This home movie collection was donated by the Wilmette Historical Museum in 2009 and documents the Grove Family from this northern suburb. The four reels were shot by Axel Grove between 1959-1963 and include footage of the Brookfield Zoo, O’Hare International Airport, the Morton Arboretum, Adventure Island Amusement Park, a trip to Wilmette’s beaches, a child’s tennis lesson and a very entertaining living room puppet show.

16mm home movies of Oak Park and Downtown Chicago shot between 1929 and 1930. Features footage of Museum Campus and other important landmarks, while also documenting Beryl Simon's stay at Fair Oaks Avenue with a friend.

The Benjamin Gasul Collection includes 5 reels of 16mm home movies shot by a well-respected Chicago area pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin M. Gasul. The films date from 1936 to 1940 and include footage of Brookfield Zoo and trips to Mackinac Island, Niagara Falls, Cuba, Miami, New Orleans and the 1939 New York World's Fair.

The Franklin McMahon collection consists primarily of audio recordings of significant political and social events from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. These recordings include interviews, political speeches, and environmental audio captured on location at Democratic and Republican National Conventions in the 1960s and 70s. McMahon’s subjects include Richard and Pat Nixon, Walter Cronkite, Jane Fonda, Abby Hoffman, Studs Terkel, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy and Edmund Muskie. Capturing reflections on the major political events and socio-cultural issues of the time, including the Vietnam War and Women’s Liberation Movement, McMahon’s audio recordings provide a rich, acoustic record of a tumultuous period in American history. The collection also contains a few films, including one on the “Chicago Seven” conspiracy trial.

The Harry Mantel Collection came to CFA via the University of Chicago and consists primarily of production elements (camera originals, outtakes and numerous magnetic & optical soundtracks) made by Chicago cameraman, producer, and journalist, Harry Mantel (1923-2007). The few distribution prints in the collection are part of a series titled "Harry Mantel's Vignettes," which were produced and directed by Mantel thanks to a grant from Encyclopedia Britannica. The series primarily includes brief portraits he constructed of the city of Chicago and its people as well as subjects and scenes shot in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ireland. Some of the many subjects Mantel explores in his Vignettes include a waitress at a former Marina City Towers restaurant, O'Hare air traffic controllers, the various manifestations of fire, Iowa square dancing, circus & zoo animals, leaves & trees, Irish culture and a suburban arts and crafts fair replete with many a macrame booth.