Cynthia Holmberg Collection

Inclusive Dates
circa 1939 – 1983
Abstract
The Cynthia Holmberg Collection consists of 16mm home movies shot primarily by Henry Brooks, Cynthia’s father, and 8mm home movies shot by Cynthia’s husband Ron Holmberg. Ranging from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, the 16mm films document Cynthia’s childhood and the life of a middle class family living in Chicago. The 8mm home movies document Ron and Cynthia Holmberg’s family and life in the suburbs of Chicago in the 1970s and early 80s. They include various locations around Chicago as well as family trips to Wisconsin, various U.S. National Parks, and Florida.
Description

The Cynthia Holmberg Collection consists of 16mm home movies shot primarily by Henry Brooks, Cynthia’s father, and 8mm home movies shot by Cynthia’s husband Ron Holmberg.

The 16mm films document Cynthia’s childhood in Chicago and feature various apartments the family lived in on Chicago’s South Side. Ranging from the late 1930s to the mid 1960s, these films capture the life of a middle class family living in Chicago in the mid-century. Brooks’s home movies feature family celebrations and holidays, birthday parties, festivals, fashion and automobiles from the 1940s-60s, children playing in the neighborhood, snowstorms, key moments in Cynthia’s childhood and young adult life (graduation, life at college with her sorority sisters), and various locations in and around Chicago (including Soldier Field and Grant Park), Kentucky and New York. Henry Brooks was an avid gardener, and his films document various gardens, including his own. Brooks’s family lived in Kentucky and some of the films feature homes and family in the Kentucky countryside, as well as horses.

The 8mm home movies document Ron and Cynthia Holmberg’s family and life in the suburbs of Chicago (La Grange, Park Ridge and Wilmette) in the 1970s and early 80s. They include various locations around Chicago as well as family trips to Minocqua, Wisconsin, U.S. National Parks (including Yellowstone, Teton, and Zion), and Florida.

 

Henry Brooks’s 16mm home movies feature the following locations:

 - The Brooks apartment at 84th and Ingleside, Chicago (pre-1938)

 - The Brooks apartment at 8047 S. Rhodes, Chicago (about 1938-1957)

 - The Brooks apartment at 10700 S. Vernon, Chicago (about 1958-1965)

 - Various Chicago locations

 - The Holmberg apartment at 40 N. Madison, LaGrange, IL (about 1957-1959)

 - The Holmberg apartment at 847 S. Seventh, LaGrange, IL (about 1959-1965)

 - Relatives’ homes in Kentucky and New York

 - Various vacation destinations

 

The Holmberg 8mm home movies feature the following locations:

 - 847 S. Seventh Avenue, La Grange, IL

 - 824 Austin Avenue, Park Ridge, IL

 - 2960 Iroquois Road, Wilmette, IL

 - Minocqua, Wisconsin

 - Various Chicago locations

 - Various U.S. National Parks

 - Florida

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Collection Items

Browse All Objects
1952-1955
Film
1952-1955
1952 – 1955
1939-1941
Film
1939-1941
1939 – 1941
1939 (circa)
Film
1939 (circa)
circa 1939
1962-1963
Film
1962-1963
Spring 1968 - Spring 1969
Film
1968-1969: Spring 1968 - Spring 1969
1970: Yellowstone & Tetons
Film
1970: Yellowstone & Tetons
1978-1979: Barney 7 Weeks - Winter 1978-1979
Film
1978-1979: Barney 7 Weeks - Winter 1978-1979
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Collection Identifier
C.2011-04
Extent of Collection
1 box of 16mm home movies shot by Henry Brooks, Cynthia Holmberg's father, between 1939 and 1965. 2 boxes of 8mm home movies shot by Cynthia Holmberg's husband, Ron Holmberg, from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s.
Language Of Materials
English
Subject
Family recreation
Chicago (Ill.)
College Students
Families
Travel
City and town life
Holidays
Gardens
Kentucky
Nigeria
Custodial History
Cynthia Holmberg's family's home movies.
Creators
Holmberg, Cynthia (was created by)
Cynthia Brooks Holmberg (1934-2022) was born in Chicago and lived at 84th and Ingleside in Chatham until she was 4 or 5 years old when the family moved to 8047 Rhodes Avenue. She attended Dixon Elementary School and Hirsch High School (7740 S. Ingleside), both Chicago Public Schools. Cynthia attended DePauw University (class of 1956) in Greencastle, Indiana, where she studied elementary education and met her husband, Ron (class of 1954). Immediately after college, Cynthia traveled in Europe with the DePauw University Choir and on return married Ron in October that year. The two moved to Aberdeen, Maryland where Ron was stationed in the army and Cynthia taught 3rd grade. When Ron's duty ended, they returned back to the Chicago area, settling first in La Grange, then Park Ridge, Wilmette, and Glenview, raising four children all along the way. Cynthia had a passion for writing and history. In addition to four genealogy books about four family lines, Cynthia researched and wrote the book, Blue Lake Lore, a 200+ page history of the lake and area around Minocqua, Wisconsin where she, Ron, and the kids spent over 60 summers. (Blue Lake is heavily featured in the home movies.)
Brooks, Henry (was created by)
Henry Brooks (1898-1965) was a film hobbyist and shot 16mm home movies of his family and daughter, Cynthia Brooks Holmberg, from the late 1930s through the 1960s. Henry was born in the countryside near Sullivan, Kentucky, the sixth of seven children, where his family were farmers. Upon graduating high school in 1919, Henry moved to St. Louis and lived with his sister while attending Washington University. Henry's intent was to become a lawyer, but after one semester of classes he had run out of tuition money and began working in the insurance industry in St. Louis. Henry married Edna Hughes (1901-1985) in 1924, and the couple moved to Chicago shortly afterwards, where Henry worked at the American Automobile Insurance Company. While most of his life was spent in the big city of Chicago, gardening never left Henry's farm boy heart. He was the victory garden warden for the neighborhood during WWII, and many of his movies document visits back to the family farms in Kentucky.
Holmberg, Ron (was created by)
Ron Holmberg (1932-2026) was born in Chicago and lived on South Indiana Avenue before moving to East 77th/78th Streets. Ron and his wife Cynthia both attended Hirsch High School, though they did not meet until they attended DePauw University, when he was a senior and she was a sophomore. Ron had a passion for film from an early age and shot hours of 8mm home movies from the late 1950s through the 1980s, switching to video and digital media as those technologies became available. Ron also took thousands of photographs from the 1940s through the 2020s on film, slide, and digital formats. When he and Cynthia returned to Chicago after his stint in the army, Ron began working for Continental Casualty, then joined Combined Insurance Company (which merged with the Ryan Insurance Group to form the Aon Corporation in 1982) in the early-1960s to start its actuary department. At Combined/AON, Ron was a member of the Board of Directors and ultimately Chief Administrative Officer before retiring in 1992. Ron and Cynthia both enjoyed traveling, visiting every continent but Antarctica, and every US state but Alabama, during their lifetimes. Many of Ron's 8mm movies are of family vacations to US cities and National Parks (including some shot out of the car window while navigating mountain switchback roads).