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A 1938 home movie film is gaining some national, historical attention at the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress according to a recent article in The Hollywood Reporter.

The National Film Preservation Act of 1992 created the Registry to preserve films in perpetuity if they are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. The films are chosen in groups of 25, with this year’s batch bringing the grand total to 475.  As happens every year when this list is released, Librarian of Congress James Billington reminds the world of all the movies that have disappeared. He notes that, “up to half the films produced in this country before 1950—and as much as 90 percent of those made before 1920—are lost forever. The National Film Registry seeks not only to honor these films, but to ensure that they are preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

Considering the other honored films include the likes of Back to the Future, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both popular Spielberg films, this is a big day for the significance of home movies.

“Our Day” is a 1938 film about a day in the life of the Kelly family. The 12-minute home movie shot by Wallace Kelly depicts his family as they go about their lives in Lebanon, KY. The cast was made up of his mother, wife, brother and pet terrier. “Our Day” also contains exceptional images of small-town Southern life, ones that counter the stereotype of impoverished people eking out a living after the Depression.

“What really caught everyone’s eye was how well it was made,” said Dwight Swanson, an archival consultant and board member at the Center for Home Movies. “It just looked beautiful.”

Dwight Swanson, one of the key people that iMemories works with for the annual Home Movie Day event each year, saw the film at the Center for Home Movies’ annual Home Movie Day in August 2007. The center and the Kelly family have agreed to have the 16mm film blown up to 35mm. Swanson hopes that they can get Kelly’s entire collection preserved in the center’s archive and then kept at the Library of Congress.

Dwight’s commentary about home movies is spot on. “Films like “Our Day” are often the ones that are at the greatest risk. The major studios now make an effort to preserve their films as they continue to make money. Home movies, however, get stuffed in a box and put in a closet if they’re lucky. In many ways, though, home movies might have greater interest to future generations than documentaries or fictional efforts because they show people more as they actually were”, Swanson said. “The way they depict themselves and show their lives is more direct and honest than what Hollywood was doing at the time”.

At iMemories, we “discover” home movie gems like this each year as well, when we invite Arizona residents to come watch their home movies in our Studio. It’s great to see one of these pieces get some press, public attention, and the credit that they deserve. Of course, the most famous home movie of all time, the ZAPRUDER FILM (1963), is already part of the National Film Registry — and deservedly so.

Here’s a list of the 25 films honored this year:

Back to the Future (1985), Bullitt (1968), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), Dances With Wolves (1990), Days of Heaven (1978), Glimpse of the Garden (1957), Grand Hotel (1932), The House I Live In (1945), In a Lonely Place (1950), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Mighty Like a Moose (1926), The Naked City (1948), Now, Voyager (1942), Oklahoma! (1955), Our Day (1938), Peege (1972), The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928), The Strong Man (1926), Three Little Pigs (1933), Tol’able David (1921), Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son (1969-71), 12 Angry Men (1957), The Women (1939), Wuthering Heights (1939)

 National Film Registry | Full List of Films (1989-2006)