Preserve unique historical movies from Polish Chicago

Help preserve the forgottem cultural heritage of the Polish community in Chicago by contributing to financing the digitization of unique home movies, amateur films, art films and independent films recorded by Poles and people of Polish descent in Chicago.

All funds collected under this fundraiser will be allocated to professional, archival quality, digitization of 16mm, 8mm, super8 films and video tapes, including VHS, Video8, Hi8. All digitized movies will be available online for scholars, filmmakers, and the general public, free of charge. The collection will provide a unique record of the special moments and everyday life of Chicago's Polish community.

Films and tapes for digitization are collected as part of dr Agata Zborowska's research project "Critical Archives of Ordinariness: Vernacular Moving Image Practices and Migrant Identity in Polish Chicago." (short name: Not-So-Ordinary). To lear more about the the project please visit: www.not-so-ordinary.us.

There are hundreds of films to digitize. Without the support of the community, digitizing even a small part of the collection will not be possible because the costs of professional archival digitization are very high. For instance, the cost of archival quality digitization of 3 minutes 8mm film (50 feet) can easily reach up to circa $50. To imagine the scale of the need, let us note that in the collection donated by Jerzy "George" Skwarek there are over 20,000 feet of 8mm film. Collecting $6,000 (the goal of this fundraiser) will not be enough to digitize all important films, but it will allow me to preserve at least some of them, including those most at risk of material degradation.

Thank you!

Agata Zborowska

https://www.not-so-ordinary.us