The Archive

Alsup Smith Family Collection

Vanessa Alsup and her husband Kevin shot these sound films of their children Kevin II, Sheena Marie and Carla in and around their Englewood home. The collection also includes several concerts in Chicago. Super 8mm. Sound. 1970-1980. 17 films.

Frederick Atkins Collection

Frederick Atkins shot these films of his wife, Loretta, and children in the East Side neighborhood. The collection includes the opening of the Chicago (formerly Calumet) Skyway. 8mm, Super 8mm. 1950-1980. 48 films.

Buford Family Collection

Shirley Jones and her sisters shot these films of the Buford family around their Englewood home. The collection features a wedding and several family parties, and also includes films shot during their time stationed in Okinawa, Japan. 8mm, Super 8mm. Silent. 1950-1970. 18 films.

Burt Ramos Family Collection

This collection includes home movies shot primarily by Louise B. Burt. They depict scenes of everyday life in Chicago, Illinois as well as family visits to Momence, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Baldwin, Michigan. 8mm. 1958-1968. 3 films.

Alphonse and Nancie Teer Ellis Family Collection

Alphonse and Nancy Ellis shot these films in and around their Auburn Gresham home. The collection also includes a trip to Disneyland, Washington D.C. and visits to the family cottage in Lakeside, Michigan. Super 8mm. Silent. 1960-1970. 40 films.

Lynette Frazier Collection

Lynette Frazier shot these films of her life in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago, as well as her many travels around the globe. The collection includes the aftermath of the MLK Riots, Resurrection City in Washington, DC and the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. 8mm. Silent. 1950-1960. 31 films.

Holland Family Collection

John Holland shot these films of his wife Margaret and their children Greg, Debbie, Doug and Karen in and around the East Side neighborhood. The collection includes graduations, holidays and Catholic ceremonies. 8mm, Super 8mm. 1950-1970. 47 films.

Sylvester Matthews Collection

Sylvester Matthews shot these films in and around the family’s home in Detroit, MI. Donated by award-winning filmmaker Tracye Matthews, the collection features scenes of Tracye, her sister and her cousins' first years of life, the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, as well as the 1967 Detroit Rebellion. 8mm. Silent. 1960-1970. 14 films.

Philip Maxwell Sr. Collection

Philip Maxwell shot these films of his family in their Londontown home. The collection also includes visits to the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Museum of Science and Industry. 8mm, Super 8mm. Silent. 1960-1970. 4 films.

Charles ‘Chuck’ Mayewaki Collection

Charles "Chuck" Mayewaki shot these films throughout the Lake Meadows, Woodlawn, and Oakwood neighborhoods. The collection includes a pilgrimage to the Rohwer Heritage Site in Arkansas, members of his congregation, and a cross country road trip. Super 8mm, 16mm. Silent. 1960-1973. 25 films.

Len and Bev Mednick Collection

Leonard and Beverly Mednick shot these films of their family in and around their Jeffery Manor home, as well as on some national and international vacations. Collection donated by their daughter, Ellen. 1950-1962. 8mm. Silent. 26 films.

Charles Merrifield Collection

Charles Merrifield was a postal worker who lived with his family in Princeton Park. His films show gatherings of extended family, as well as travels across the US with his wife and children. 8mm. Silent. 1950-1960. 6 films.

Dr. Helen Nash Collection

Dr. Helen Nash shot these scenes of family life in Atlanta, Georgia and St. Louis, Missouri, as well as trips to Chicago to visit relatives. Dr. Nash also traveled extensively with her sisters and mother, visiting Europe, China, Russia, and Africa in the late sixties and seventies. 16mm, Super 8mm. Silent. 1950-1970. 23 films.

Dr. Homer Nash Jr. Collection

The younger brother of Dr. Helen Nash, Homer Nash shot these films of his five daughters growing up in their St. Louis home. 8mm. Silent. 1950-1984. 11 films.

O'Neal Family Collection

Brothers Brian, Rick II, and Kamal O’Neal shot and created these films of their teenage years in and around their Hyde Park home. The collection includes experiments in stop-motion animation, basketball games, and a family road trip to Niagara Falls and Bar Harbor, ME. 8mm, Super 8mm. Silent. 1970s. 21 films.

Nicholas Osborn Collection

Nicholas Osborn contributed this reel that he found in a thrift shop. It consists of a year in Chicago in 1963 and includes such historic events as the Bud Biliken parade, the NAACP annual convention and the 1963 Public School boycott. 8mm. Silent. 1963. 1 film.

Jean Patton Collection

The Jean Patton collection was shot by both Jean Patton and her husband Robert and documents family life in Chatham and their extensive travels overseas. Consisting of over 100 reels Jean and her husband visited China, Japan, Europe and the Caribbean and documented nearly 20 years of family celebrations and events. 16mm, 8mm, Super-8. Silent. 1940-1970. 100 films.

David D. and Margaret T. Pitts Collection

The Pitts collection consists of films filmed by Margaret Pitts around their Greater Grand Crossing and Calumet Heights home. Scenes include footage of their daughter, Linda growing up. 8mm. Silent. 1940s-1960s. 25 films.

Dr. George Reed Jr. Collection

The Reed Collection was shot by Dr. George Reed, a physicist at Argonne Laboratories. The collection consists of family scenes featuring Reed's wife, Selina, and children, Mark, Carole, Phillip, and Lauren. Films include scenes on Chicago’s lakefront, a YWCA camp in Forest Beach Michigan and the University of Chicago lab school. The Reeds lived in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on Calumet Avenue. 8mm. Silent. 1950-1960. 12 films.

Leroy Roberson Collection

Leroy Roberson shot this collection documenting his extensive travels across the country with his family. Often taking his children out of school early this collection includes visits to California, Wyoming, the Hoover Dam and other sites in the American West. 8mm. Silent. 1950-1960. 32 films.

Roberts Family Collection

This collection was shot primarily by Herman Roberts, his family and the staff of the Roberts Show Lounge. The films capture South Side nightlife from Englewood to Hyde Park, the Roberts Show Lounge in the '50s, rural Oklahoma, and Disneyland. 8mm, 16mm. Silent. 1950s. 34 films.

Theresa (Mason) Coleman Collection

The Matilda Jablonski Puskiewicz Collection

Matilda Puskiewicz (née Jablonski) shot these films of her family and surrounding Polish Catholic community in South Chicago and on several national and international vacations. The collection features footage of her children Patricia, Judith, and Jack as they grew up, as well as trips to California and Europe. 8mm. Silent. 1947-1960s. 25 films.

Gustina Steele Collection

Gustina Steele and her husband Bill Higgins, shot this footage of their children William Jr. and Ashauna in and around their Calumet Heights home. Super-8. Sound, silent. 1970-1980. 4 films.

James E. Taylor Collection

James Taylor and his father-in-law Prose Matthews shot and created these films of their family in and around their Harvey home. The collection includes several family picnics in Michigan City, a wedding, and their children’s birthdays. 8mm, Super 8mm. Silent. 1944-1978. 35 films.

Ramon Williams Collection

Ramon Williams shot and created these films throughout Chicago and the American South. The collection features a number of historical figures and events, including Haile Selassie’s arrival in Chicago, Althea Gibson’s landmark US Nationals win, and several Bud Billiken parades. 8mm, 16mm. Sound, Silent. 1940-1975. 302 films.