Granbery and Barr home movies
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Abstract
The Granbery and Barr home movies consist of 16mm film originals in black and white and color from 1920-1943. The films, shot by E.C. Granbery, Jr., E.C. Granbery, Sr., and John Granbery, reflect family life during vacations in the 1920s such as weddings, Yale class reunions, cross-Atlantic steamship voyages, dude ranch visits, and Manhattan and Brooklyn scenes. The collection also includes footage from the Asian arena of World War II. There are four narrative films that the family created including, "On Holiday", "Race for Love", a newsreel film on Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic, an untitled film, and "War on the Roof". "On Holiday" was edited by the donor and descendent, Joya Hoyt, with a soundtrack by one of the original creators E.C. Granbery Jr. "War on the Roof" shows children playing in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn during the 1920s. The Granbery and Barr families lived in Brooklyn Heights from 1841 to 1936. They moved there in 1841 from Norfolk, Virginia and lived in several locations in the neighborhood before leaving in 1936.
Biographical Note
The Granbery family moved to and proliferated in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood from 1841 to 1941. They were brought by the common ancestors H.A.T. Granbery and Prudence Nimmo formerly of Norfolk, Virginia. Colonel Henry Augustus Thaddeus (H.A.T.) Granbery was the founder of the Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner or the Know-Nothing Party.
The Granbery and Barr families came together when Julia Kinsport Barr married E.C. Granbery, Sr. on October 2, 1907 at St. Anne's Church in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. E.C. Granbery, Sr. worked in an on-site business firm building the Flatiron building in Manhattan for a number of years. For the majority of his life he worked for the investment-banking firm of Harris Forbes that merged with Chase Securities in 1930. During World War I, E.C. Granbery, Sr. was Chairman of the Liberty Loan in Brooklyn and later was President of the Bond Club in Manhattan.
E.C. Granbery, Sr. and Julia Kinport Barr lived in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn with their three children John Granbery, E.C. Granbery, Jr., and Jane Granbery. The family was very active in the neighborhood and civic societies in Brooklyn until the death of Jane Granbery in 1936 after which they moved to Manhattan. E.C., Jr. went on to serve with the Army Construction Detachment in World War II in the Asian Arena. After the war, he became an architect, married Diana Allyn, and lived in New Haven, Connecticut. E.C. Granbery, Jr. was Chairman of the Guilford School Building Committee, a member of Guilford Charter Commission, and president and chairman of the board of the Norwich Water Power Company. E.C. Granbery, Jr. passed away in 1998 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Colonel Edward Barr, grandfather of Julia Kinport Barr, of the Army of the Potomac was the Secretary to the Brooklyn Bridge Commission while running an iron business in New York. His former house on State Street is the site of the quarry that provided the stone for the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. William Henry Granbery received a government medal from Russia while the Chairman of the Committee of the Stock List and as a result was dubbed the Count of Wall Street. Imogene Bishop Herrick's house at 25 West 23rd Street in Manhattan was the first in New York City to have electricity according to donor records.
The first residences were located at 109, 111, and 84 State Street. The family later branched out to 124 Joralemon Street in 1911, 122 Joralemon Street in 1912, 264 Henry Street in 1919, 17 Willow Street, 17 Monroe Place in 1921, and apartment buildings in Columbia Heights before leaving Brooklyn in 1936.
Scope and Contents
Granbery and Barr home movies consist of 16mm films from 1920-1943 featuring the two families from the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The families were very active in Brooklyn, particularly from 1841–1936. Edwin Carleton (E.C.) Granbery Jr., John Granbery, made the films or Edwin Carleton (E.C.) Granbery, Sr. made the films. They feature family vacations in Long Island (N.Y.), Connecticut, Virginia, and Europe as well as major events such as weddings, class reunions, and family gatherings that occurred in and away from Brooklyn.
The films were mainly created while the Granbery and Barr family vacationed in Greenwich and Norfolk, Connecticut; Long Island; Nantucket, Massachusetts; The Adirondacks, and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. They document various vacation activities including swimming in lakes and rivers, playing tennis, haying (playing in hay), and family gatherings including graduation parties and weddings.
Europe Trips In the 1920s the Granbery and Barr families travelled to Europe (France, Germany, Italy) on steam ships. The films feature games such as shuffleboard and badminton during the trans-Atlantic cruise. Once there, the families visit Paris on Bastille Day, Düsseldorf, and Berlin among others by land. They also stay with extended family at La Pineta at Bissone on Lake Lugano and Duchastels at Montrouge near Rheims. La Pineta was owned by Josephine Barr and her husband Carl Kuchler of 109 State Street and Duchastels at Montrouge to Josephine's sister, Julie Pelerin.
Brooklyn and Manhattan The Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines were filmed in detail as the family left for Europe by boat. Footage of New York and Brooklyn from 1920–1945 was shot at 17 Monroe Place and occasionally 109/11 State Street, 84 Henry Street, 124 and 122 Joralemon Street, and 17 Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights. The films that show Brooklyn are outtakes or unused cuts from the narrative film "War on the Roof". The footage features people riding trolley trains, street games, and preparing for their movie. There is footage that shows younger members of the family drinking on the roof in Manhattan around the area of 470 Park Avenue; the Granbery branch of the family moved there after 1936.
Narrative Films The Granbery and Barr families made four narrative films, "War on the Roof", "Race for Love", "On Holiday", and an untitled film in Wyoming during the 1920s. "Race for Love" is a movie featuring a woman being abducted and tied to a chair by E.C. Granbery, Sr. in blackface with the help of Yale boys as savages in black paint. E.C. Granbery, Jr. played a messenger boy, while John Granbery shot the film. The untitled film in Wyoming has a similar theme. However, instead of African savages, it features cowboys, Native Americans, and outlaws. "On Holiday" is a recent edit by donor Joya Hoyt created 70 years later featuring a soundtrack by one of the original filmmakers, John Granbery. "On Holiday" was shown at the 12th Night Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. "War on the Roof" highlights youthful life in Brooklyn and is about a gangster and armies meeting on rooftops in Brooklyn Heights. There is also one commercial newsreel film about Charles Lindbergh and his trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.
Home Movies 1930s and 1940 The 1930s films and one 1940 film show the Granbery and Barr families' excursions around the country and world. Some of the footage is in black and white, while others are in color. It features sports, Scottish games, bike races, skiing vacations in Connecticut, and the Yale College class reunion of 1902. The locations in these films are Northampton, Long Island, Bermuda, Cooperstown, Greenwich, Canada, Virginia, Italy and Manchester. These are home movies of the Granbery and Barr families as opposed to the amateur films of the 1920s.
Military The final set of films features color footage from the Asian Arena in World War II that occured between 1944 and 1945. E.C. Granbery Jr. was in the Army Construction Detachment that left for the Pacific Islands from San Francisco. The films depict troop life including drills before shifting to the Pacific landscapes and people. The films focus on the realities of soldiers and Pacific Islanders as well as the landscape of a foreign land.
Subjects
Families
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People
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Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Open to users without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has been transferred to the Brooklyn Public Library for all items. The one commercial production on Charles Lindbergh is in the public domain and widely available.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Granbery and Barr home movies, 2008.039, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
If digital surrogates exist, they should be used in place of the originals whenever possible.
All 16mm film reels are unavailable due to technical limitations. See existence and location of copies note for information about digital surrogates.
Existence and Location of Copies
Item-level description and links to streaming video from the collection are available on the Internet Archive, which can be accessed from the Center for Brooklyn History homepage.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processed to the item level.
Series I: Original Raw Footage is reflective of the original 16mm film elements for the Granbery and Barr home movies 1920–1945. The films are ordered chronologically by the original film objects. All of the films in the collection are in mixed conditions with some severely damaged, while others are in relatively good condition.
Series II: Edited Footage is comprised of edited or curated footage transferred from the original elements of the Granbery and Barr home movies to digital video.
