Houston, Oscar R. Collection

SummaryThe Oscar R. Houston Collection consists of 29 reels of amateur 16 mm. film. The majority of the collection was shot by Oscar Houston between 1926 and 1956, with other members of the Houston family shooting occasional scenes. The home movies include footage of the construction of the Houston family home in Great Neck, NY, as well as many scenes of the family at that home over the years. Family documentation also includes events such as graduation ceremonies and weddings, and extensive footage of the family's international travels. Among the travel films are reels taken by Oscar and his son Charles S. Houston of the first ascent of Alaska's Mount Foraker in 1934, and by Charles of his party's 1936 Nanda Davi expedition in the Himalaya Range.

Biographical/Historical NotesOscar Rempel Houston was born in 1884 in Logan, Ohio. Houston married Nelly Snead McDonald in 1912. They had three children: Charles, Barbara, and Janet. Houston resided in Great Neck, New York, for much of his life. He was living in Manhattan when he died in 1969 at age 86. Houston graduated from Columbia College in 1904 and from Columbia Law School in 1906. As counsel and senior partner at the New York firm of Bigham Englar Jones & Houston, he specialized in admiralty law, at one time serving as president of the Maritime Law Association of the United States. Houston was an avid traveler, fisherman, and mountaineer. His son, Charles Snead Houston, was a pioneering alpinist, introduced to the sport by his father, and supported and accompanied by him on several expeditions, including the Mount Foraker and Nanda Devi expeditions documented in this collection.

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://oldfilm.org/content/stock-footage-licensing for more information.