Home Movie Day at New Haven Museum

Event on Sat Oct. 18 from 12pm-4pm

These days many people have boxes of old, half-forgotten, home movies tucked away in a closet or attic. Shot on 8 mm, Super 8, and 16 mm film, the movies often contain cherished family memories and invaluable social and historical images, but few people have the equipment to view them. Fewer still know how to maintain them for future generations. On Saturday, October 18, 2014, the public is invited to bring their home movies to the New Haven Museum for “Home Movie Day New Haven.” The event brings archivists, librarians, filmmakers, and film enthusiasts together to offer free, expert advice on home movie preservation from 12 to 2 p.m., followed by public screenings of the  home movies from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Attendees can have their films assessed, learn film preservation tips, win fun prizes, and enjoy continuous screenings of home movies.

Home Movie Day is an internationally organized event that began in 2003, when a small group of film archivists decided to try and save the countless reels of home movies shot on film during the 20th century. Today as many as 100 venues worldwide take part in the event.

Get music for home movies from Super8Beats

Home Movie Day New Haven was developed by Molly Wheeler, an archivist at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library whose specialty is audiovisual preservation. She notes Home Movie Day attracts a diverse audience - ranging from those wishing to see their childhood movies again to others who’ve inherited home movies they’ve never viewed. She cites a poignant example of a Home Movie Day in which a woman brought in her children and grandmother, and a large bag of popcorn, and all three viewed the grandmother’s wedding movies for the first time, along with a highly appreciative public audience.

Hobbyists interested in small gauge film also attend, as well as movie buffs and those simply fascinated with the capturing of social history on film. “It’s a day of highly personal connections,” Wheeler says. “But it’s also a time for people to share community histories; we have people seeing family members on film for the first time, and the public viewing images of a bygone era—it’s a captivating event.”

Wheeler will be joined by Brian Meacham, archives and special collections manager at the Yale University Film Study Center, and former archivist at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles. The Academy Film Archive is home to one of the most extensive and diverse motion pictures collections in the world.

Home Movie Day film drop-off time is noon to 2 p.m.; accepted formats are 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm. Home movie screenings are from 2 to 4 p.m. Attendees may have their films assessed, learn film preservation tips, win fun prizes during a cleverly devised Home Movie Day Bingo game and enjoy continuous screenings of home movies.

Visit: http://www.homemovieday.com/newhaven
 or call Molly Wheeler at 203-430-4157.

For information on the international event visit: http://www.homemovieday.com.

For information on the New Haven Museum visit: www.newhavenmuseum.org, or facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183.

Project Storefronts presents: A Street Fair inside Union Station

The City of New Haven is inventing new ways to connect creative entrepreneurs with resources to grow their businesses by giving them space inside New Haven’s train station through the Project Storefronts program.  Hosted by Park New Haven, the first-ever Street Fair Inside Union Station takes place July 18-19, 2014.

Says Elinor Slomba, Project Storefronts’ Program Manager, “Here in this beautiful station we wanted to create some of that Grand Central-style buzz while showcasing New Haven’s entrepreneurs and cultural organizations from different neighborhoods.”

Music and brightly-colored banners will attract people to the West Lobby where the Street Fair will be taking place.  Foot traffic and sales will be measured so that improvements can be made in the future.

Sixteen entrepreneurs will be featured, including:

• Gordon Skinner who designed a new line of merchandise featuring his collages while stationed at Popup55 last month on Church Street.

• Alfreda Warner of Fair Haven, who had envisioned starting a business with her sister after they both retired from Yale.  The company, V’s Accessories, is named in her sister’s memory.

• Nadine Nelson, a chef from Newhallville who designs culinary experiences based on cultural themes.  She will offer a selection of cookbooks, spices and kitchen accessories.

• Angelina Ludwig who makes colorful scented handmade soaps.

Information on upcoming exhibitions and a selection of prints and postcards will be also available from the New Haven Museum, Silk Road Gallery, The Hill Museum of the Arts and the Gallery at Ele-Mar.  

In keeping with the transit-themed location, Devil’s Gear Bike Shop will display foldable bicycles.

Art Show at the New Haven Museum

Various cross-sections of the Lincoln Oak, used as art.

This month, check out some of the artwork produced at the New Haven Museum by various artists who specialize in sculpture. These were works of art that were produced by using cross sections and cuts from the original Lincoln Oak, which was dedicated to Abraham Lincoln and planted on the New Haven Green in 1919, and then later fell to the winds of Hurricane Sandy.

There is a video of the panel discussion with the artists featured in Nothing is Set in Stone: The Lincoln Oak and the New Haven Green. The artists elaborated on the inspiration and process behind their new work. Discussion was moderated by Zeb Esselstyn of City Bench.

Greenberg's Lincoln Oak Artwork. October 30th 2013

The art will be on display at the museum in the room upstairs around the rotunda to the left.

The concept behind the show was peculiarly similar to an art project developed earlier and independently by a different artist not included at the show in the museum, who about a year ago obtained a cross-section of the Lincoln Oak to represent a timeline of events which took place throughout history during the life of the tree. That particular artist, Robert S. Greenberg, presented his cross-sectioned art piece in public on the New Haven Green back in October of 2013. This was around the same time that the museum was releasing the contents of the time capsule found under the plaque, which has been verified as originally discovered by Greenberg.

Artists included in the project are Lani Asuncion, Susan Clinard, Erich Davis, Michael Quirk, Jeff Slomba, Rachael Vaters-Carr and Alison Walsh.

"Nothing Is Set In Stone" Artists Panel at New Haven Museum from #NHV on Vimeo.

Oystering at Pardee-Morris

Today from 2pm - 4pm, the New Haven Museum is boasting of an interesting activity.

The New Haven Museum’s Pardee-Morris House is a 6,000 sq. ft 18th-century farmhouse located on Lighthouse Road on the east shore of New Haven harbor. Built by Amos Morris around 1750, the house was burned by the British during their raid on New Haven in 1779 and rebuilt by the Morris family. It remained in that family until 1915, when it was purchased by William Pardee, a descendant of the Morris family, who hoped to make it his home. Pardee died in 1918 and willed the property, along with a small endowment, to the New Haven Museum, then known as the New Haven Colony Historical Society. Today, the Pardee-Morris House is open seasonally for events, classes and tours.


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Learn more about oystering in #nhv at 2p today at the #PardeeMorrisHouse! The house is also open for guided tours til 4p! #ct #history
— New Haven Museum (@NewHavenMuseum) July 14, 2013

Saving Wooster Square Symposium this Saturday

Register at Education@NewHavenMuseum.Org

At New Haven Museum Next Sunday

In honor of Historic Preservation Month, the Museum will host "preservED!", a special FREE family program, next Sunday, May 5 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. 

Children and families will design buildings to decorate their own unique note cards while learning about architectural features.

Find out more about it on their facebook page.

Naming The Years After Animals

To the uninformed, every year in the Chinese calendar might appear to be the year of the dragon.  However this time around the sun, it's actually the year of the snake.  What's the difference?  Dragons are mythical creatures that appear everywhere in ancient human culture, from Britain to Japan.  A snake is a real creature.  In fact, there are many of them everywhere.  Recently in Guam, the U.S. Military took this approach to reprieving the snake population.  And mostly due to escaped pets, the burmese python population has taken over the Everglades in such numbers that they actually have contests to see how many they can get rid of.

If this is the year of the snake, it would make sense.  Less sense it would make if this were the year of the moose, who are now considered endangered in parts of the country.

From YaleNews with regards to this event:

"A lion dance parade and Chinese arts for adults and children in downtown New Haven will usher in the Year of the Snake on Saturday, and Sunday, March 2 and 3.

The two-day event is co-sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale, the New Haven Museum, and the Yale-China Association, with support from the Yale Programs in International Educational Resources.

The snake is one of 12 animals celebrated as part of the Chinese lunar calendar."

Links Mentioned:

• News article about snakes in Guam [Guardian]
• News article about snakes in the Everglades [HuffPost]
• News article about moose in Minnesota [L.A. Times]
• Link to Council on East Asian Studies
• Link to New Haven Museum
• Link to Yale-China Association
• Link to Yale Programs in Int'l Education

Bonus Questions:

• What's the plural of "Moose" (?)
• What was the Chinese animal for the year you were born?
• If you could name an animal to add to the Chinese calendar, what would it be?

Don't forget to check out the newly renovated Yale University Art Gallery, which resembles more of an art museum than ever before. 

Learn  more about the Chinese Lunar Calendar on Wikipedia. 

Purim on The Rocks!

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