Victoria Agatha Wielgus Sendra Collection

Sendra collection image
Inclusive Dates
circa 1948 – 1967
Bulk Dates
circa 1955 – 1967
Abstract
A collection of home movies shot in Chicago and the surrounding area by Victoria Agatha Wielgus Sendra. They document the family’s daily life, leisure time and time spent with family and relatives, including picnics and vacations in the Midwest at locations like Lake Zurich and Storybook Park. Victoria often recorded her children’s birthdays and was also eager to document the weddings of her Polish-American neighbors and friends. Her collection also includes events related to the Polish diaspora in Chicago, such as the blessing of the Easter basket, Polish Constitution Day Parade, the White & Red Ball organized by the Legion of Young Polish Women, and community life centered around Holy Innocents Church.
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Collection Items

Browse All Objects
May Parade+School Show
Film
May Parade+School Show
circa 1955
To request more information about the items in this collection, please contact the archive at info@chicagofilmarchives.org.
Items with Viewable Media
Collection Identifier
C.2024-05
Extent of Collection
128 reels of 16mm home movies, comprising approximately 18,611 of film.
Custodial History
The films were stored in an off-site storage facility in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago, not far from the home of Victoria's daughter, Mary Anselmo, for many years. They were donated to Chicago Film Archives in 2024 as part of the Not-So-Ordinary project, an initiative to preserve home movies from Polish Chicago.
Creators
Victoria Agatha Wielgus Sendra (was created by)

Victoria Agatha Wielgus Sendra was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 1922, the youngest child of Mary K. Wielgus and Michael Sendra, who had both emigrated separately from Poland to the United States in the early 20th century, met in the US, and married. The family lived in the heart of the so-called Chicago Polish Downtown at 879 N Marshfield Ave.

 

She graduated from Holy Innocents Grammar School, a conservative Catholic school run by the Felician Sisters. The school was attached to Holy Innocents Church [Kościół Młodzianków], founded in 1905 as a Polish parish, and was one of a network of Polish churches within the old Polish Downtown. Of her four siblings, Victoria was the only one to graduate from public high school (Wells High School). When she was still at the school, she worked at Augusta Bakery on the corner of Ashland and Chestnut, and after graduating, she worked for Illinois Bell Telephone Company. In 1944, she married Henry Andrew Sendra, and they had four children. To balance her career with caring for her four children while her husband was at work, she began working at the grocery store her parents had established, which she successfully ran alongside her mother. The store sold both American and Polish products, and Victoria’s specialty was sandwiches. Throughout her life, she has been involved with Holy Innocents Church and has been active in the community.

 

As Victoria’s daughter, Mary Anselmo, recalled in an interview conducted by Agata Zborowska in 2024, “My mother started with a, just a still [camera], a little Brownie pocket camera. And my dad bought her the movie camera. That was a Christmas present. […] And she just loved it. She loved to be behind the camera. And everybody knew Wikcia [the Polish diminutive form of the name Victoria] because she had her camera.” 

 

Victoria Agatha Wielgus Sendra passed away on March 26, 1993, at the home where she was born, located at 879 N Marshfield Avenue.