Detail
Theme Family Life
Scenes of home and family life, through amateur films, home movies, documentaries and drama form a major part of the archive's collections. Such material includes amateur footage of family events such as Christmas celebrations, weddings, holidays in the UK and abroad, family outings, and leisure time activities, as well as fictional representations of domestic life and relationships are filmed.
Screen Archive South East houses a great deal of amateur family film footage mostly spanning the 1920s to the 1970s. Home movies made by cine-camera owners of their own home and family events include images of a wide range of subjects including everyday domestic life, scenes and events from the local area, and holidays and trips around the UK and abroad.
One example of a rich and fascinating amateur film collection held at Screen Archive South East is the films of Joseph Emberton, a Surrey-based architect who filmed his family and travels from the 1930s to the 1950s. In these films scenes of children at play, every day home life, and seaside outings sit alongside footage of pre-war Germany and travels to Morocco.
Other important amateur collections in the archive include the Gowlland family films which span the 1930s to the 1960s, following the children as they grow into adulthood and have children of their own. The collection of amateur films by Enid Briggs of Broadstairs shows family activities and outings as well as local scenes and events, such as Town and Family Scenes at Broadstairs (1929 - 1938), providing a unique record of life in the region in the 1920s and 1930s.
Films in this theme:
Showing 1 to 15 of 1150 results.
![A Still from [The Seasons at Otford] (ca.1959)](/wp-content/uploads/films/6150/image_a_thumb.jpg "[The Seasons at Otford] (ca.1959)")
[The Seasons at Otford]
| Date | 1944 | ID | 6150 |
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In this film, Mr. Newman documents a year in Otford, filming the countryside around Otford, as the seasons change over the year.
The Twin’s Tea Party
| Date | [1896?] | ID | 8439 |
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A tea party turns violent in this film by Robert Paul from the mid 1890s.
Santa Claus
| Date | 1898 | ID | 8369 |
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Children sleep while Santa Claus appears in their bedroom to deliver their presents, directed by George Albert Smith in 1898.
[Pillow Fight] Children in the Nursery
| Date | [1898?] | ID | 8443 |
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Pillows explode as two young boys fight in their nursery after being put to bed in this film by Robert Paul from the late 1890s.
The Postman and the Nursemaid
| Date | [1899 -1909?] | ID | 8423 |
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Two mischievous boys disrupt a postman and a nursemaid in a garden in this comedy by Charles Goodwin Norton.
Grandma’s Reading Glass
| Date | 1900 | ID | 8372 |
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A boy examines the objects around him with a large magnifying glass as he sits with his grandma in this 1900 film by George Albert Smith.
The House that Jack Built
| Date | 1900 | ID | 8374 |
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A young girl's house is destroyed and magically rebuilt by her younger brother in this film by George Albert Smith produced in 1900.
In Past Ages
| Date | [ca.1910-1920] | ID | 10960 |
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This early short compilation shows a series of experimental family portrait scenes, filmed outside in a home movie style.
Dear Boys Come Home for the Holidays
| Date | 1904 | ID | 8391 |
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Two boys cause havoc in their family home in this 1904 comedy by James Williamson.
£100 Reward
| Date | 1908 | ID | 8397 |
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A dog earns a reward which transforms the fortunes of a family in this 1908 James Williamson production.
The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper
| Date | 1908 | ID | 8409 |
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A collie drives a baby back to her home in this 1908 Cecil Hepworth production.
Warnham Court; The Home of C. J. Lucas
| Date | [ca. 1920] | ID | 4904 |
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This black and white family film shows a group of men playing golf on the Warnham Court estate, followed by highlights of Tennis (doubles) and a cricket match. The family watch from the terrace next to the house. The final film with intertitles shows a beekeeping film, demonstrating how to create an artificial hive. Two men use their bare hands to handle the bees.
[Miscellaneous Family Scenes IV]
| Date | [ca. 1930s - 1940s] | ID | 710 |
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A compilation of home movie material, including family outings to the beach, an excursion in an open-top car, and various family scenes in a garden where a young boy playfights with his grandfather (?) and watches female relatives playing on a seesaw. There is also a sequence of rough seas battering the coast and a shot of a tank driving along a road.
[Churchill House; children and family; seaside; Wales; France]
| Date | [ca. 1920s] | ID | 4574 |
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A home movie showing scenes of the Muller-Rowland family relaxing at their family home near Woking and on holiday in South Wales during the 1920s. The film ends with some footage of the Palace of Versailles in France.
[Family Scenes: Garden; Outings; School Sports]
| Date | [ca. 1920s] | ID | 7498 |
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A compilation of family scenes shot in the garden in Ashford, on trips to London and Monte Carlo, and at a school swimming gala and performances on the lawn, filmed by Dr. Victor Don in the 1920s.
Showing 1 to 15 of 1150 results.