Help preserve the forgotten cultural heritage of Chicago’s Polish community by supporting the digitization of home movies, amateur films, art films, and independent productions created by Poles, Polish-Americans, and Americans of Polish descent.

Not-So-Ordinary is an archival and research project dedicated to preserving the amateur and independent moving image heritage of Chicago’s Polish diaspora from the 1930s through the early 2000s. The project collect, digitize, and share home movies, amateur films, and independent productions created in Chicago by Poles, Polish-Americans, and Americans of Polish descent. The goal is to build an open, freely accessible archive that will serve researchers, teachers, students, and the wider Polish-American community. You can already watch the first digitized films on the project website: collection.

So far, the project has gathered more than 50 family and personal collections with over 2,000 films. They range from short three-minute 8mm reels to long works running over one or two hours, comparable to feature films. Many of these fragile materials still await professional digitization, and without your support, they may be lost forever.

Your donation will fund the archival-quality digital transfer of 16mm, 8mm, Super8 films, and video tapes (VHS, Video8, Hi8). Once digitized, all films will be made freely available online to scholars, filmmakers, and the general public, ensuring open access to this invaluable record of everyday life, festive occasions, the experience of migration, and the cultural vitality of Chicago’s Polish community.

The costs of preserving these materials are high. Archival-quality digitization of just three minutes of 8mm film (50 feet) can cost up to $50. That amount covers not only the transfer itself, but also the careful cleaning and conservation needed for film stock often kept for decades in less than ideal conditions. Thanks to earlier support from the Saint Maximilian Kolbe Institute of Polish Language Development, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago, and the Al Larvick Conservation Fund, some of the films have already been saved. But these resources were limited, covering only a fraction of the collection. Hundreds of reels are still waiting, and the scale of the challenge is significant: the estimated cost of preserving all films that must be saved exceeds $40,000. Our current goal of $6,000 will not cover everything, but it will allow us to rescue the most vulnerable reels and tapes before they are lost forever.

Donations can be made securely through GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/digitization-of-historical-movies-from-polish-chicago.

The GoFundMe platform ensures that all contributions are processed safely and reliably. You can donate using a credit or debit card, PayPal, bank transfer, or other locally available payment methods, making it easy to support the project from anywhere. The GoFundMe platform also allows you to choose whether your donation appears under your name or remains anonymous.

For larger contributions or partnership opportunities, please contact me directly: contact.

Any support – large or small – would mean a great deal and will help preserve this unique heritage for future generations. Support for this fundraiser can also take the form of spreading the word: by forwarding this message to friends, colleagues, or institutions who might wish to contribute.

Thank you for helping preserve and share the voices and images of Polish Chicago for generations to come.

Agata Zborowska