About this Collection

Joan Branch Collection

The Joan Branch Collection, Accessions 0706 and 0712.  7400 feet of silent 16mm reversal film shot between 1920 and 1940, primarily in Maine and China. Joan Branch's grandfather, Forrest Colby of Bingham, Maine, was Maine Forest Commissioner. The collection contains coverage of logging and forestry operations, as well as family activities around Pleasant Pond, Maine.  Forrest Colby's daughter, Lena Mary Colby, married Joseph E.C. Swan in Shanghai, China, in 1923. The China footage was shot by Joan's father, Joseph E.C. Swan, between 1928 and 1936. Joseph Swan was a founder of the Shanghai investment banking and brokerage firm Swan, Culbertson and Fritz.

The film collection was donated to Northeast Historic Film by Joan Branch in 1989 and 1990.  Joan Branch lived in Mt. Kisco, New York, and died in 2006.