Multimedia
Personal Narrative: Home Movies from the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Library of Congress
“Living Room Cinema”
The Library’s moving image collections contain some 1.8 million items, including films dating from the dawn of filmmaking in the 1890s. The collection encompasses everything from Hollywood features to industrial films to home movies. Historically, much of that material was selected from U.S. Copyright submissions. Today, most film acquisitions are the result of a gift or purchase or a combination of the two. The home movies that have come to the Library via donation include famous names: Jerry Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George and Ira Gershwin, and Carl Sagan, to name just a few luminaries. But more often the Library’s home movies have been acquired from film collectors, stock footage houses, and defunct film processing labs. Within these archives of amateur film, those behind the camera as well as in front of it often remain a mystery. Nonetheless, in the words of the head of the Moving Image Section: these films provide a fascinating view of “history from the ground up.”
National Audio-Visual Conservation Center at the Library of Congress
Running Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Personal Narrative: Home Movies from the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Library of Congress
Credits
Family Life in order of appearance
- Jerry Lewis family Christmas, 1968. Jerry Lewis Collection
- A wedding, 1944. Lois Ward/Robert Arieta Collection
- Harold and Anya Arlen, ca. 1948. Gershwin Trust Collection
- Liza Minnelli’s birthday party, ca. 1948. Gershwin Trust Collection
- Black family celebrations, undated. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- Scenes from Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria, 1957. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- A family in Mexico, 1949. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- Sigmund Freud and daughter Anna Freud, 1939. Sigmund Freud Archives
Travel in order of appearance
- Views of China and Japan, ca. 1920. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- A trip to Niagara Falls, ca. 1949. Benjamin Levy Family Collection
- Trip to Disneyland, 1956. Robbins Barstow Collection
- Scenes from Mexico, 1949. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- Albert and Elsa Einstein visit Warner Bros Studios, 1931. Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Collection
- A soldier in Alaska, ca. 1954. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
Public Events in order of appearance
- The Rockettes perform at Radio City Music Hall filmed by Miron Silberstein, 1968. Prelinger Archive Collection
- Santana performs during the Altamont Free Concert, 1969. Prelinger Archive Collection
- Mardi Gras Parade, 1941. Prelinger Archive Collection
- Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade from Gay and Proud, 1970. Lilli M. Vincenz Collection
- Vassar College Graduation, 1927. Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson Collection
- School dance, 1967. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- Día de los Muertos celebrations in Bolivia, 1948. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
At Work in order of appearance
- Charlie Chaplin on the set of City Lights, 1930. Ralph Barton Collection
- A bakery at work, ca. 1920. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- A scene from Our Day documentary, 1938. Center for Home Movies/Wallace Kelly Collection
- Compania Mexicana de Aviacion flight crew, 1955. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- Construction, ca. 1925. J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
- A grocery store in Camden, New Jersey, 1954.J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection
Hot Chocolate
NATIONAL AUDIO-VISUAL CONSERVATION CENTER
Hot Chocolate, 1941 (Sam Coslow, producer; Josef Berne, director; The Duke Ellington Orchestra; and Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers)
Duke Ellington and his orchestra perform the song “Cottontail” in this 1941 soundie titled, Hot Chocolate. Soundies—forerunners to today’s music videos—were short 16-millimeter films played on a visual jukebox called a Panoram. Thousands of soundies were produced in the 1930s and 1940s, many of which feature Black performers in their only recorded on screen performance. Hot Chocolate features a phenomenal jitterbug routine by the Lindy Hoppers.
Digital restoration provided by KINO Classics
Hot Chocolate
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
RARE BOOK & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION
L. Frank Baum, with illustrations by W.W. Denslow. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of the best-known stories in American literature. The Library of Congress has declared the work to be “America’s greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale.” The book had a powerful effect on the American imagination. Its evocative use of the forces of nature and memorable characters—including Dorothy, the Scarecrow, The Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion—still invite children of all ages to look for wonder in the world around them.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Scroll
PRINTS & PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION
Barbara Carrasco. Pencil sketch for L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective, 1981
To retell the history of Los Angeles, the artist wove scenes—from prehistory to the city’s imagined future—through the flowing tresses of la Reina de los Ángeles (the Queen of Los Angeles). Carrasco included such notable figures as folk hero Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo, the city’s first Hispanic and first Black mayor; Bridget “Biddy” Mason; slain journalist Ruben Salazar; and United Farm Workers founders César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. For Carrasco: “This was my chance to show what I wish was in the history books.”
Mural photograph, 2017. Photo by Plaza de Cultura y Artes. © 1981 Barbara Carrasco
Process photographs: Shifra Goldman and Barbara Carrasco
Scroll
Cuneiform
AFRICAN & MIDDLE EASTERN DIVISION
Sumerian cuneiform tablets, between 2200 and 1900 BCE. Disbursement of skins (no. 11), Balanced account (no. 32), School exercise tablet (no. 02)
Cuneiform tablets represent one of the earliest known writing systems in the world, originating in ancient Sumeria. The thirty-eight tablets at the Library of Congress date from the reigns of Gudea of Lagash (214–2124 BCE) to Shalmanassar III (858–824 BCE) during the New Assyrian Empire (884–612 BCE). These tablets were acquired in 1929 from art dealer Kirkor Minassian as part of a collection illustrating the development of writing and book arts in the Middle East.
Kirkor Minassian Collection
African & Middle Eastern Division
Cuneiform
Oral History Excerpt: Kimberly Mitchell, U.S. Navy, War on Terrorism
Adopted as an infant from a Vietnamese orphanage in 1972 by an American airman and his wife, Kimberly Mitchell embarked on a 17-year career with the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. After working on issues of warrior and family support and transition policy, she chose to leave the military in 2012 to help found the Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services, and has gone on to serve in numerous leadership roles at organizations supporting veterans in transition.
Kimberly M. Mitchell Collection, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center (AFC/2001/001/113667)
Kimberly Mitchell, U.S. Navy, War on Terrorism
Oral History Excerpt: Gene Takahashi, U.S. Army, WWII and Korean War
Gene Takahashi enlisted in the army toward the end of WWII after spending most of it with his family in an Arizona internment camp for Japanese Americans. He was sent to Korea for occupation duty. As the platoon leader of an all-Black unit, he was captured by the Chinese in November 1950. He escaped, made it back to Seoul, and rejoined the fighting. Wounded by enemy machine-gun fire in March 1951, Takahashi saw his wartime service come to an end.
Gene J. Takahashi Collection, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center (AFC/2001/001/10309)
Gene Takahashi, U.S. Army, WWII and Korean War
Oral History Excerpt: Elia Astrid Ortega, U.S. Army, Vietnam War
Army First Lieutenant Elia Ortega was initially drawn to the romantic vision of military nursing presented to her by recruiters—and their promise that she would not be sent to Southeast Asia unless she volunteered. After spending a year in California nursing patients wounded overseas, she was shocked to receive orders to go to Vietnam. Ortega describes how memories of service can be shaped by tough experiences.
Elia Astrid Ortega Collection, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center (AFC/2001/001/81751)
Elia Astrid Ortega, U.S. Army, Vietnam War
Oral History Excerpt: Raffi Armen Bahadarian, U.S. Marine Corps, Iraq War
His parents brought him from Lebanon to America to escape the horrors of war, but Raffi Bahadarian grew to love his new country so much he was willing to serve in its armed forces. He signed up with the Marine Corps Reserves and was called up to fight in Operation Iraqi Freedom, joining the First Marine Division to be among the first U.S. soldiers into Baghdad.
Raffi Armen Bahadarian Collection, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center (AFC/2001/001/21418)
Raffi Armen Bahadarian, U.S. Marine Corps, Iraq War
Serials & Government Publications
The Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia, PA) July 10, 1776
The Pennsylvania Gazette owed its early success to publisher Benjamin Franklin, who introduced the editorial column, humor, and the first weather report to the paper. By 1776, the paper was owned and run by David Hall Jr., son of Franklin’s partner, and William Sellers. On July 10, 1776, The Pennsylvania Gazette printed the Declaration of Independence on columns one and two. On column three are two of fourteen advertisements for rewards of the return of slaves and indentured servants.
The Cheyenne Leader (Cheyenne, WY), November 19, 1869
The first edition of The Cheyenne Leader was published in September 1867, only a few short months after the town of Cheyenne was founded. In its more than twenty years in circulation, the newspaper went from printing announcements for local dance events to marketing the latest French fashions in their pages. The paper reached an audience beyond Wyoming. It was distributed in Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, and California by way of train.
The Cheyenne Leader is available on Chronicling America—a digital database created through a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The New York Times (New York, NY), Sunday, May 11, 1919
During the World War I era (1914–1918), leading newspapers took advantage of a new printing process—rotogravure printing—that dramatically altered their ability to reproduce images. Vivid new pictorial sections flourished. Pictorial sections, once limited to weeklies and periodicals, were so popular with both readers and advertisers that they became part of the daily paper in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Although microfilm of The New York Times and Tribune is readily available, pictorial reproduction on microfilm tend to be of poor quality. The Library has digitized these rotogravures from the originals and provides them on www.loc.gov.
Sunday Dispatch (New York, NY), March 21, 1852
As a literary paper, the New York’s Sunday Dispatch included arts criticism, fiction, and poetry. Walt Whitman published several pieces in the paper. Without a Whitman byline, his novel Life and Adventures of Jack Engle: An Auto-Biography was serialized in six parts in the paper’s March 14 to April 18, 1852 issues. New forms of searching and digital access to historic newspapers have made it possible to track down the actual publication issues of Whitman’s freelance work.
The Sunday Dispatch is available on Chronicling America—a digital database created through a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Cherokee Phoenix (New Echota, GA), April 10, 1828
Beginning in 1828, the Cherokee Phoenix became the first Native American newspaper printed in the United States. Its editor Elias Boudinott and tribal leaders intended to reach two different audiences: Cherokee nationals and white sympathizers who supported Cherokee autonomy. The newspaper featured articles on tribal laws, official notices, news, prayers, history, and land disputes with the U.S. government in side-by-side columns of Cherokee and English.
The Cherokee Phoenix is available on Chronicling America—a digital database created through a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
St. Paul Recorder (St. Paul, MN), February 28, 1958
Founded by Cecil Newman, the St. Paul Recorder is a “small-town” style newspaper highlighting social events, community businesses, clubs, and churches in the local African American community. As a local leader, Newman used his position and his paper to fight against racial discrimination, both locally and nationally, and to support and improve the lives of Black Minnesotans. The newspaper sponsored regular community forums on social and racial issues and hosted nationally known Black speakers.
The St. Paul Recorder is available on Chronicling America—a digital database created through a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.