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.
circa 1960 – 1973
About 80 reels of 16mm film and related materials, including films made, produced, or otherwise associated with Marv and Sue Gold. Both filmmakers 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.
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.
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 films about rural life, 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 films about rural life, and home movies.
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.
This collection, donated by Northwestern University's Radio/Television/Film Department, is mainly comprised of 16mm films. These include prints of feature film classics formerly used in film studies instruction at Northwestern, a collection of film elements shot by Swiss nature photographer Helene Fischer, and a collection of films made by Wilding Picture Productions (a Chicago-based maker of industrial films).
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.
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.
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.
circa 1930 – 2008
Collection of over 5800 films, videos, and audio elements related to C.L. Venard Productions, a Peoria, Illinois-based producer of industrial films, mainly related to agriculture. Venard ran a production studio, distributed films made by others, and did work for hire for companies like Caterpillar. The collection was donated to CFA by Gary Smith, who worked in production for the organization for many years before purchasing the company from Venard in 1967.
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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.
Five 8mm home movies shot in Chicago between 1958 and 1962.
A collection of 129 16mm films, mainly educational titles.
Materials related to the work of experimental filmmaker and Chicago high school teacher Eleanor Binstock.
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.
52 reels of 16mm home movies and collected films from the Beverly and South Shore areas of Chicago, shot and collected by Chester Faust.
Two 16mm films about Fred Flom, of Menasha, Wisconsin, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam from 1966 to 1973.
Collection of films produced by Guzik as part of his work for various companies during the late 1970s.
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.
36 reels of 8mm and Super 8 home movies shot in the Chicago, Albuquerque, and Milwaukee areas.
Collection of predominantly industrial films worked on by Charles S. C. Lee, who worked in film production in Chicago from the 1960s – 1980s.
1949 – 1996
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.
Home movies on 8mm and Super 8 film.
A collection of independent/student films made in the late 1960s and early 1970s in and around Chicago, Park Ridge, and Niles, Illinois.
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.
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.
circa 1955 – 1964
The Sanetra Family Collection consists of 27 home movies (including thirteen of 8mm and fourteen of Super 8mm) taken by Charles Sanetra. The films capture family holidays and celebrations – Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, communions, church picnics, parades, and neighborhood sporting events. Among them are documentation of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła’s (Wojtyła) visit to Chicago in 1976 and the 1964 Alaskan earthquake in Anchorage.
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.
12 cans of 35mm negatives in cans from National Film Archives - Public Archives Canada.
Collection of 8mm home movies.