Further Resources
While home movies are recognized for their historical value, the process of preservation is slow and time-consuming. Depending on the material and its age, it can also require the care of multiple specialists in preservation. Institutions have emerged which focus on materials that represent the lives and memories of historically underrepresented communities.
Home movies offer a window to the past as captured by people who were there in the moment. The goal is to save as much as possible before time erases one-of-a-kind items permanently. Many archives work cooperatively to support the broader goals of saving films while we still can.
Links are provided here to provide additional context and resources for home video preservation. These links run the gamut between small volunteer collectives into national initiatives, such as the Smithsonian. The examples provided were instrumental in the creation of this project to provide a model for how to present materials to visitors. Viewers are encouraged to use these resources to promote efforts in donating or digitizing their own home movies and recordings.
African American Home Movie Archive – The African American Home Movie Archive (AAHMA) collects and preserves materials to enrich their historical value for research and access. Along with their own collections, AAHMA also provides an Index to other collections across the United States. Links are also included to view samples or entire videos.
Southside Home Movie Project – Founded and hosted through the University of Chicago, the Southside Home Movie Project is an online portal which contains over 700 home movies filmed in the area. Home movies are collected, stored, and digitized to improve their accessibility for cultural research.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture – An openly accessible repository of digitized photos, objects, and films submitted for historical research. Collections range from home movies and photographs to artifacts and artworks.
Deserted Films – A nonprofit and largely volunteer run archive of home movies shot in and around California and the American Southwest. Collections cover the entire history of the region, seeking to highlight recordings that have been orphaned or have no clear origin.