Home movie footage taken in Hunts Point, NY: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

16mm, silent, black-and-white film of the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx, New York. The footage includes storefronts, street scenes, and cars. The film begins with a street scene. A police car is driving towards the camera, and the camera follows the car as it passes by. The next scene shows two street signs at an intersection. One of the street signs reads Washington St. The next scene shows a storefront window advertising the Beaird Produce Co. and Beaird Seafoods, Ltd. The next scene shows cars driving down the street away from the camera. Also in the footage is an elevated segment of the New York Central Railroad, and several restaurant and bar signs on the side of the buildings. The next scene includes a close-up of the elevated railroad with the New York Central name painted on the side. The camera pans the side of a building that the railroad passes through. The next scene shows another advertisement on a window, and this one reads Boneless Meat. The remaining scenes appear to be filmed from a moving fishing boat. The footage shows other fishing boats in the water and a brief shot of the boat captain.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca.1949
• Created by: Unidentified
• Owned by: Pearl Bowser, American, 1931 - 2023
• Type: silent films
• Type: home movies
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film and metal
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film): 150 ft
• Dimensions: Duration: 4 min.
• Place filmed: Hunts Point, New York City, Bronx County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Transportation
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2012.79.1.15.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pearl Bowser
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.