UA Little Rock Downtown, CALS Butler Center to Host Home Movie Day Celebration
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) and the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Butler Center for Arkansas Studies are teaming up to host Home Movie Day 2025 on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 1-4 p.m. at UA Little Rock Downtown.
Attendees are invited to bring their home movies to share and explore, while also enjoying a curated selection of home movies from the CAHC and Butler Center collections. The event is free and open to the public, and guests can enjoy complimentary popcorn and drinks while completing a Home Movie Day bingo card for a chance to win prizes.
Guests can look forward to clips that range from early footage of the Little Rock Zoo and family trips to Devil’s Den, to childhood home movies of Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller and ordinary moments for everyday Arkansans like parades, birthday parties, gardening, and camping. The collection spans from the 1910s through the 1990s, offering a rare window into Arkansas history through the eyes of everyday people.
“Home movies tell us so much about the way the world was at particular points in time from the perspective of ordinary people,” said Amanda McQueen, archivist and student coordinator at CAHC. “For a long time, history was told only through the lives of great men and women. Home movies give us insight into the everyday lives of ordinary citizens and help create a bigger, more complete picture of the past.”
Started by the nonprofit Center for Home Movies, Home Movie Day celebrates home movies and amateur films. McQueen, who holds a master’s degree in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation from New York University, said the event also raises awareness about the need to preserve personal media in the face of rapidly changing technology.
“That clip you shot today on your iPhone is a home movie,” McQueen said. “The question is: What will happen to that file in 100 years if you don’t preserve it? People in the future won’t be able to see what life was like today.”
At the event, trained archivists will be on hand to help attendees view personal media in formats such as 8mm and 16mm films, Betacam tapes, VHS tapes, and MiniDVD tapes. While digitization services will not be available on-site, guests will receive information about preservation and digitization resources, including the CALS DIY Memory Lab at the Roberts Library in downtown Little Rock. The Memory Lab is a free, self-service space where the public can digitize photographs, VHS and Beta tapes, audio cassettes, and other media.
McQueen hopes the event will inspire Arkansans to dig out their old tapes and reels.
“If you have these films tucked away in your attic or basement, now is the time to do something to preserve them,” she said. “These movies are important records of our cultural and community heritage, and everyone’s story matters.”