Helstrom Family Collection

Bulk Dates
circa 1920 – 1940
Abstract
A collection of home movies and commercially produced reels that originally belonged to William E. Jones and Ina M. Jones of Chicago.
Description

The collection includes six home movies (three 9.5mm and three 8mm) and seven collected reels (five 9.5mm and two 16mm).

 

The home movies include footage from the lives of William E. Jones and his wife Ina Mae Jones, as well as their extended family.

 

Details of the family history are fragmentary. CFA's main source of information about these films is a questionnaire completed by Kristin Helstrom, great granddaughter of William and Ina Jones. According to her notes, William Jones was the son of Ora Otis Jones and Miranda Foulkes. Ora and William were both members of the Shriners and performed in the Shriners Circus. They also both performed in a band. Later, William worked as an engineer for the Cook County Forest Preserves. His wife, Ina Jones, was also a performer. She was a three-time national drum majorette champion, and was involved with the theater, performing as a dancer and as a "bird whistler." Her sister Zelma also appears in some of the films in this collection.

 

The 1940 United States Census shows Ora and Mae living at 1021 N Lorel Ave in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, together with Mae's mother Elizabeth Foulkes.

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Collection Items

Browse All Objects
1927: Odds + End
Film
1927: Odds + End
1927
[1927 Home Movie]
Film
[1927 Home Movie]
May 1927
[1927 Home Movie]
Film
[1927 Home Movie]
1927
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Collection Identifier
C.2023-05
Extent of Collection
8 reels of 9.5mm, 3 reels of 8mm, and 1 reel of 16mm.
Custodial History
Kristin Helstrom received these films from her father, who had stored them at his home in Chicago. In 2023, she donated them to Chicago Film Archives.
Creators
Jones, William E. (was source of)
William Edward Jones was born in Ottumwa, Iowa in 1897 to Ora Otis Jones and Mae Foulkes. He was married to Ina Mae Jones, and died in Chicago in 1982.
Jones, Ina Mae (was source of)