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Contributor:  Jane Benfy
Catalog No. 32A
Length:  1:58:57
Dates:  1940s, 1950s, early 1960s


Keyword Description:
Footage begins in Madison, Wisconsin and goes from 1943-1946 with Showman family (see written description for more details), then 1948 in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1956-57 on vacation in Oklahoma and Wisconsin, including a family picnic, a trip to Niagara Falls, and home to Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Continues in 1957 at summer house on Big Alum Pond, with rowing and sailing ,visiting relatives, summer camp at Camp Woodstock in Woodstock, Connecticut, a ferry, first day of school, and Sturbridge Motor Inn (which the family owned and where they lived in the winter), fall colors in Sturbridge, cutting trees and blasting at the motel, clearing snow with WWII army jeep at the motel, and pouring concrete foundation for an addition. Film from 1958-59 shows Easter egg hunt in yard, beach outing with friends, summer camp, a motor boat trip up the Hudson to Lake Champlain, Muster Day at Sturbridge Village, Mt. Monadnock to see an eclipse (too foggy), and a picnic at Camp Robinson Crusoe in Sturbridge. 1960 bits show Easter, graduation from Tantasqua, Muster Day, Big Alum Pond summer house, trip to Michigan, visit to the Detroit zoo (chimps), trip home via Canada and New Hampshire, antique car show at motel, Old Sturbridge Village with aunts, Cornell University, "cocoa" at Halloween, Christmas, a high school party in the basement, a horse for sister, and Girl Scouts at Sturbridge Village. The last segment is 1961 at Camp Robinson Crusoe again and a beach (unknown). Contains a lot of scenic footage of a river and the countryside. Other footage shows boats going through a lock and the family bringing home Christmas trees.

Contributor:  Jane Benfy
Catalog No. 32B
Length:  19:59
Dates:  1980s


Keyword Description:
Footage begins with two dogs playing in the house at Christmas time and then shows a cat preening, older boys showing up and several boys going outside to play football. The boys go back inside the house and spend most of their time goofing off for the camera, acting out a skit they made up and lounging around.

Contributor:  Jane Benfy
Catalog No. 32C
Length:  1:12:23
Dates:  1980s or 1990s


Keyword Description:
Footage contains a group trip to China and the various places that they visited while they were there, such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, factories where they made pottery, porcelain products and other items for the tourist trade and export. They also visited many shrines and temples and attended a musical/theatrical performance.

Contributor:  Jane Benfy
Catalog No. 33
Length:  41:15
Dates:  1930s, 1940s


Keyword Description:
Begins with 1937 Christmas in Plymouth, Wisconsin, then 1938 in office at family home (see hand-written description for family member details), followed by dentist office, and scenes at the house again, trip to Mexico, an Episcopal Church in Wisconsin. Scenes from 1939 include a wedding in a house, a toddler in a playpen, an outdoor lunch, the Wisconsin Dells and scenery shot from the air, Lake Superior, washing a car, the Washington Monument, a trip to Central America (Tiquisate, Guatemala) by ship, back home after a snow, soldier in uniform, Pacific Ocean, and shots of Seattle. 1944 bits show D.C., then boy in snow, followed by scenes of D.C. again on occasion of Franklin Roosevelt's inauguration in 1945, and flag at half staff as well as FDR's funeral cortege in April. Footage also contains the cherry blossoms in DC and landscape as seen from the air.