Dennison, Henry Sturgis Collection

SummaryThe films depict the domestic life of the Dennison family at their home at Juniper Hill, Framingham, Mass., and their hunting camp, Dobsis, on Sysladobsis Lake, near Springfield, Maine. Sports depicted include American football, skeet or clay pigeon shooting, tennis, golf, water skiing, cross-country horse riding (hunter trials). Some scenes of American football, tennis and horse riding are taken in slow motion. Winter sports include skiing, skating, sledding, dog sled racing, snowball fighting. Of note is 350 ft. of film covering Olympic Trials of 1929 at Harvard Stadium showing Pole Vault, High Jump, Triple Jump, Hurdling and running, with some use of slow motion effects. There is also footage of a co-ed ice hockey game on an outdoor pond. Of special interest is a staged scene showing Dennison and a young John Kenneth Galbraith discussing economics in Dennison's back yard in 1936. An extensive “factory gate” film of 1927 records Dennison Mfg. Co. employees leaving the company premises for Christmas. There are many scenes of hunting and fishing including some structured films that tell the story of a hunting trip from arrival by train at Woodland Station to the lakeside camp and expeditions by canoe for the quarry of bear and deer. The Dennison’s equine interests are also shown in scenes of horse rearing, foals and training on a leading rein. Kodachrome color footage includes coastal scenery and shots of a forest fire and firefighters. There are also travel scenes in the United States, featuring, Yellowstone (with scenes of geysers, hot springs, bears and beavers), Utah, Wyoming, Niagara, Cape Cod and aerial footage of Martha’s Vineyard. The collection also contains a more commercial production with titles called, “Strike Salmon Strike,” a 1929 documentary about fishing, made by Dennison and Ed Smith and produced by the National Sportsman Magazine.

Biographical/Historical NotesHenry Sturgis Dennison was President of the Dennison Manufacturing Company, makers of paper products, based in Framingham, Massachusetts. His papers are at Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

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