New life for old home videos

By Andrew Mollenbeck
October 23, 2015 | 5:05 AM

WASHINGTON — Give us your awkward, your hilarious, your sentimental.

D.C.’s Home Movie Day welcomes all sorts of family movies and videos that have long been relegated to a dusty shelf.

“We will have archivists inspect their films for them and give them preservation advice, and then we’ll screen it for them if they want,” says Jamie Mears, a national digital stewardship resident for the D.C. Public Library system.

The event is being held from noon until 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Southwest Branch of the D.C. Public Library. Film dropoff starts at 11 a.m.

“The fact that we have a chance for you to view it may remind you of how valuable it is, and then we’re hoping you’ll take steps to preserve it,” Mears says.

Home Movie Day is free to attend, and so is the consult with an archivist.

The event can accommodate the following formats:

FILM: 8 mm; Super 8; 16 mm
VIDEO: VHS; Hi-8; VHS-C; Mini-DV

National Museum of the American Latino to be housed in historic Smithsonian building

By Neal Augenstein
September 1, 2026 | 10:36 AM

The Smithsonian Institution has decided to put the National Museum of the American Latino into an existing, historic building, rather than constructing a new one. The Smithsonian Board of Regents on Monday designated the Arts and Industries Building, a 145-year-old redbrick Victorian structure located between the Smithsonian Castle and the Hirshhorn Museum, as the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino, which Congress authorized in 2020. In 2022, the Smithsonian narrowed its survey for permanent locations for the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women's History Museum to four locations near the National Mall on land owned by the National Park Service. The Arts and Industries Building, located at 900 Jefferson St. SW, was one of the four sites. New construction on National Park Service land would require congressional approval. However, since the Smithsonian already owns the Arts and Industries Building, the institution can place the National Museum of the American Latino in the existing building without additional legislation.

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