Maurice Sorrell Home Movie #4: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

2016.95.7.1a: 16mm film. This home movie begins inside a home, where friends and/or family are socializing and drinking. Everyone is wearing a tiny sombrero on their head. A man holds a white card, reading “48”, over the head of a woman in a green dress. Another woman can be seen placing cooked hot dogs on the serving table. A man hands a drink to the woman in the green dress, and she turns her head to get away from the camera light. She, and others, can be seen dancing and bobbing their heads throughout the rest of the film.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1955
• 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: 1.5 Minutes
• Dimensions: Film Length: 50 Feet
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Families
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Social life and customs
• Topic: Travel
• Object number: 2016.95.7.1a
• 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.