
38 Items in This Collection
1) Children, La Tuque, Quebec, 1926-1927--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 1
"Children La Tuque, 1926-27" ;Label on leader: "Children 1926-1927 and Britta [Bjornlund], Father and horses/Elliot [Payson?]"
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2) Family, Charleston, South Carolina, 1927--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 2
"Charleston - Family 1927";Label on leader: "Charleston & Monticello, part 3."
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3) Woods, Downing Potter Brown, 1927--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 3
"Woods - 1927 Downing Potter Brown";Label on leader: "1927 - Shep [Shedden] Harold [C. Payson] - DPB [Downing Potter Brown] - La Tuque - [?]"
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4) Florida, 1926-1927--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 4
"Florida - 1926/27";Father, Mother, Elizabeth (Brown, Dessau, Bradeen) + Marion?
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5) Margaret and Fletcher Brown wedding, 1948--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 5
"Peg (Margaret Coleman) & Fletcher's Wedding - 1948"
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6) Payson wedding, Amelia, 1950-1951--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 6
"Joan & Henry's Wedding";Label on leader: "J&H [Joan and Henry Storer Payson] Wedding - Amelia 1950-51"
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7) Karen and Gordon Clarke wedding, 1954--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 7
"Karen & Gordon's Wedding 1954 - Outdoor Pictures"
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8) Karen and Gordon Clarke wedding, 1954--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 8
"Karen & Gordon's Wedding 1954 - Indoor Pictures"
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9) Karen and Gordon Clarke wedding, Mimi MacLeod's birthday, 1954--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 9
"Karen & Gordon's Wedding 1954 - Snow Scene - Mimi's Birthday Party [Mimi Payson MacLeod]"
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10) Karen, skiing, sled dog racing, 1927-1930--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 10
On reel: "Karen 1928/skiing at clubhouse [La Tuque]/Shep [Shedden] and Carl [Keller]/Fletcher [Brown] dog racing"
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11) Children and grandchildren at Lac Wagayamac--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 11
Label on leader: "Wayagamac-39[49?]-52-55 Children and grandchildren."
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12) Karen and children at beach, Mary at Falmouth, 1927--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 12
Label on leader: "Karen + Children at Beach [Grand Beach Old Orchard] 1927, Joan, Karen, Mother, Father, Mary [Fletcher Brown] at Falmouth."
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13) Friends, circa 1928--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 13
Label on reel: "Karen 1927 [1928?] - Carl Keller, Leland Means, [Benjamin] Burton"
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14) Children at La Tuque and Grand Beach, circa 1928--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 14
Label on reel: "Children, La Tuque and Grand Beach/Mary in wedding dress + children June 12, 1928/Karen in White Coat"
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15) Charles Lindbergh, Orchard Beach air show, 1927-1928--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 14A
Label on reel: "Lindbergh/1928" ;First part of reel is pulled from a commercial newsreel; second part is amateur footage including Charles Lindbergh and "The Spirit of St. Louis" at Orc...
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16) Family at Lac Wayagamac, 1928--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 15
"Family at Wayagamac 1928, tennis girls, Burton, Father's boat, beach pictures, Helen [Crocker, Herman?], Ellie [Eleanor Downing Hamlen (Mrs. James C.)] and Jetty [Jennet Whipple]--tenn...
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17) Family, Uncle Downing, Easter, 1928--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 16
Label on reel: "Uncle Downing, Easter, 1928 Mother, Father, children, also moose"
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18) Havana, 1929--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 17
"Havana 1929"
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19) Christmas, 1931--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 18
Label on reel: "1931 Christmas - House Party - Dog Team - Family at Falmouth, Joan + Karen with dog [Bingo]";"1931 dog team Fletcher/1931 Christmas family - Falmouth"
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20) Family at Lac Wayagamac, 1937--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 19
"Family - Wayagamac - 1937"
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21) Williams College reunion, 1937--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 20
"Williams Reunion Class of 1912 - 1937"
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22) Franconia, New Hampshire, 1940--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 21
"Franconia '40";Color home movie of family and friends skiing at a mountain cabin near Franconia, New Hampshire.
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23) Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, Canada, 1941--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 22
"Gaspé - 1941 - [John] Gault, [Parker] Poole - SB [Simmons Brown], PMP [Phillips Merrill Payson], HP [Henry Martyn Payson]"
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24) Portland Country Club, Falmouth, Maine--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 23
Simmons Brown and Phillips Merrill Payson at Portland Country Club, Portland, Maine.
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25) Fletcher Brown, John Gault, Parker Poole--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 24
Label on leader: "Fletcher [Brown] - [John] Gault, [Parker] Poole - 41, 45"
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27) Smith College commencement, 1947--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 27
"Smith College Commencement '47"
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28) Fishing, 1948--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 28
"Fishing 1948 River - Spaulding - Paul [Brown], SB [Simmons Brown]"
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29) Williams College reunion, 1952--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 29
"Reunion, Williamstown - 1952"
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30) Summer, 1955--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 30
"Summer, 1955/ Children, Grandma's Birthday - 4th of July - August"
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31) Weddings, summer, circa 1950-1955--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 31
"Summer 1955 - Children"
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32) Summer, 1957--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 32
"1957 Evasbrook, Children, Flowers, Summer 1957-Payson, Clarkes"
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33) Children and grandchildren, August, 1957--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 33
"Falmouth - August 1957 - Children and Grandchildren"
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34) Lac Wayagamac, 1958--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 34
Label on leader: "Wayagamac - 1958"
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35) Christmas, 1960--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 35
"Christmas - Payson Party - 1960"
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36) Christmas, 1960--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 36
"1. Simmons Brown Christmas 1960, 2. Christmas Payson's 1960"
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37) 50th Anniversary, 1963--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 37
"1963 - 50th Anniversary - The Clarkes"
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38) Christmas, 1964--Simmons Brown--home movies. Reel 38
"Christmas 1964"
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Clarke, Karen Collection

Credit: Karen Clarke Collection, Northeast Historic Film.
Credit: Simmons Brown home movies. Excerpt from “Karen, skiing, sled dog racing, 1927-1930.” 16 mm. film. From the Karen Clarke Collection at Northeast Historic Film, Bucksport, ME. MP4 video, 1:28.

Primary Format and Extent
39 film reels

Collection Date Range
1926 – 1964

Summary
The Karen Clarke Collection contains 39 reels of 16 mm. amateur film. The collection was shot between 1926 and 1964 by her father, Simmons Brown, of Falmouth, Maine. Many reels depict the family's recreational activities at Lac Wayagamac, La Tuque, Quebec, Canada; and at Falmouth, Maine, including scenes of boating, fishing, hiking, horse-riding, skiing, and sled dog racing. Travel films include scenes at Charleston, North Carolina, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. Many family events and celebrations are depicted: Christmas and July 4th holidays; birthdays; the 50th anniversary of Simmons and Mary Brown; and several weddings, including the wedding of Karen and Gordon Brown in 1954. Among the most noteworthy film in the collection is amateur documentation of Charles Lindbergh and "The Spirit of St. Louis" at Orchard Beach, Maine, in July 1927. Maine Memory Network

Biographical/Historical Notes
Karen Brown Clarke of Bay Square at Yarmouth and Falmouth, Maine, was born in 1925 in her grandparents’ house on State Street, Portland, to Mary Fletcher Brown and Simmons Brown. She married Gordon Clarke in 1954.
Karen was a graduate of the Waynflete School of Portland and Smith College. An early environmentalist, she was a founder and chair of the Simsbury, CT Conservation Commission and served on its elected Zoning Board for 10 years, the last four as its chair. She also made time to sing in the chorus of the well-known Simsbury Light Opera Company which specialized in Gilbert and Sullivan shows.
As her daughters Kristina and Amanda grew older, she joined Gordon, becoming a rated water paddler with the Appalachian Mountain Club, climbing some of the highest mountains in New England and taking extended wilderness canoe trips in Maine, Quebec, Ontario and the Northwest Territories. On one such trip she searched out and photographed a rare tundra lily as past of a Garden Club of Hartford research project.
Balancing these outdoor activities, Karen started a new career, becoming a cataloger for a large private library of rare books on ornithology. When that collection was donated to Trinity College, Karen was named the Curator of its Ornithology Collection, a post she held until her retirement and in which she created acclaimed annual exhibitions and catalogues of the library’s remarkable holdings.

Place(s)

Repository
Northeast Historic Film

Availability
The Collection is open for research.

Condition Governing Reproduction and Use
Authorization to reuse and/or reproduce must be obtained from Northeast Historic Film. See http://oldfilm.org/content/stock-footage-licensing for more information.
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