Converse M. Converse home movie collection, 1920s-1930s

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Summary

Abstract:
This collection contains one 16mm film reel composed of 10 black and white home movies of Converse M. Converse with his friends and family including footage of California, the East Coast of the United States, and internationally.
Extent:
0.1 Linear Feet (1 16mm film reel)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Converse M. Converse home movie collection, FMST Mss 8. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The Converse M. Converse home movie collection consists of home movies created by C.M. Converse and friends in the course of his largely international travels in the 1920s and early 1930s. This reel consists of multiple 16mm films which were compiled into a single reel by a previous custodian. Because we are unable to confidently connect the individual films to their original containers, which themselves retained minimal descriptive information, dates are estimated based on the manufacturing dates printed on the films. Some filmed locations and events are identified in title cards contained within the films, but many locations are not confirmed and the identities of most of the people who appear in the films is uncertain.

Segment one includes Converse friends and family traveling internationally in approximately 1924 with title cards reading:

  • "Algeria & Tunisia by Motor"
  • "Party at lunch in Algiers"
  • "Tizi Ouzou"
  • "Fort National"
  • "Cars on the road to Bougie"
  • "The African Corniche Road"
Segment two also documents international travels in a coastal city in approximately 1927. Segment three documents the construction of a building and a bride and groom posing on a front porch in approximately 1925. Segment four documents travels by ship from New York to what appears to be Switzerland in approximately 1926. Segment five documents an equestrian event and trip to the beach perhaps also in Switzerland in approximately 1927. Segment six includes footage of friends and family at the beach, playing tennis, and a wedding reception. The reception appears to be for the 1929 wedding of George Peabody Converse and actress Anita Stewart in Los Angeles. Segment seven documents a trip to a large estate and to cabins along a lake. Segments seven and eight document trips to Nevada, Japan, and Honolulu in approximately 1930. The final segment documents a trip to Venice, including St Mark's Square and what appears to be Austria.

Biographical / historical:

The affluent Converse family lived primarily on the East Coast of the United States and often vacationed in Southern California. By the late 1930s, most of the immediate family was living in the Central Coast of California including Santa Barbara and Montecito. Converse M. Converse (C.M.) was born in 1901, the son of Antoinette MacDonough Converse (1880-1936) and Walter Cooledge Morrill (1878-1940). His first marriage was to Marion Josephine McCall in 1922-1930. His second marriage was to Swedish actress Alexa Engström (1899-1984). Family members include his grandfather Edmund Cogswell Converse, Sr. (1849-1921), a prominent banker and business leader in New York with leadership roles in the National Tube Company and the United States Steel Corporation in the early to mid 1900s; his uncle E.C. Converse, Jr., who owned a cattle ranch in Santa Paula, California in the 1920s; his brother, George Peabody Morrill Converse (1902-1963); George's wives Olivia Poole Long, actress Anita Stewart, and Dorothy Knight; and his mother's third husband, actor Richard Wayne. C.M. Converse died at age 74 in Santa Barbara, California and is buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Custodial history:

The individual 16mm home movies that make up this collection were compiled into a single reel and subsequently transferred from the UCSB Film and Media Studies Department's Archives in 2024. It is believed that the films may have accompanied the KEYT News Film Collection (FMST 7), which was donated to UCSB in 2016.

Physical location:
This collection is located at the Department of Film and Media Studies cold vault, Social Sciences and Media Studies Building (SSMS).
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Converse M. Converse home movie collection, FMST Mss 8. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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