Now that we have Mom all moved and settled nicely into her condo in Chippewa Falls, I’m going through all of the stuff that I dragged home from when we were downsizing her house.
Among my treasures is a box with at least 200 rolls of 8-mm film dating back to 1958 or 1959 all the way up through the mid 1970s. My parents loved to document via film. Nothing was too mundane for capture with the camera.
Fr’instance, the rolls of film are labeled with such tags as: fishing at Oronoco, Joey swinging on willow tree, Judy outside, Park Rapids, dynamiting stump. That might be worth transferring to DVD and watching!
Another one: Joey’s pinwheel from Grandma Prokasky, raking leaves with Anna, Donna, and Mom, Joey and Daddy picking up pinecones, new baler, Mom’s new car, throwing bales. A nice little slice of nostalgia.
Here’s one that says: Danny’s first birthday; Larry Sawyer’s birthday. All these years and I didn’t realize that Larry and Dan had birthdays close to each other.
There are reels and reels and reels of Christmas gatherings, family picnics, and the daily minutiae of what kids do.
But the ones I’m really interested in are the ones labeled “Halloween Party [insert year].” I grew up hearing stories about these Halloween parties. These were full costume parties, and if the costumes I remember from my mom’s attic are any indication...there was an abundance of imagination involved for all attendees. And, of course, there were adult beverages flowing freely. I bet I could blackmail people with this film footage!
Having all the film transferred to DVDs is cost prohibitive, so I have the dilemma of trying to decide what is most important. My first priority is any of our nuclear family, then extended family, then friends, and then farm-related footage.
The one piece of film that I remember watching over and over and over as a kid is when Dad’s friend, Cactus, came over to help him take down a stave silo. This process involved using a sledge hammer to knock out strategic blocks in the lower section of the silo (sort of like notching a tree that will be cut down).
The second step involved hooking one end of a cable or log chain to one of the rings that held the silo together and the other end to a tractor...and let ‘er rip.
Dad would run the film through the part with the silo coming down (and Cactus running for safety)...and then he’d reverse the projector so that the silo would go back up...and then down again. He got the biggest kick out of it.
The last part of my dilemma is that some of these rolls are not labeled at all. I can sorta-kinda figure the dates on them just because the newer rolls are a different style than the older rolls...but I’m still pretty clueless as to what is on there.
I’m not sure there is anyone else but me who would love to have all this film preserved for the ages. Well, Young Man would because he is my sentimental fool who likes family history.
If there is anyone else who would be interested, please let me know. Would love to share my family’s past with you in living color!!
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