October is American Archives Month! American Archives Month began in 2006 as an opportunity for archivists to raise awareness of the value of archives. It also allows archivists to teach people about the important items that are being preserved, cataloged, cared for, and being made accessible.

Archives throughout the country celebrate American Archives Month is a myriad of ways. Special Collections is celebrating with the 12th Annual Home Movie Day held on Saturday October 18 from 10am-12pm. Home Movie Day is an international celebration of amateur filmmaking held annually at dozens of local venues and provides the opportunity for individuals and families to discover how to best care for their films and get a chance to view home movies. The event encourages members from the community to bring original 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm films for consideration, inspection by film expert David Sherman, and screening. Home movies filmed in Southern Arizona and the US/Mexico borderlands are especially welcome. 

The theme of this year's event is family vacations prior to 1970 and features tourist films of the Grand Canyon, a 1950s 8mm film of the Sam Hughes school parade, a found trove of 1950-1970s films of Tucson's Cordova family, among many other treasures.  On top of all these cinematic goodies, refreshments will be served so come early and enjoy!