Home movies all too often get relegated to basements where they sit with recordings of made-for-TV movies or other equally-neglected videos. Of course, there are always the semi-annual walks down memory lane where people pull out the documentation of times past, but as a general rule, our home movies are going the way of dinosaurs.

It is time that these gems are celebrated, and this is just the goal of the Center for Home Movies. By protecting and archiving our home movies, we can gradually create a history of our culture through moving images. At Internet Archive, a family’s epic camping trip or a 1960s South African dance ceremony can be shared, giving everyone the intimate experience of gathering around a television to screen forgotten home movies.

Here is a sampling of entertaining amateur films that have gained freedom from their dusty basement status, documenting cultural heritage for years to come:

A 16-year-old’s dramatic interpretation of Tarzan

A peek into the life of the Kelly family in Lebanon, Kentucky circa 1938

Footage of a New York pride parade during the first decade of gay pride marches

A filmmaker’s tribute to Kodachrome 40 Super 8, a popular film making device that has been discontinued

A short English film about a gentle boy scout who befriends a sheep

A rare look into the happenings of a Californian backyard in 1949

A film from the 1970s; scenes range from young people playing guitars to a street photographer to a child playing outside

Please add to the growing collection at Internet Archive. Keep your footage safe while sharing in a collective vision to archive our heritage. If you have uploaded a home movie on the archive and would like it added to this collection, please contact skip@avgeeks.com.

–Cara Binder