About the Films:
A Christmas Carol: 1959 25 mins \;
A Christmas tale of the
regeneration of the miserly Scrooge. Filmed in England against authentic b
ackgrounds. Frederic March introduces the film and Basil Rathbone portrays
Scrooge. The film easily captures the true feeling of the immortal story\
, as it closely follows Dickens' original words
The Litt
le Rascals' Christmas special: 1979 24 mins
In this animated ver
sion of an Our Gang story\, Spanky's mother orders a Blue Comet vacuum cle
aner for her employer. Spanky thinks this is the BlueComet electric train.
In order not to disappoint Spanky\, his mother uses her clothing money to
buy a train. Her sacrifice and Spanky's discovery of it lead to a classic
Christmas ending.
How the animals discovered Christmas:
1956 14 mins
Uses animation in telling a story about woodland a
nimals who discover the true spirit of Christmas when they cooperate to sa
ve the life of an injured bluebird.
About the Film Collect
ion \; \;
The Miami-Dade Public Library holds one of
the remaining\, circulating 16mm film collections. The collection dates b
ack to 1956 and was developed to be a teaching collection designed to be u
sed for public programming. Its holdings include acclaimed feature films s
uch as Rashomon (1950)\, Alphaville (1965)\, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1
928)\, Pandora&rsquo\;s Box (1928)\, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). How
ever\, what makes this collection special is the wide array of short films
\, ranging from experimental created by notable artists like Len Lye\, Lui
s Bunel\, Homer Groening\, Kenneth Anger\, Sergei Eisenstein\, John Whitne
y to the educational produced by the likes of Pyramid Films\, Xerox\, McGr
aw Hill\, and National Film Board of Canada. \; \; \; \;&n
bsp\;
Unique to the collection are Florida specific titles like Encha
nted (1982)\, Metropolis in the Sun (1989)\, The Everglades (1970)\, A Hur
ricane Named Betsy (1965)\, Miccosukee Indian Friends (1975)\, Salesman (1
969)\, and more. \; \;
The library&rsquo\;s films are availab
le to be checked out for a period of 2 weeks to Miami-Dade Public Library
cardholders. \; The library does not circulate equipment and projector
s &ndash\; patrons will need to have their own. Patrons can also access th
e films on-site at the library through a research visit scheduled with the
Special Collections department. \; \; \;
About
the Division of Special Collections &\; Archives \; \;
Mia
mi-Dade Public Library System&rsquo\;s Division of Special Collections &am
p\; Archives holds rare and irreplaceable historical documents for the ben
efit of the public and scholarly community. They oversee the Helen Muir Fl
orida Collection\, 16mm Film Collection\, Cuban Collection of Rare Books &
amp\; Ephemera\, Genealogy Collection\, Vasari Project\, and rare &\; a
ntiquarian books from as early as the 17th century. The Division's primary
goal is to provide the public with the contents of the vault at their req
uest. Its collections include rare books\, original manuscripts\, over 18\
,000 photographs\, prints\, artifacts\, audiovisual resources\, and electr
onic media. \;