Rev. S.S. Jones Home Movies: Reel 9: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A home movie featuring footage taken in Oklahoma during the middle and late 1920s by Solomon Sir Jones. It is the ninth in a collection of nine films and consists of a single reel of silent 16mm black-and-white acetate film.

The film begins with brief footage of men walking beside a passenger train. The next scene shows men coming out of a house and carrying a casket. Two men stand at the bottom of the stairs with poles lifted in the air and crossing. There is a funeral procession with a band playing instruments on the way to the church. The band is followed by the hearse and a long line of cars. People line the street as the procession passes by. The camera shows the interior of the church, and then shows women carrying flowers out of the church followed by other funeral attendees and the pallbearers carrying the casket. There is another procession to the cemetery. The footage shows the graveside service and the casket being lowered into the ground. The next scene shows men standing outside of a storefront talking and laughing. They cross the street. The next scene shows a hearse drive by and a funeral procession. The funeral procession proceeds down a street with people and cars. There are also horses pulling carriages and wagons with people in them.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1924-1928
• Directed by: Rev. S. S. Jones, American, 1869 - 1936
• Type: silent films
• Type: home movies
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film
• Dimensions: Duration: 10 Minutes
• Dimensions: Length (Film): 250 Feet
• Place filmed: Oklahoma, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Baptist
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Domestic life
• Topic: Funeral customs and rites
• Topic: Religion
• Object number: 2011.79.9.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Naomi Long Madgett
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.