In 2014, the Colorado Historic Records Advisory Board (CHRAB) awarded DPL's Western History/Genealogy department (WH/G) a grant to digitize rare 8mm and 16mm films from our audio visual collection. The resulting digitized film footage, consisting of ten films from two collections, is now available to researchers for the first time to view on YouTube.
Seven of the ten films digitized come from the “Newc” Eldredge Papers (TMD23). These films, created by various 10th Mountain Division soldiers, depict skiing and drills at Camp Hale, Colorado in 1943, where the division trained for mountain/winter warfare before its deployment to Italy in 1945 (click on the links below to view the films):
- Camp Hale by Clyde Bresee (8mm, color)
- Camp Hale by Herschel Hardisty (8mm, color)
- Camp Hale; Aspen skiing; muleskinning by Tony Hyde (8mm, color)
- Camp Hale barracks; ski parade (FF6) by Winston Pote (16mm, b/w)
- Camp Hale (FF7) by Winston Pote (8mm, b/w)
- Camp Hale (FF9) by Winston Pote (16mm, color)
- Camp Hale (FF11) by Winston Pote (16mm, color)
The other three digitized films are promotional motion pictures from the Denver Chamber of Commerce Records (WH1216) and show Denver and Colorado footage from the 1940's and 1960's:
- Land of Your Dreams (1944-1945,16mm, color)
- La Tierra de sus Suenos (Spanish language version of Land of Your Dreams, 1944-1945, 16mm, color)
- The Denver Olympic Story - Denver Olympics '76 (1964, 16mm, color)
Why are these films significant? We think they’re valuable for many reasons.
In particular, the Camp Hale footage provides a glimpse into the life of a WWII soldier, and it shows the network of barracks that was Camp Hale. Since the camp was dismantled shortly after the war, today, you can only “visit” Camp Hale in film. Moving images of Denver and Colorado from the mid-20th century can be hard to find too, so we were pleased to discover film footage of Denver and across Colorado showing a much smaller downtown skyline, quieter mountain highways, and scenes from the Denver Municipal and Stapleton Airports, which make a stark comparison to DIA today.
~This project was supported in part by an award from the Colorado Historical Records Advisory Board, through funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), National Archives Records Administration.~
Comments
This is wonderful. I hope
This is wonderful. I hope these films are available for sale. I want to buy my own copies. I very much look forward to viewing the entire collection. Sincerely, Tom Duhs
Thanks, Tom! We can indeed
Thanks, Tom! We can indeed make DVD copies. Please contact me at krudolph@denverlibrary.org to get an order started.
I have old 8mm movie films of
I have old 8mm movie films of Colorado taken by my father in the early 1940's. Some particularly good ones are of the Aspen area. Where can I donate them to a Colorado archive or public collection?
Hi, Linda! Click here to
Hi, Linda! Learn more about donating items to DPL's Western History/Genealogy department.
FOR OUR SERIES ON PBS, "THIS
FOR OUR SERIES ON PBS, "THIS AMERICAN LAND", WE'RE LOOKING FOR 3 OR 4 GOOD B/W ARCHIVE PHOTOS OF CAMP HALE AND THE TENTH MOUNTAIN DIVISION DURING WW2. CAN YOU HELP US FIND THESE? THANK YOU...
Hi Gary,
Hi Gary,
You'll want to check out our Digital Collections. We have several images of Camp Hale to choose from. If you're interested in ordering any of these images, be sure to make note of the photo's call number and head to our Image Pricing and Sizing page for more information and instructions on ordering. Thanks, Gary!
What lab did the work? Is
What lab did the work? Is there a Colorado lab working at an archival level? Thanks.
Hi Sharson,
Hi Sharon,
George Blood LP was the vendor for this project:
https://www.georgeblood.com/
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