Isabel Ramos-Quinones' father shot home movies of family parties -- childhood memories that are now beginning to decay.

But she found out a way to preserve the old film, now tucked away in her closet.

An added bonus: She will be helping document history.

Miami Dade College's Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives compiles donated films for its collection. It recently hosted Home Movie Day to describe the ambitious global restoration project -- and Ramos-Quinones jumped at the chance.

``I donated films which included films my father took of our family when they arrived on the freedom flights from Cuba,'' said Ramos-Quinones, who has lived in the same house in Miami since 1966. ``They are better off being preserved in a museum than sitting in my closet.''

The event took place at the Tower Theater on Calle Ocho in Little Havana and was the seventh annual Home Video Day in Miami. The worldwide event was started by the Center for Home Movies in 2003 and spans through Europe, Australia, Brazil and Asia. In Miami, the audience saw new clips recently added to the archive as well as a segment where local historians narrated home movies and amateur films from the '30s through the '60s.

``The films start just as private images,'' said Barron Sherer, curator and preservationist for the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives. ``When they're donated, they become public property and document a landscape from 50 or 60 years ago that doesn't exist today.''

The Wolfson archive is one of the largest amateur film archives in the United States with more than 3,000 reels collected from the public since the project started in 1986. The oldest footage displayed at the event was from 1925 during the Fiesta of the Tropics Parade.

There were views of shirtless hippies making their protest camps in Flamingo Park on South Beach at the 1972 Republican National Convention during Richard Nixon's run for reelection. The audience also saw films of the honeymoon of Anita Bryant and her ex-husband Bob Greene.

The Wolfson archives accept any collection of 8mm and 16mm films. It not only preserves the film but also gives a DVD copy of the donated film to the owner for free.

Sherer recalls one clip the archive received that looked completely dark and useless. He sent it out to a lab to get tested. When the restored films came back, there was clear night footage of the 1951 Orange Bowl parade.

One family brought seven of its members to the theater to see some of the footage they had donated.

``My father knew the archives documented Miami history,'' said Gendry Bossano, a Miami native. ``His films were starting to decay, so he wanted to preserve them.''

The films included the children dancing in Miami and views of Disney World from the '70s.

``My cousin was teary-eyed watching her first visit from Ecuador on the screen,'' said Bossano.

The event also showed a one-hour documentary called My Father's Camera, which won the George Foster Peabody Award in 2002, proving the importance of homemade and amateur movies.

The Wolfson family began the archive in 1986 from collections of news anchor Ralph Renick from WTVJ.

Renee Ramos, Miami-Dade College archives director, said most of the collection is still television footage.

After the event, staff had counted up more than 700 minutes of newly donated film from the attendees.

Viewers can watch some of the Wolfson archive's footage on the YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/wolfsonarchive or schedule an appointment to see the cataloged films. More information is at www.wolfsonarchive.org or call 305-375-1505.

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