By Taylor Kaiser
During last Wednesday’s meeting of the Kinsloe House, Michael Thomas and filmmaker Mark Birnbaum presented the background of DUST – An Accidental Time Capsule, a documentary project inspired by an exceptional discovery.
In 2019, Chuck Miller of CTWP, Copy Center on South Beaton Street, discovered a long-forgotten collection within his building: thousands of photographs documenting Corsicana’s people and locations from the 1940s to the 1960s.
These dust-laden images provided a comprehensive depiction of life in mid-century Corsicana. Upon learning of this find, Kyle Hobratschk, founder of the Corsicana Artist & Writer Residency, contacted Thomas, recognizing his strong affinity for photography.
Since then, the DUST team has interviewed hundreds of Corsicanans, curated exhibitions, and have begun shaping Birnbaum’s featurelength documentary. Thomas, editor of 1814 Magazine and an executive producer of the film, brought almost forty examples of the recovered photographs to share with Kinsloe members, offering healthy dose of nostalgia for those in attendance.
“I was immediately impacted by the quality of the photographs. They were not kept in climate control. There was dust, there was debris, and they were buried under other things among the heat and extreme cold. For them to stand up to those kinds of conditions was remarkable,” Thomas said.
The images sparked waves of recognition and murmurs of delight from the audience. A shot of the metal slide at Jester Park drew laughter as the audience recalled the searing summer burns it delivered. Many photographs depict G.W. Jackson High School, its students, its celebrations, even a parade honoring the football team. Veterans appear throughout the archive as well and while none have been identified, the team hopes to partner with local veterans’ organizations to connect names to faces.
Not all moments captured are lighthearted. One striking photograph shows a young African American standing before a billboard urging Black residents to pay their poll taxes, a stark reminder of the era’s inequities. Poll taxes were abolished nationwide in 1964 with the ratification of the 24th Amendment.
In 2023, the team exhibited selections from the collection in downtown Corsicana with support from PBS, KERA, and The Texas Standard, and they have since received grants to continue the film project. At the Kinsloe House, Thomas screened the teaser trailer, a brief but moving piece on memory, community, and the passage of time, featuring several familiar Corsicana faces.
There is no completion date currently, but DUST – An Accidental Time Capsule is expected to travel to film festivals across the globe. To learn more or view the trailer, visit dustdocumentary.com.
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