Chicago Film Archives (CFA) is a regional moving image archive located in Chicago, Illinois. CFA is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, collecting, preserving and providing access to films that reflect Chicago and the Midwest region of the United States. Since its founding in late 2003, the archive has expanded to include over 160 film collections, which combined contain nearly 30,000 films and elements. CFA safeguards its moving image collections through stabilization, digitization, and climate-controlled-storage.

The History

CFA was established as a non-profit 501(c)(3) institution in late 2003 in order to preserve and catalogue over five thousand 16mm films donated by the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

. Director Nancy Watrous and a few devoted film archivists then conceived a plan to create a regional film archive that preserves, promotes, and exhibits moving image materials that reflect Chicago and Midwest history and culture. In May 2004, CFA moved to its permanent home at 329 West 18th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. In 2020, CFA staff rediscovered a lost silent film from 1923 in the Charles E. Krosse Collection, The First Degree (film).

The Collection

CFA's collections consist of both professional and amateur films. The genres and forms of CFA's collections include educational films, industrial films, documentaries, advertisements, newsreels, experimental films, amateur films, and home movies. The majority of the collections consist of small gauge film formats, including

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

8mm 8 mm or 8mm may refer to: ;Film technology *8 mm film, a photographic cine film format principally intended for domestic use. The term may also refer to later variants: ** Super 8 mm film ** Single-8 film ** 8 mm video format, a type of video record ...

, and

Super 8mm Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8 ...

motion picture film
CFA's Collection Portal
hosts CFA collection

finding aids A finding aid, in the context of archival science, is an organization tool, a document containing detailed, indexed, and processed metadata and other information about a specific collection of records within an archive. Finding aids often consist ...

as well as over 1,500 streaming digitized films from CFA's collections.

Notable Collections

DeWitt Beall Collection
films made by Chicago filmmaker DeWitt Beall, including the 1970 documentary ''Lord Thing'' about the

Conservative Vice Lords The Almighty Vice Lord Nation (Vice Lords for short, abbreviated AVLN) is the second-largest and one of the oldest street and prison gangs in Chicago, Illinois. Its total membership is estimated to be between 30,000 and 35,000. It is also one of ...

Margaret Conneely Collection
films and papers of Margaret Conneely, a prolific and respected Chicago amateur filmmaker
Russ & Sylvia Davis Collection
wrestling films featuring professional bouts shot at Chicago's

International Amphitheatre The International Amphitheatre was an indoor arena located in Chicago, Illinois, that opened in 1934 and was demolished in 1999. It was located on the west side of Halsted Street, at 42nd Street, on the city's south side, in the Canaryville nei ...

in the early 1950s. Many of these bouts are streaming on CFA's YouTube Channel
Chicago Film Archives presents "Wrestling from Chicago"

JoAnn Elam Collection
films and papers of independent Chicago filmmaker JoAnn Elam
Film Group Collection
political documentaries on the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus maki ...

and 1960's civil rights movement, including the 1966 short film, Cicero March
Mort and Millie Goldsholl Collection
advertising films made by Goldsholl Design & Film Associates, one of Chicago's leading graphic design

studios A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

in the 1950s through 1970s
Julian Gromer Collection
travelogues and related papers created by filmmaker and lecturer Julian Gromer
Larry Janiak Collection
experimental films and documentaries made by Chicago filmmaker, designer and

Institute of Design IIT Institute of Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design. History The Institute of Design at Illinois Tech is a school of design ...

alum,

Larry Janiak Larry Janiak (born 15 February 1938) is a Chicago filmmaker, animator and designer. Janiak was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Lane Technical College Prep High School where he collaborated with Wayne Boyer and Ronald Larson to create animated ...

Don Klugman Collection
experimental and educational films made by Chicago-based filmmaker Don Klugman
Don McIlvaine Collection
home movies and short films shot by Chicago African-American artist and muralist Don McIlvaine
Ruth Page Collection
films and videotapes that document the dance legacy and artistic circle of dancer and choreographer, Ruth Page
Rhodes Patterson Collection
films that document the rapidly developing city of Chicago during the mid-century and the life of Rhodes Patterson, a designer, cinematographer, photographer, and writer who worked for

Container Corporation of America Container Corporation of America (CCA) was founded in 1926 and manufactured corrugated boxes. In 1968 CCA merged with Montgomery Ward & Company, Inc., becoming MARCOR. MARCOR maintained separate management for the operations of each company, but ...

Robert Stiegler Collection
experimental films and home movies created by Chicago-based photographer and

alum, Robert Stiegler

References

{{Reflist

External links

Chicago Film Archives Official Website
(

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

)
The Chicago Film Archives preserves midwest history one reel at a time
(

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

) Non-profit organizations based in Chicago Culture of Chicago Film archives in the United States