Balfour Morrison Home Movies, circa 1936
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Helen Balfour Morrison (1901-1984) started as a commercial photographer in Evanston, Illinois but took up her camera as a serious artist in the 1930s. In the 1950s she set aside her portrait work and primarily photographed/recorded modern dancer Sybil Shearer, with whom she had developed a collaborative artistic partnership.; These reels are early examples of Helen’s fascination and expertise with the growing field of motion picture technologies, a tinkering hobby often reserved for men of her generation. The reels document her early family life, Chicago’s North Shore in the early part of the twentieth century, and a personal interest in capturing moving bodies on screen.
Credits
Helen Balfour Morrison (filmmaker)
Complete catalog record
Cfa collection: Morrison-Shearer Collection
Notes: This reel includes footage of Bob Morrison playing with a Collie dog in the yard. The film pans the landscape, as to survey the property. There is a brief clip of Bob hanging to a large branch in the water (likely Lake Michigan).; Harriet and Mac Balfour appear loading items in their convertible car and driving off. Harriet can be seen holding up a newspaper, but the headline is obscured. After a short clip of the car driving down a wooded road, Helen is seen playing around in the car. Finally, there are shots of Nancy Kling and a pasture of cows.
Places: North America > United States > Illinois
Language: English
Cfa elements: Reversal Positives, 350 feet; Reversal Positives, 140 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/15682; https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/15688
Notes: This reel includes footage of Bob Morrison playing with a Collie dog in the yard. The film pans the landscape, as to survey the property. There is a brief clip of Bob hanging to a large branch in the water (likely Lake Michigan).; Harriet and Mac Balfour appear loading items in their convertible car and driving off. Harriet can be seen holding up a newspaper, but the headline is obscured. After a short clip of the car driving down a wooded road, Helen is seen playing around in the car. Finally, there are shots of Nancy Kling and a pasture of cows.
Places: North America > United States > Illinois
Language: English
Cfa elements: Reversal Positives, 350 feet; Reversal Positives, 140 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/15682; https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/15688
Sources
- Chicago Film Archives · record ↗ — title, year, creator, format, color, sound, genre, description, credits, catalog record
Record added 2026-11-08 21:25:27