BOE finds home at First Congo Church.

Design by PromoSapien Mike McCarthy purchased every 16mm film that was housed at the Memphis City School Board of Education warehouse back in 1998 which amounted to some five pick up truckloads; 400 boxes. There are WPA Work Films, Holocaust footage, MLK speeches, European stop motion, even Fat Albert cartoons all on 16mm film. In other words, these were all films watched by Memphis City School kids throughout the second half of the twentieth century. McCarthy attempted to catalog the collection and reached 17 boxes when his daughter Hanna Mildred was born. The films were then moved to Mississippi for a short while then back to Memphis where they now reside in a special room in the basement of the First Congo Church in Cooper Young, hosted by the DIGITAL MEDIA CO-OP. Without the help of Brett Hanover, Joanne Self, Morgan Fox, Brent Shrewsbury, Michael Dillon, Paul Woodard, and Diana Powell none of this would have happened as it did. Other important names will be added as this project continues. Recent events have allowed for MEMPHIS HERITAGE to sponsor the films and HANDS ON MEMPHIS to seek volunteers to help McCarthy organize the films and create a data base. If you live in the Memphis area and would like to be a HANDS ON MEMPHIS volunteer for the BOE (Board of Education) Film Room, then please visit this link and sign up! McCarthy will need your help on three Sunday afternoons from 1pm to 4 pm; February 4, 11, & 18th. When the room is officially open to the public, local citizens can view the films that Memphis City School children watched from the fifties through the eighties. The room will also function as an archive for forgotten FILM treasures having to do with Memphis. Recently also joining the collection are the Films of John McIntyre (see the book "It Came From Memphis"). More updates on BOE to come! Download PDF spreadsheet of the films that are currently being archived by Bill Coker