- unitid
-
{"value"=>"188298", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22253852", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Brown 2012-34", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"circa 1935 to 1970", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1935/1970", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
{"value"=>"circa 1959-1965", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1959/1965", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Helen Elizabeth Brown film collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"16 moving_image_recordings", "unit"=>"moving_image_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Helen Elizabeth Brown was a Harlem resident who worked at Lewis H. Michaux's National Memorial African Bookstore. The collection consists of sixteen films, dating from circa 1935 to 1970. The bulk of the films date from circa 1959 to 1965."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Brown, Helen Elizabeth", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Helen Elizabeth Brown (dates of birth and death are unknown) was a Harlem resident. She performed as a singer in the Hall Johnson Negro Choir in the 1920s, before going on to work at Lewis H. Michaux's (1885-1976) National Memorial African Bookstore, located at Seventh Avenue and 125th Street, until it closed in 1974. The bookstore's storefront famously featured a sign proclaiming it the \"House of Common Sense and the Home of Proper Propaganda,\" and it was considered a center of Black culture. It stocked Black literature from around the world and drew notable figures in Black nationalist and civil rights movements.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection consists of sixteen films belonging to Helen Elizabeth Brown, dating from circa 1935 to 1970. The bulk of the films date from circa 1959 to 1965. They are organized chronologically, and then alphabetically by title.</p> <p>The films consist primarily of home movies likely shot by Brown, and demonstrate an interest in the civil rights movement and Black nationalism, her work at the National Memorial African Bookstore, and daily life in Harlem in the 1960s. One film that Brown collected was likely produced by the United Nations. One film appears to have never been developed.</p> <p>Item titles have been drawn from handwriting on the film container or the film itself. Unless otherwise noted, films are in color, and dates were determined from date codes on the film.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Al Vinson, 2012.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Helen Elizabeth Brown letters, Sc MG 880.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photographs.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Nathan Evans</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Lyric Benjamin-Hunter</span>, archivist. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>At the time of publishing, sixteen films are not available pending digitization.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- date_start
-
1935
- keydate
-
1935
- date_end
-
1970
- date_inclusive_start
-
1935
- date_inclusive_end
-
1970
- date_bulk_start
-
1959
- date_bulk_end
-
1965
- extent_statement
-
16 moving_image_recordings
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Helen Elizabeth Brown film collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}