Rookie driver Graham Hill racing to victory in the 1966 Indianapolis 500
Celebrating World Digital Preservation Day 2024 on Thursday, Nov. 7!
On October 17 at Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory Libraries Preservation Department and the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library hosted Home Movie Day 2024, a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking from the Emory Libraries collections. Guided by the Center for Home Movies, Home Movie Day is a series of events held in communities around the world to celebrate and exhibit motion pictures created by individuals on a noncommercial basis, better known as home movies. Such films typically used consumer-oriented film formats such as 16mm, 8mm, or Super8, and were usually created for an audience of family and friends and stored in a home setting. Each October, individuals and families gather at Home Movie Day events to view these unique films and share them with their neighbors and community.
The formation lap of the 1966 Indianapolis 500
Although this was our third Home Movie Day at Emory Libraries, this was the first in-person edition of the event. The two featured films were: a home movie of the 1966 Indianapolis 500 car race made by NASA astronaut David Scott, recently preserved through a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation, and a home movie of a family trip to Peru made by artist and art collector Lucinda Bunnen. Both films were exhibited on the screen in the Jones Room at the Robert W. Woodruff Library to an enthusiastic audience.
The two films were brought to life with introductions by special guests Tracy Scott, daughter of David Scott and an associate professor in Emory’s Department of Sociology, and Cori Williams, a Bunnen family friend and artist who arranged and described the Bunnen papers in Rose Library. Their knowledge and stories illuminated the lives of the films’ creators and added context, depth, and insights that enriched the images on the screen. These treasured personal connections are the essence of the Home Movie Day experience, and they demonstrate the deep value of home movies as not only family documents but also historical documents with scholarly and cultural value.
Artist and art collector Lucinda Bunnen
After the film viewing, Home Movie Day continued with information about film preservation, caring for home movies, and how home movies become part of a special collections library. There was also a display of Lucinda Bunnen’s photography and a hands-on opportunity to view and wind through an 8mm film on a film viewer from the Emory Libraries Preservation Department.
It was a privilege to be able to watch these films on a large screen and share them with an interested audience. To view previous Home Movie Day events from Emory Libraries, click on the 2021 and 2022 online presentations linked below.
A still image from Lucinda Bunnen’s “Peru Family Trip” home movie
- 1933-34 Chicago “World’s Fair Film,” from the papers of former Emory professor James Harvey Young (Emory University Archives), presented by John Bence, assistant director and university archivist, Rose Library
- “Family, 1948 Christmas,” from the James Vinson Carmichael papers (Rose Library), presented by Randy Gue, assistant director of Collection Development and curator of Political, Cultural, and Social Movements, Rose Library
- Three films from the John Tate Film Collection, 1967-1972 (Oxford College Library), presented by Kerry Bowden, Archives and Special Collections coordinator, Oxford College Library
- “Oxford College Fall Formal, 1969; Homecoming”
- “Oxford College Dooley, 1969-70; Dooley’s Birthday Dance, 1970”
- “Some movies made at an Oxford College activity”
- Film from James Vinson Carmichael papers collection in the Rose Library titled “Portrex”
(run time 12:05) - Film from William Levi Dawson papers collection in the Rose Library, excerpts from William Levi Dawson home movies, trip to West Africa, 1952-1953 (run time: 25:48)
We hope that Home Movie Day at Emory Libraries will continue to grow from here with more treasures yet to be shared from our audiovisual special collections.
—by Nina Rao, head of Media Preservation
ARS Division, Emory Libraries