The films in this collection were made and collected by Chicago area film critic and filmmaker Bill Stamets. The bulk of the collection consists of Super 8 films and outtakes made by Stamets in the 1970s and 1980s. They depict political events primarily in the city of Chicago, including former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's two election campaigns, inaugurations, and time in office; numerous street protests and marches; and cultural festivals around the city. Also in the collection are nine 16mm film prints consisting of 3 films made by Chicago filmmaker Tom Palazzolo and 6 films by Stan Brakhage.

The Byron Grush Collection contains experimental and animation films made by Chicago filmmaker and animator, Byron Grush. Byron has ties to numerous local universities and organizations including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Academy of Fine Art, Goldsholl Design Associates, and Center Cinema Coop. This collection’s experimental films consist of hand drawn animated works and abstract short films, made primarily between the years 1961 and 1976. Films by other local filmmakers and artists are included in this collection. Also found in this collection are: an original drawing from Byron's film Why We Fight, a signed copy of The Shoestring Animator, newspaper clippings of Byron’s work, and other ephemera.

The Cynthia Holmberg Collection consists of 16mm home movies shot primarily by Henry Brooks, Cynthia’s father, and 8mm home movies shot by Cynthia’s husband Ron Holmberg. Ranging from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, the 16mm films document Cynthia’s childhood and the life of a middle class family living in Chicago. The 8mm home movies document Ron and Cynthia Holmberg’s family and life in the suburbs of Chicago in the 1970s and early 80s. They include various locations around Chicago as well as family trips to Wisconsin, various U.S. National Parks, and Florida.

The David Szabo Collection is mainly comprised of films and ephemera from David Szabo's time as a student at Columbia College in the late 1960s and his time as a freelance editor and partner of the Szabo-Tohtz editing company in the 1970s and 1980s. Included are distributed prints that are unclear as to Szabo's involvement, 16mm films and intermediate materials Szabo worked on during his time at Columbia College, advertisements he worked on as an editor in the 1970s and 1980s, and 8mm home movies dating from 1948-1963.

This collection of films was made by filmmaker DeWitt Beall in Chicago during the 1960s. A large portion of the collection consists of elements and prints related to LORD THING, a film about a Chicago-based gang named the Conservative Vice Lords. The film was never released, but won an award at the Venice Film Festival in 1971. Various other educational films, documentaries and PSAs are in this collection, including the EARTHKEEPING series which aired on PBS in the early 1970s.

In 2008, three experimental films made by Chicago-based filmmaker Don Klugman were preserved with the support of the National Film Preservation Foundation in 2008. NIGHTSONG is a portrait of the Chicago Near-North nightlife scene in the mid-1960s, centering on the struggles and romantic desires of an African American singer played by long-forgotten folk sensation, Willie Wright. I'VE GOT THIS PROBLEM traces the romantic relationship between a young man and woman (played by Klugman and Judy Harris) who meet in a downtown coffee shop. Their nonstop dialogue fluctuates between playful psycho-babble and sincere attempts to relay their innermost feelings. YOU'RE PUTTING ME ON seems to pick up the same couple (again played by Klugman and Harris) a few years later, as they attend a swinging bohemian party where they pilfer personal objects from the unsuspecting guests. The archival materials created from these three Klugman films comprise the Don Klugman Collection.