Smith, Janice Collection

SummaryThe Janice Smith Collection consists of the [Helen V. Bird--home movies], amateur films depicting the life of a family in suburban Quincy, Mass. The camera person was Helen V. (Wilander) Bird, a nurse and avid shutterbug. There is some footage of Helen’s husband Charles A. Bird, a minor league baseball player, on the field with one of the teams for which he played in the 1940s. However, the focus is primarily on children: first on the couple’s daughter Janice as she grows from infancy to young adulthood, then on Janice’s children, Laura and Mark. When the focus is on adults, it’s at “dress-up” events, such as weddings. Helen also turns her camera on Massachusetts Governor Paul A. Dever as he arrives to dedicate a housing project, and on the hubbub caused by the building of the Southeast Expressway (a major highway in greater Boston). The Birds’ house, as well as neighboring houses, are shown being moved by the J.J. Gordon contracting company to another street to make way for the expressway’s Furnace Brook Parkway ramp. There is footage of a bridge being demolished for the same purpose.

Biographical/Historical NotesJanice Smith, born in 1942 in Quincy, Mass., is the daughter of Helen V. (Wilander) Bird (1916-1995) and Charles A. Bird (1909-1994). Helen, born in Chester, Mass., was a nurse and “avid shutterbug” (according to her daughter) who recorded family life and milestones with an 8 mm. camera. Charlie Bird, born in Boston, was a minor league baseball player known as the “Submarine Pitcher” because of his underhand pitch. Bird played on farm teams for several major league clubs in his 35 years a pitcher. He was named a charter member of the Boston Park League Hall of Fame upon its creation in 1982. Paul A. Dever was governor of Massachusetts from 1949-1953.

RepositoryNortheast Historic Film

AvailabilityThe Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and UseAuthorization to reuse and/or reproduce must be obtained from Northeast Historic Film. See http://www.oldfilm.org/research for more information.