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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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.
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.
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.
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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.
circa 1963 – 1967
The Leon P. Granacki Family Collection consists of twelve 8mm home movies taken by Leon P. Granacki. The films capture the life of a Polish American family living in the Old Irving Park neighborhood of Chicago. The footage features vacations, trips to the Squaw Lake (Minnesota), Channel Lake and Long Lake (Illinois), and travel to St. Louis. Other films document Easter and the Graduation of Leon’s daughter, Victoria Granacki.
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.
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.
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.
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 over 200 16mm films, predominantly home movies shot by Arthur Senior of Homewood, Illinois.
The Jerzy “George” Skwarek collection consists of 80 films (including one 16mm, thirteen Regular 8mm, and sixty-five Super-8mm) taken by Jerzy “George” Skwarek. The films document travels with friends and clients of Polish travel agencies, mainly in the United States, including Florida, California, Texas, Arizona, North and South Carolina, and Peru. Among Skwarek’s captured friends is the famous Polish actress and singer Kalina Jędrusik. The Midwest is portrayed in films from Chicago and Wisconsin, as well as in documentation of his visits with friends to the Ponderosa Sun Club and Naked City in Roselawn, Indiana.
The collection also includes home movies from the early 1950s of an unknown moviemaker and family. These include trips to Saugatuck in Michigan, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois, Florida, Bermuda, and Mexico. Additionally, Skwarek’s collection consists of short commercial pornographic films, including Wet & Wild, which was likely directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1973.
The collection also includes home movies from the early 1950s of an unknown moviemaker and family. These include trips to Saugatuck in Michigan, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois, Florida, Bermuda, and Mexico. Additionally, Skwarek’s collection consists of short commercial pornographic films, including Wet & Wild, which was likely directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1973.
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.
Films, videos, and audio tapes related to the organization's activities.
1973 – 1974
The Vince Waldron Collection consists of 13 black & white Super-8 films and one 1/4" magnetic audio tape. The films were shot and edited by Vince Waldron as a student in and around the Antioch College campus in Yellow Springs, Ohio and in downtown Chicago from 1973 to 1974.
Materials documenting street cars in Chicago, including films, mini DV tapes, and paper materials.
1983 – 1986
Films made by Lee Wesley while a student at Columbia College in the mid-1980s. Many of the elements in the collection are related to Wesley's film Nisei, about a Japanese American optometrist facing racism while living in Chicago.
Collection of 8mm home movies.