantel's Vignettes," which were produced and directed by Mantel thanks to a grant from Encyclopedia Britannica. The series primarily includes brief portraits he constructed of the city of Chicago and its people as well as subjects and scenes shot in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ireland. Some of the many subjects Mantel explores in his Vignettes include a waitress at a former Marina City Towers restaurant, O'Hare air traffic controllers, the various manifestations of fire, Iowa square dancing, circus & zoo animals, leaves & trees, Irish culture and a suburban arts and crafts fair replete with many a macrame booth.
1944 – 1970
Home movies documenting the Italian-American Marino family of Chicago, Illinois. The films were shot by Joseph and Sadie Marino and contain footage of their children (John and Joanne) and themselves.
1928 – 1978
The Marks-Stix Collection consists of primarily of home movies shot by Arnold and Frances Marks between the 1920s and 1940s, and by their son-in-law Lawrence C. Stix from the 1930s to the '60s. The Marks films contain footage of the family home in Hyde Park (including daughters Muriel and Louise Marks pushing their pet goat around in a baby carriage in 1933), the Grand Hotel in Mackinac on the weekend before the market crashed in 1929, and family visits in Elgin. The Stix films feature sausage making in New York in the '30s, vacations to Europe, and Lawrence and Muriel's daughters growing up in Lincoln Park. Also contains two student films made by Paul Muth (Jennifer Stix's husband) in the 1970s.
1965 – 1984
Just under four hundred reels, this home movie collection includes over fifty-five reels of birthdays, fifty-four reels of Christmas, twenty-one reels of Easter holidays and nineteen reels of Fourth of July celebrations. The Maugans Collection spans from 1965-1984. It begins with a newly married Indiana couple (Connie and Judy Maugans) in a sparsely decorated mobile home and ends with their eldest daughter, Lisa Maugans, going off to prom. Almost all of the home movies were shot in Indiana, except for family vacations shot throughout the United States.
circa 1960 – 1993
The Judith McBrien Collection consists of a number of reels of commercial footage and out-takes that were presumably shot for a piece focusing on the legacy and influence of Polish immigrants in the Chicago area. Featuring interviews conducted in 1964 by Polish-American radio and television personality Sig Sakowicz with local Polish-Americans community leaders, these films were most likely shot as a part of a piece Sakowicz was working on for local television broadcast. Highlights include interviews with Polish-American athletes at Comiskey Park and firefighters at the newly constructed Chicago Fire Academy, footage of a young couple on the steps of a church after their wedding, interior shots of medical and dental offices and an industrial factory, and exterior shots of a single-family housing development on Chicago’s Northwest side.
circa 1940 – 1975
Home movies and short films shot or collected by Chicago artist and muralist Don McIlvaine.
1965 – 1998
The Franklin McMahon collection consists primarily of audio recordings of significant political and social events from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. These recordings include interviews, political speeches, and environmental audio captured on location at Democratic and Republican National Conventions in the 1960s and 70s. McMahon’s subjects include Richard and Pat Nixon, Walter Cronkite, Jane Fonda, Abby Hoffman, Studs Terkel, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy and Edmund Muskie. Capturing reflections on the major political events and socio-cultural issues of the time, including the Vietnam War and Women’s Liberation Movement, McMahon’s audio recordings provide a rich, acoustic record of a tumultuous period in American history. The collection also contains a few films, including one on the “Chicago Seven” conspiracy trial.
circa 1930 – 1988
These films were once part of Minnesota State's Memorial Library Collection. The collection includes shorts, features, and educational films whose subjects range from sexual behavior and drug experimentation to the history of dance and design.
circa 1953 – 1963
The Frank Miyamoto Collection consists of eight 8mm home movies taken by Frank Miyamoto and one collected 8mm film. Some of the films capture life with family in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, documenting how Japanese American families settled in Chicago post-WWII. Other films feature trips to visit family in California, travel to Springfield, Illinois and Canada, and various auto races in the Midwest.
1936 – 1997
The Morrison-Shearer collection is an extensive collection of dance films, most of which were shot by Helen Balfour Morrison. Sybil Shearer and Jerry Lev, a Shearer Company dancer, shot a small number of the films. Most films were shot in Northbrook, IL at Shearer’s dance studio and the surrounding environs that include the neighboring golf course, Green Acres Country Club. Some of the 8mm films were shot in New York City. The collection features solo performances by Sybil Shearer, Shearer with her dance company, interviews with Sybil Shearer and some rehearsal footage.
circa 1940 – 1960
The Peter A. Nikulin Collection mainly consists of prints and elements from Kling Studios, Inc., a Chicago-based advertising and film production company. The collection's strength is in mid-century television; it contains prints and elements from episodes of "TV Kitchen" (an early example of the cooking show genre), "The Adventures of Uncle Mistletoe" (a daily children's puppet show sponsored by Marshall Field), "Boxing from Rainbo," and "The Old American Barn Dance" (a televised version of the popular radio show). There are also a number of animated commercials for beer, ice cream, and ginger ale.
1926 – 1985
The Rod Nordberg Collection contains 16mm film prints and videotapes of documentary series and educational programs produced by Chicago’s public television station WTTW 11 and Rod Nordberg’s company Hollywood East in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. These include The Architecture of Chicago (1968-9), Metro!!! The School Without Walls (1970), Until I Die (1970) Earthkeeping (1972-3), and Making M*A*S*H (1981). The collection also features 16mm prints of student films from Columbia College, the Chicago Public High School for Metropolitan Studies (Metro), and University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (UICC), as well as 16mm Chicago home movies from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s collected by Nordberg.
This collection consists of "orphan" films and is named after William O'Farrell, a Canadian moving image archivist and champion of the neglected, lost film and regional archives in general.
1965 – 2001
The Chuck Olin Collection is comprised of films, videotapes and ephemera made by Chuck Olin from his work at two Chicago area film production companies from the mid-60s to the late 1990s: first with the Film Group/Mike Gray Associates and after 1974 with his own Chuck Olin Associates. Included are political documentaries made by the Film Group on the 1968 Democratic National Convention; television commercials for a variety of clients including Sears, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and politicians running for election; sponsored films for the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Medical Association, and Eli Lilly; educational films for Encyclopaedia Britannica; and a documentary by Olin on the Jewish Brigade in World War II.
circa 1942 – 1986
The John Nash Ott Collection spans decades of Ott’s prolific filmmaking hobby-turned-career, including episodes of his weekly 1950s television series How Does Your Garden Grow?, elements from his self-distributed educational films on a range of topics including the benefits of full-spectrum light, and Kodachrome time-lapse footage of flowers blooming that he brought with him for his lectures at garden clubs across the country.
1922 – 1999
This collection documents the dance legacy and artistic circle of choreographer, Ruth Page, named by the Dance Heritage Coalition as one of America’s 100 Irreplaceable Dance Treasures. As the largest collection of moving image materials related to Ruth Page, this is a worthy complement to the vast manuscript collection that resides at the Jerome Robins Dance Division of the New York Public Library and the Newberry Library in Chicago. The collection contains rehearsals and performances that date back to 1922 including footage of Rudolph Nureyev soon after his defection from the Soviet Union, Balinese dances filmed during Page’s 1928 Asian Tour, and performances of The Merry Widow on the Ed Sullivan Show. It also contains the original and master tapes of numerous interviews with dance critics such as Clive Barnes and John Martin, dancers such as Larry Long, Delores Lipinski, Anne Kisselgoff and Maria Tallchief, and a comprehensive series of interviews and oral histories with Page herself that date from 1957 through 1987. Among the dozens of Ruth Page ballets contained in this collection is an original 35mm nitrate print of Bolero danced in 1928 at Ravinia in Highland Park, IL. This collection is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
1970s
The Pat Pahr Collection contains home movies shot and compiled by Pat Pahr of Blue Island, Illinois, throughout the the latter 1970s. The Super 8 films primarily consist of various sports outings attended by Pahr: ranging from the Blackhawks to the White Sox at Comiskey Park. The collection also includes two more personal films, including a Christmas celebration.
1940 – 2001
The Tom Palazzolo Collection consists of experimental films and documentaries, their elements, and outtakes made by Chicago-based filmmaker Tom Palazzolo, once called "Chicago's filmmaker laureate" by critic Roger Ebert. Although the subjects of his films vary widely, they are all united in their humanist depiction of those living on the margins of society. Included in the collection are well-known works like Jerry's (1976), featuring the explosive owner of a deli in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood and At Maxwell Street (1984), about the city's storied Maxwell Street market, as well as lesser-known films like Pigeon Lady (1966), Palazzolo's first film, and Rita on the Ropes (2001), the most recent film in the collection.
1937 – 1979
Spanning 5 decades and a wide range of subjects and styles, the Rhodes Patterson Collection documents the rapidly developing city of Chicago during the mid-century and the fascinating life of Rhodes Patterson, a designer, cinematographer, photographer and writer. Patterson’s diverse subject matter and style reflect the interconnected communities of industrial and graphic design, commercial and industrial film production, fine art, and architecture in Chicago during this period. Whether made “just for fun,” as documentation, or for commercial purposes, Patterson’s films reflect his humor, interest in art and design, imagination and creativity.
The collection includes footage of Mae West from 1938; numerous films Patterson shot while stationed as a WWII reconnaissance photographer on the Island of Tinian; the construction of the Marina City Towers, Playboy building and various skyscrapers in Chicago; films made during the early development of the Aspen Institute; commercial footage shot while Patterson was working at the Container Corporation of America; documentation of the construction of the Playboy West complex and grotto; early Playboy footage and burlesque films; footage of Lincoln Park, Lake Michigan and people on the streets of Chicago; and various home movies, commercial projects, and amateur and personal films.
The collection includes footage of Mae West from 1938; numerous films Patterson shot while stationed as a WWII reconnaissance photographer on the Island of Tinian; the construction of the Marina City Towers, Playboy building and various skyscrapers in Chicago; films made during the early development of the Aspen Institute; commercial footage shot while Patterson was working at the Container Corporation of America; documentation of the construction of the Playboy West complex and grotto; early Playboy footage and burlesque films; footage of Lincoln Park, Lake Michigan and people on the streets of Chicago; and various home movies, commercial projects, and amateur and personal films.
1940 – 1986
The Perser Family Collection contains home movies shot by William Ballert and his son-in-law Donald Alan Perser between 1940 and 1992. Most of the footage was shot around the family homes in Chicago, Northbrook, and Delavan, WI, as well trips to visit family in Toronto and Florida. Some of the home movies have sound. The collection also contains elements for "A Step in Time Saves Nine," an industrial film made by Donald Perser for Avon Cosmetics.
1974 – 1978
Four short films made by Tony Phillips during his time teaching painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by filmmakers at SAIC, Phillips began experimenting with time-lapse and high-speed cameras and, from 1974 to 1978, created one Super-8mm and three 16mm films which explored aspects of time in ways he could not with his painting.
1973
The Steven Poster collection includes the 35mm film Another Saturday Night, a whimsical portrayal of a weekend night in 1970s Chicago. Also included in the collection are the title's elements.
1950 – 1962
The filmmaker and the family (or families) depicted in the Howard Prouty Collection are currently unknown. The films were purchased by Howard Prouty at a Los Angeles garage sale in the Carthay Circle Neighborhood (6101 Del Valle Dr.). The majority films were shot in the Midwest from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, and were developed at various camera shops in the northern suburb of Waukegan, Illinois. The collection includes footage of weddings, birthdays, various Michigan boat trips, and most notably, footage from the Korean war and the Chicago's Railroad Fair of 1948-1949.
1954 – 1963
The bulk of this 16mm & 8mm home movie collection was shot in Dayton, Ohio in the 1950s and 60s, and includes trips to Kentucky's Cumberland Lake and scenes from Put In Bay along the coast of Ohio's Lake Erie. Mr. and Mrs. Quilling also took a trip to Chicago in 1954 for a National Restaurant Association show and brought a camera along with them. They shot footage of Soldier Field and the Buckingham Fountain while driving down Lake Shore Drive, and even shot scenes of the Chicago skyline atop the Drake Hotel.
The Rainbow Productions Collection consists of unedited B-roll footage from three travel films made by filmmaker Dirk Wales, founder and president of Rainbow Productions. Formed in 1972, Rainbow Productions was a Chicago-based industrial production company that specialized in educational, documentary, medical and sponsored films. The footage in the Rainbow Productions Collection was shot by Wales in California, New Orleans, and New England, with the intention of creating a travel series on these regions, but the project was never completed.
1960 – 1984
The Regional Educational Media Center Association of Michigan (REMC) was founded in 1969, operating through the intermediate school district structure to provide various educational programs and services locally as well as collaborating on statewide programs. This collection consists of 16mm instructional and educational films produced by Coronet, McGraw-Hill, EBE Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation and multiple other production companies. These films span diverse subject matter including but not limited to health and safety, science, history, geography, social guidance and youth, and would have been available to teachers for classroom use.
1926 – 1928
The Roland Rives Collection consists of three films documenting Dartmouth College students on a Cunard Line European tour in the 1920s. These films feature scenes shot on the Cunard ocean liner, as well as various destinations in western Europe. The fourth film in the collection, “The Cunard Line Oceanews,” is a promotional film that showcases various features and attractions of the ocean liner, including dining, entertainment and sports facilities.
1934 – 1996
The Monica Ross Collection contains home movies and commercially produced films made between 1936 and 1996. These films were purchased at estate sales in Chicago between around 1999 and 2019. They are from and mostly represent the North Side and northern suburbs of Chicago.
1943 – 1962
16mm home movie collection shot by Greg Rouleau, a magician and radio man from Wisconsin.
1946 – 1982
The John and Marilyn Sanner collection contains 16mm, 8mm and Super 8mm amateur and home movie films. John and Marilyn Sanner were members of the Metro Movie Club, a local amateur filmmaking club (1940s-1980s), during the later years of the organization (1972-1987). John Sanner of Deerfield, Illinois shot the majority of the films in this collection. He shot both amateur films and home movies, including footage of Deerfield High School football games, the Chicago snow blizzard of 1979, a behind-the-scenes look at a Metro Movie Club production and a short documentary about the arrival of a Vietnamese family to Deerfield by way of a refuge camp in Hong Kong. The collection also includes films made by John's brother Richard Sanner, who taught at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and established the audiovisual department at the University of Hawaii in 1957. Richard's films include home movies from the Sanner home in Iowa, as well as footage depicting the eruption of Kilauea volcano in 1960.
1941 – 1971
This 8mm. home movie collection documents the Sanzi family of Detroit, Michigan. The majority of the collection consists of footage from family vacations within the United States and Canada.
1967 – 1982
This collection contains 16mm films produced by Chicago-based child psychiatrist, Dr. Jerome L. Schulman, in the 1960s and 70s. The films relate to the interaction of illness and emotions, particularly in children and were intended for professional and non-professional audiences.
1926 – 1949
Charles P. Schwartz, Sr. began filming his family in 1926 after the birth of his first two children, Polly and Robert. His namesake Charles, Jr. was born in 1927. These home movies portray family vacations in Herbster, Wisconsin, (close to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where he grew up), Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and Charlevoix, Michigan. Included is footage from his daughter's wedding in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. This collection is sponsored by Susan H. and Charles Schwartz, Jr.
1958 – 1966
The Charles Dee Sharp collection consists of five 16mm films, including a short Christmas themed narrative film, two promotional films for the Illinois Institute of Technology and two short documentary films, one about a Kibbutz in Israel titled The Kibbutz, and another about Russia after Stalin, titled The Iron Curtain Lands: The Post-Stalin Period. All films are Cameras International productions. All films are written and directed by Charles Dee Sharp, except for Symbolic Control, which is written and directed by David A. Tapper for the IIT.
1936 – 1946
This collection of home movies was shot by Paul Shreves, who grew up in the Angel Guardian Orphanage (now known as Misericordia Home North), located at 2001 W. Devon Avenue, in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. The home movies document leisure scenes from the orphanage and the surrounding area, including Halloween celebrations and picnics.
1929 – 1930
16mm home movies of Oak Park and Downtown Chicago shot between 1929 and 1930. Features footage of Museum Campus and other important landmarks, while also documenting Beryl Simon's stay at Fair Oaks Avenue with a friend.
1961 – 1968
This collection of home movies documents the Sisak family of Racine, Wisconsin. The films capture family gatherings, family travels as well as their short stay in Washington State during the 1961 Berlin Crisis. The films include scenes from Sherwood Point Lighthouse in Door County, Wisconsin, The Basilica Shrine of Holy Hill in Hubertus, Wisconsin, The Washington State Capital in Olympia, Washington, and a family picnic in Saunders Park in Racine County, Wisconsin.
1936 – 1970
This home movie collection consists of 8mm home movies shot between the years 1936-1970. The majority of the films were shot in Chicago. The few exceptions include a visit to Stillman Valley, Illinois, a bike club trip to Beloit, Wisconsin, a honeymoon to Paris & London and a visit to a horse track. The Chicago reels depict railways, neighborhood street and stoop scenes, multiple weddings, interior domestic scenes, a funeral and soda shop interiors.
1950 – 1985
The Society of the Divine Word is an international congregation of male Catholic missionaries based in Techny, a northwest suburb of Chicago. The Society was founded in 1875 to preach in countries with insufficient or no foundation of Catholicism and to provide support to communities where the local Church is not yet viable. CFA acquired this collection in 2006 when the Robert M. Myers archives of the Society of the Divine Word deaccessioned a number of 16mm films that were not made by SDW in their collection. The collection consists predominantly of sermon films. According to the archivist at the Society of the Divine Word, these films were probably used in the classroom or for entertainment for students. It is unclear whether these works were produced in Chicago.
1973 – 1991
The Somersaulter-Moats and Somersaulter collection consists of 16mm films produced by Chicago filmmakers JP Somersaulter and Lillian Somersaulter Moats. The films in this collection are predominantly short, animated films that were written, directed and illustrated by Lillian and JP. These include experimental films for adults as well as adapted and original fairytales for children.
1913 – 1966
The Soucie Collection is comprised of 85 reels of 8mm acetate films, an issue of the Sam Campbell Special newsletter sponsored by the Chicago and North Western Railway, and the original inventories created by the filmmaker. These films are amateur travel films of classic American festivals, rituals, amusement parks, parades, Civil War re-enactments, national parks, industrial shows, railroad fairs and Native American tribal ceremonies.
1945 – 1987
Chicago Film Archives acquired this collection from the Southern Illinois University library, located in Edwardsville, Illinois. The library deaccessioned their entire 16mm film collection in 2007, and CFA selected sixty-three films from over 3,000 titles. These works span across genres, from experimental shorts to feature documentaries to educational and instructional films. The McGraw-Hill Book Company and the Encyclopedia Britannica distributed a substantial number of these films, and others are still currently in distribution by the National Film Board of Canada, California Newsreel, and Maysles Films. Highlights of this collection include works by Millie Goldsholl (another CFA collection), the documentary Coalmining Women, about the history of women in the United States Coalmining Industry, and Skater Dater, an amusing educational film assessing male rivalry and teen sexual awareness.
1935 – 1943
This collection was donated to CFA by Steven Olderr, a librarian at St. Paul’s Episcopal Parish in Riverside, Illinois. The films were left over from a white elephant sale at the church and the original owner is unknown. The collection includes Castle Film’s News Parades news reels, home movies and classic studio animations such as Popeye and Mickey Mouse.
1947 – 2000
The films in this collection were made and collected by Chicago photojournalist, critic and filmmaker Bill Stamets. The bulk of the collection consists of Super 8 films and footage shot by Stamets in the 1970s and 1980s. They depict political events primarily in the city of Chicago, including former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's two election campaigns, inaugurations, and time in office; numerous street protests and marches; and cultural festivals around the city.
1964 – 1980
A collection of experimental films and home movies created by Chicago-based photographer and Institute of Design alum, Robert Stiegler. The collection also contains numerous 1/4" audio reel to reels.
1935 – 1984
The Sunquist home movie collection (16mm and S8mm) features the Sunquist family who resided in Illinois from the 1930s-80. The collection contains reels of birthdays, weddings, Christmas and other celebrations, as well as numerous reels of family holidays. In addition there is documentation of "Worth Day Parades" in Worth, Illinois, footage of the "Carl Sandburg Band", and travel films of various domestic and international destinations. Included are trips to Cheyenne, Miami, Yellowstone, Alaska, Colorado Springs, Michigan, Sweden, France, Italy and Germany.
circa 1960 – 1978
This collection of 16mm films includes full historical shows ("Chicago 1968", "Black Power", "See How They Ran", etc.) as well as historical footage of sports, political events and other historical happenings (anti-war protests, courtroom footage, prohibition, etc).
1942 – 1982
This collection of home movies was shot by Illinoisans Barbara Suster and her nephew John Edward III (Rip) Suster in the Chicago area between the 1950s and early 1980s.
1948 – 1982
The David Szabo Collection is mainly comprised of films and ephemera from David Szabo's time as a student at Columbia College in the late 1960s and his time as a freelance editor and partner of the Szabo-Tohtz editing company in the 1970s and 1980s. Included are distributed prints that are unclear as to Szabo's involvement, 16mm films and intermediate materials Szabo worked on during his time at Columbia College, advertisements he worked on as an editor in the 1970s and 1980s, and 8mm home movies dating from 1948-1963.
1939 – 1983
Chicago Film Archives has received two lots of films from the Warren Thompson Collection. The first lot consists of 2 reels of 16mm amateur films that document 35 years of citylife in Chicago and trips to Mackinac Island in Michigan shot from 1955 to 1965. In February of 2011, CFA received 21 more reels of 16mm Thompson films that document domestic and international travel from 1939 to 1981. They include footage from Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, the Caribbean, the St. Lawrence River, New England, the west, the Wisconsin Dells, and the Smokey Mountains. One reel is named "Fjord Mail Boat".
1960 – 1999
The Bert Van Bork Collection contains films Van Bork directed and produced while working at Encyclopedia Britannica Films. Also included in the collection is his 1999 short documentary EYEWITNESS, which examines the sketches and paintings done secretly by men and women who lived and died inside the walls of Nazi death camps.
1941 – 1955
The Otto E. Wagenknect Collection consists of 8mm films shot by Otto between the years 1941 and 1955 while a resident of the Wildwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Many of the films feature his then-wife Mary Theml Wagenknecht and his daughter Karin Wagenknecht (Cox) at home and during their travels. Many reels feature home-made titles which Otto created with his Quixet Magnetic Titling Set.
1972 – 1978
This home movie collection documents the Chicago-based Wagner family in the late 1970's. Though mostly shot by Almarie Wagner, she sporadically appears in the footage along with her husband (James Wagner), two daughters, and a handful of other friends and family members. The footage captures the family and friends celebrating birthdays, Christmases, vacations, a honeymoon to England and Lebanon, and leisure time at home.
1961 – 1976
The Walsh Collection consists of home movies shot between 1961-1975. In addition to numerous birthday and Christmas celebrations, the collection depicts several family vacations (Detroit, Florida, Mexico, San Francisco and the Virgin Islands), a Girl Scout International Rally, a trip to Lincoln's Tomb & New Salem State Historic Park, a visit to Southern Illinois University and a 1967 Midwest snowstorm. A few experimental reels by Steven Walsh featuring stop-motion animation and sailing scenes also reside in the collection.
1947 – 1953
This collection of thirty-four 16mm "physique" or erotic films were donated to Chicago Film Archives by Chicago realtor Stephen Waters in 2010, who received the films from a former client. Because these films are essentially orphaned, their provenance and custodial history can only be approximated. However, it is likely that the films would have been shown in coin-operated Panoram Jukeboxes created by the Chicago-based Mills Novelty Company in 1939, which played closed-loop 16mm silent and sound films and were placed in numerous locations including train and bus stations. Jukeboxes exhibiting adult movies or “peep shows” would most likely have been found in penny arcades that were prominent in the Illinois Central Railway Station at the time. Some of the films may have also been distributed on the home-projection market. The films feature nude or barely clothed women and range from bedroom and interior scenes or created sets where these women undress in a variety of scenarios, to a series of films where the women model poses that are supposedly made for artists to study the human figure.
1950 – 1972
This collection contains the home movies of the Wilczynski family. They lived on the south side of Chicago and ran a bakery. Some of the highlights of the collection are the Baháʼí Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, Chicago's Riverview amusement park, the Chicago Flower and Garden show, family weddings, Niagara Falls, and 1952 Chicago subway scenes.
1959 – 1963
This home movie collection was donated by the Wilmette Historical Museum in 2009 and documents the Grove Family from this northern suburb. The four reels were shot by Axel Grove between 1959-1963 and include footage of the Brookfield Zoo, O’Hare International Airport, the Morton Arboretum, Adventure Island Amusement Park, a trip to Wilmette’s beaches, a child’s tennis lesson and a very entertaining living room puppet show.
1947 – 1953
Home movies shot by insurance man, Homer L. Young. The majority of the films were shot in Ohio and Indiana, except for handful of films that document vacations throughout the United States. Also included in the collection are short newsreels, animations and comedies collected by Homer throughout the years.
1933 – 1946
The Russell V. Zahn Collection contains 38 reels of 8mm film chronicling the many birthdays, Christmases, and family outings between the years of 1933 and 1946 -- primarily in and around the family's Wisconsin home. Highlights of this collection include the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, a trip to Sturgeon Bay, and some very entertaining backyard dance performances. The collection also includes one commercially produced Felix the Cat animation.
1957 – 1981
The Dominic and Natalie Zulpo Family and Friends Collection contains home movies shot and compiled by Dominic and Natalie Zulpo of Carpentersville, Illinois. From the 1950s to 1970s, the Zulpos recorded on 8mm and Super 8 their family celebrations, special occasions, and travels to Arkansas, Florida, California, and Europe.
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Collections in Progress
Our staff is always working to expand CFA's catalog by researching, describing, and digitizing new collections. Here are the collections that are currently in progress.
A collection of 129 16mm films, mainly educational titles.
Materials related to the work of experimental filmmaker and Chicago high school teacher Eleanor Binstock.
Elements associated with film Pause of the Clock, produced in the 1990s and completed digitally in 2015.
13 reels of 16mm adult films rescued from the Oak Theater in Chicago, at Armitage Ave and Western Ave, as it was being cleared out for renovation.
Two 16mm films about Fred Flom, of Menasha, Wisconsin, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam from 1966 to 1973.
One half-hour long 8mm silent film made by Richard Guetl of Chicago, along with related materials.
Collection of over 60 reels of 16mm home movies, most shot by William J. Grede, the grandfather of Chicago-based filmmaker and writer Scott Jacobs, who donated this collection.
Collection of 8mm home movies and slides shot by Evelyn Greene of her travels.
12 cans of 35mm negatives in cans from National Film Archives - Public Archives Canada.
Collection includes 9.5mm equipment and commercial films as well as 8mm home movies from the 1940s and 1950s.
Collection of films produced by Guzik as part of his work for various companies during the late 1970s.
1929 – 1978
40 reels of home movies in Super 8, 8mm, and 16mm, mainly depicting Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s.
Collection of 13 home movies from the mid-1950s, most of which were shot by Judith Hembree's father.
Films made by, worked on, or collected by documentary filmmaker Judy Hoffman.
3 reels of family outings; 1 reel, Bar Mitzvah party, Albany Park, 1956; 1 reel, Carnival, 1956 at the University of Illinois, Champaign.
38 reels of 8mm home movies shot by Sydney Katz, primarily of family birthday parties, weddings, holidays, and vacations.
Collection of 71 8mm home movies.
Collection of predominantly industrial films worked on by Charles S. C. Lee, who worked in film production in Chicago from the 1960s – 1980s.
About a dozen rolls of 16mm film, mainly comprising unedited footage shot during the 1966 football season, as well as 16mm kinescopes of the Vince Lombardi Show and the George Halas Show.
Collection of 8mm and Super 8 home movies from a Michigan family.
Home movies on 8mm and Super 8 film.
1929 – 1976
Films and audiotape depicting and recording activities of the Neighborhood Boys & Girls Club.
This collection, donated by Northwestern University, is mainly comprised of 16mm films. These include prints of feature film classics formerly used in film studies instruction at Northwestern University, a collection of films made by Chicago filmmaker Helene Fischer, and a collection of films made by Wilding Studios (a Chicago-based maker of educational and industrial films).
Collection consisting mainly of 16mm elements of films made by or in collaboration with Robert Orr, both during his high school years and his professional career.
Collection of 4 16mm home movies.
47 reels of 8mm home movies found in a dumpster and donated to CFA. Reel labels indicate that the films depict visits to Europe as well as to Crivitz, Wisconsin.
13 reels of 16mm film from Dr. Herbert Ratner, who was health commissioner of Oak Park, IL, from 1949 to 1974.
1980 – 1982
Super 8 and 16mm materials related to experimental films made by Ron Lynn Richardson in the 1980s.
This collection of 8mm and 16mm films, and some audio tapes, belonged to Dr. Martin Ross of Lincolnwood, IL. He was an avid traveler and photographer, and often shot 8mm and 16mm film on his trips in addition to slides and snapshots. He shot all of the films which are home movies and travelogues.
2 reels of 16mm film about urban planning in Chicago, produced by the City of Chicago Department of Urban Renewal.
circa 1955 – 1974
Multiple 8mm and Super 8 films taken by Caroline Wenz Rubin in the 1950s-'70s in Chicago, lL; Perrysburg, OH; Yellow Springs, OH; Newton, MA; Washington, DC; and various other locations. Collection includes one or more short movies filmed by Betsy Rubin, then a high school student. Most films are family or travel documentary in nature; a few are filmed stories or plays, including one stop-action short film.
Collection of 8mm and Super 8 home movies.
Collection of over 200 16mm films, predominantly home movies shot by Arthur Senior of Homewood, Illinois.
Collection of 16mm and 8mm home movies.
1930 – 2008
Collection of over 5800 films, videos, and audio elements donated to CFA by Gary Smith, who worked for C.L. Venard for many years. Venard was a Peoria, Illinois-based producer of industrial films, mainly related to agriculture. He ran a production studio, distributed films made by others, and did work for hire for companies like Caterpillar. Smith took over the production wing of the company in 1966.
Collection of 31 reels of 16mm home movies from a Michigan family.
Three reels of film found in the church when they were clearing out old things.
A collection of educational films, newsreels, and student films.
Films, videos, and audio tapes related to the organization's activities.
Materials documenting street cars in Chicago, including films, mini DV tapes, and paper materials.
1998
16mm and 35mm materials documenting the demolition of the Lakefront Properties by the Chicago Housing Authority. These buildings were located in the North Kenwood / Oakland neighborhood of Chicago near 39th Street.
Collection of 8mm home movies.