Kubicek Family Collection
CFA
7 reels of 8mm film totaling 2,100 feet; 5 reels of Super 8mm film totaling 2,000 feet
1965 - 1975
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.
These 8mm home movies document the Kubicek family of Dearborn, Michigan from 1965 to the mid 1970s. The first three reels (thirty minutes of footage) document the short life of their son who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of two and passed away the following year. His final and third birthday is documented within this collection.
The remaining reels capture the Kubicek's life with their two other children, and contain numerous birthdays, backyard, sledding and holiday scenes. Oscar was of Czechoslovakian heritage and belonged to a Czech organization, Sokol Cultural Center (http://www.sokoldetroit.com), in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Oscar sent his children there for camp, and shot footage of gymnastic performances while on the campgrounds. In the 1970s, the Kubicek family joined the Ford Travel Club and toured much of Michigan, resulting in several reels of camping footage, including an eerie Halloween costume display. Other highlights of the collection include a 1970s Detroit Lions game, a first communion, a day trip to the dunes along Lake Michigan, a family visit to Oklahoma & Disney World and shots of the Hudson's building in downtown Detroit, which was demolished in 1998.
Oscar John Kubicek was a Ford truck engineer, while Barbara Louise Kubicek was a homemaker. Three years after the tragic death of their three year old son in 1967, the Kubicek's adopted siblings David and Mary Kay. Oscar Kubicek shot the majority of the collection, spliced them together and placed them onto compiled reels.
These films were stored previously by David Kubicek, the son of the filmmaker Oscar Kubicek.
English
This collection is open to on-site access. Appointments must be made with Chicago Film Archives. Due to the fragile nature of the films, only video copies will be provided for on-site viewing.
Chicago Film Archives holds the copyright for the films in this collection.