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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circa 1965 – 1977
This collection of films was made by filmmaker DeWitt Beall in Chicago during the 1960s and early '70s. 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 television series which aired on WTTW in the early 1970s.
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.
A collection of films and other media that once belonged to George Kirby, an entertainer known for his unique style of comedy, a mix of mimicry, celebrity impressions, singing, and acting. The collection includes 16mm home movies that appear to have been shot by Kirby, including footage depicting travels with his wife and behind-the-scenes footage of other entertainers, as well as prints of television episodes Kirby appeared in.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1947 – 1971
13 reels of 16mm film from Dr. Herbert Ratner, who was health commissioner of Oak Park, IL, from 1949 to 1974. Most of the reels relate to the 1958 WTTW Channel 11 series The Whys of Wise Parenthood, for which Ratner served as discussion leader. The other films were collected by Ratner for use in his "Discussion Forums for Parents" that he held in Oak Park, where he presented films and facilitated conversations on issues of parenting and family planning.
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.
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).
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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.
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.
Collection of films produced by Guzik as part of his work for various companies during the late 1970s.
circa 1955 – 1958
Collection of 13 home movies from the mid-1950s, most of which were shot by Wilson Hembree of Kansas City, MO.
3 reels of family outings; 1 reel, Bar Mitzvah party, Albany Park, 1956; 1 reel, Carnival, 1956 at the University of Illinois, Champaign.
36 reels of 8mm and Super 8 home movies shot in the Chicago, Albuquerque, and Milwaukee areas.
Home movies on 8mm and Super 8 film.
1968 – 1976
A collection of independent/student films made in the late 1960s and early 1970s in and around Chicago, Park Ridge, and Niles, Illinois.
1950 – 1958
The Elizabeth Pearson Collection consists of twelve reels of 8mm home movies and one 8mm camera. The footage features Pearson family events and vacations shot by Elizabeth Pearson of Chicago.
Collection of 4 16mm home movies.
circa 1949 – 1962
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. The boxes the films came in indicate the films may have been shot by Emma Puder of 3640 N Janssen Ave in Chicago.
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.
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.