The Filson Historical Society Blog

Have you ever wondered if the Filson collections include old film footage?  They do!

Have you missed a lecture and wished you could view it later at your convenience?  Now you can! 

The Filson is pleased to introduce an institutional YouTube channel.  This channel allows visitors to glimpse digitized footage from historical films & home movies, watch select Filson programming, and see highlights from Filson exhibits.  Check us out at http://www.youtube.com/user/FilsonHistoricalKY.

Our first featured clip is from the Hemp family home movie collection.  Francis May, a neighbor of the Hemp family on Boulevard Napoleon, shows off her dance moves for the camera.

This segment was filmed in 1926 by Shirley Hemp, a Louisville optometrist, family man, and film enthusiast.  At that time, owning film equipment and processing 16mm film was exceptionally cost-prohibitive.  Experimenting with film-making & home movies in the early 20^th century was not a casual endeavor; it required a dedicated amount of money, time, and enthusiasm…a far cry from the ease of today’s  user-generated and shared digital videos, thus the resulting amount of film was nothing like today’s plethora.  What’s more, historic film is a very fragile medium — it is highly susceptible to degradation from its own chemical make-up, as well as poor storage in humid or unstable environments.  The fact that the Hemp films still exist is remarkable unto itself — but add to their existence their donation to the Filson collection and then subsequent digitization, and the circumstances are all the more special and rare!  These films are extraordinary in their documentation of Louisville culture and life.  We hope to add more clips from the Hemp collection as the Filson YouTube channel grows.

Check back regularly or add us to your favorites, as new content will be added frequently.

Thank you to Laura Hartford and Ryan Daly for their essential help in digitizing the Hemp family home movies.

US soldiers in France. From the H. G. Clark Photograph Album.

Since the early 1940’s, World War II has spawned a massive battery of films, both documentary and narrative-based.  This proves, at least in the world of motion pictures, that the historical milestone that is World War II continues to be one of the most entertaining (and profitable) platforms on which to base a film.

The most recent WWII film is perhaps the most original, as it essentially re-writes history.  Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (the title is intentionally misspelled) follows a group of ragtag Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds”, who spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis in a sort of alternate WWII.  Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Calm down history buffs and scholars, you can put down those authentically replicated Braveheart swords now.  Remember… it’s only a movie.

U.S. soldiers liberating a concentration camp. From the H. G. Clark Photograph Album.

Thematically, what is so appealing about Inglourious Basterds is the role in which revenge plays.  Films like Schindler’s List, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Pianist, and the underwhelming Robin Williams vehicle Jakob the Liar all center around the persecuted Jew.  These films are significant fictional testaments to the Jewish experience as victims during the war, but rarely has there been a film that trades the targeted Jew for the heroic, justice-seeking Jew.  I don’t know about you, but I receive quite a bit of satisfaction watching Jewish soldiers claim Nazi scalps.

After seeing the film (and The Great Escape not two days earlier) my curiosity led me to The Filson’s special collections: I wanted to know more about WWII.  The Filson definitely has an impressive array of materials any WWII enthusiast would be satisfied with.  In particular, the Herbert Glenn Clark scrapbook proved to be most stimulating during my newfound quest for knowledge.  Clark served in the 3rd Army during WWII and this photo album documents his service, both stateside and overseas (North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany).  There are some truly striking images and I highly recommend perusing this piece that provides insight to the dynamic and varied experiences of an American soldier during WWII.

Scene from a Filson garden party, 1984

While surveying the Filson’s audio-visual collection last week I found an 8mm Filson home movie.  Entitled “The Filson Moves Along” the film includes footage from May 1971 of “scenes of the Filson Club party preparations, Mr. Harry Hill carving ham, members preparing beaten biscuits and ham on the day before the party” and also scenes from the Filson Club Christmas party on December 23, 1971.  This find demonstrates the excitement that home movies can generate.  The staff here is looking forward to seeing what the Filson was like nearly forty years ago.  Just like any historic document, home movies connect us to our past and can provide information about the way we used to live.

On October 17, 2009, The Louisville Film Society and the Filson Historical Society will be sponsoring the city’s first observance of Home Movie Day.  Created in 2002 by a group of film archivists, Home Movie Day is an international event that celebrates amateur film making and aims to educate the public about film preservation.  During an event, sponsors provide preservation know-how and a venue and the public provides the films from their personal collection. Community members are invited to bring films (16mm, 8mm, and Super 8mm) to the  Filson Historical Society starting at 9am.  The Louisville Film Society will be on hand to inspect, repair and clean the films.  Following the cleaning and inspection phase, the films will be projected on-site the same day for a public screening.  The event is free and open to the public.

As the director Martin Scorsese once said, “Film is history. With every foot of film that is lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other, and to ourselves.”  Come to the Filson Historical Society and find out how you can help preserve your own piece of history.

Find out more about the international event Home Movie Day by visiting the official website.