Maurice Sorrell Home Movie #3: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

2016.95.5.1a: 16mm film. This home movie opens up with a close up shot of a home sign that reads “The Cleveland’s”. The next shot is of a woman braising a rotisserie chicken over a grill. Multiple angles show the chicken turn during various stages of the cooking process. The following footage is of various types of animals at a zoo. These animals include monkeys playing together, a long giraffe eating leaves from a tree outside of its cage, brown bears sleeping and moseying about, and polar bears sleeping and bathing. The closing shot is of a family standing under a sign that reads “COLUMBUS Z00 ENTRANCE”. There is a flash of a racetrack.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1955-1975
• Created by: Maurice Sorrell, American, 1914 - 1998
• Type: motion pictures (information artifacts)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: 16mm Film (a): acetate film;
• Dimensions: Duration: 3 Minutes
• Dimensions: Film Length: 100 Feet
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Amusements
• Topic: Cooking and dining
• Topic: Families
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Travel
• Object number: 2016.95.5.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Bonita F. Bing & The Late Blanche Beatrice Sorrell
• 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.