Catskill New York USA-1959: Family Decorating Christmas Tree With Lights

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1959
Decade1950s
LocationCatskill, New York, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1957 Catskill New York

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

Before you add to cart: Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement. Checkout will only offer editorial, educational, internal and social/web scopes.

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Family Decorating Christmas Tree With Lights — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1959, this vintage home movie captures a family decorating a Christmas tree in Catskill, New York. Warm, colorful lights twinkle on the tree as a person in a dark shirt reaches to place ornaments. The grainy, nostalgic footage shows a wrapped gift beneath the tree, evoking classic holiday memories. The scene is intimate and quiet, with soft lighting and a slightly shaky camera typical of Super 8 home recordings. This archival clip offers authentic 1950s Americana for documentaries, nostalgic content, or holiday-themed projects.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 123614934

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip. Review the flags below for your editorial context.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 1101 · 8mm · 7″ reel
Original reel label: north pole,game farm,amusement park, reel 2
Reel-level year note: 1959
Reel-level location note: new york
Date: 1959 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: Catskill, New York, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: 1950s 8mm home-movie footage for productions needing an intimate Christmas tree decorating insert or domestic holiday memory from Catskill, New York.
Period detail: The decorated tree, large wrapped gift, subdued interior lighting, and color 8mm texture support a late-1950s domestic holiday setting, with the year and place supplied by metadata.
Home-movie behavior: A person reaches near the tree as if arranging ornaments or lights, giving the clip an unstaged family participation quality rather than a posed holiday tableau.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a Christmas tree, multicolored lights, wrapped gift boxes, hanging ornaments, an adult figure at the right edge, interior walls, and dark film-frame borders.
Film character: The clip has soft focus, visible grain, low-light color glow, gate edges, and slight handheld instability consistent with original 8mm home-movie material.
Edit role: An editor could use it as a brief holiday cutaway, family-memory beat, transition into Christmas scenes, or atmospheric insert for midcentury domestic life.
Historical context: The scene documents private household Christmas decorating, emphasizing home rituals, colored electric tree lights, and family interiors rather than public ceremony.
Research note: People and private interior property are visible, so likeness and property review may be needed separately from any copyright or footage-license analysis.
Research search match: Useful matches include 1959 Catskill New York Christmas home movie, 1950s family decorating tree, 8mm holiday interior, and vintage Christmas lights footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other Catskill 1959 family interiors, then broader 1950s Christmas, holiday home, or tree-decorating material.

Still Frames From This Clip

1959 Catskill, New York 8mm frame showing a lit Christmas tree, wrapped gifts below, and a person reaching near the branches. — A person stands beside a lit Christmas tree with wrapped gifts beneath it.

1959 Catskill, New York home-movie frame of a decorated Christmas tree with glowing lights, gifts, and a partially visible adult figure. — Colored lights glow on the tree while a figure remains partly in frame.

1959 Catskill, New York 8mm frame focusing on a Christmas tree with colored bulbs, ornaments, and a wrapped gift at the base. — The camera moves closer to the tree lights and wrapped gift below.

1959 Catskill, New York home-movie frame showing glowing colored tree lights, dense branches, and a wrapped present below. — A close holiday view centers on the lit tree and present beneath it.

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