Granbery and Barr home movies consist of 16mm films from 1920-1943 featuring the two families from the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The families were very active in Brooklyn, particularly from 1841–1936. Edwin Carleton (E.C.) Granbery Jr., John Granbery, made the films or Edwin Carleton (E.C.) Granbery, Sr. made the films. They feature family vacations in Long Island (N.Y.), Connecticut, Virginia, and Europe as well as major events such as weddings, class reunions, and family gatherings that occurred in and away from Brooklyn.

The films were mainly created while the Granbery and Barr family vacationed in Greenwich and Norfolk, Connecticut; Long Island; Nantucket, Massachusetts; The Adirondacks, and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. They document various vacation activities including swimming in lakes and rivers, playing tennis, haying (playing in hay), and family gatherings including graduation parties and weddings.

Europe Trips In the 1920s the Granbery and Barr families travelled to Europe (France, Germany, Italy) on steam ships. The films feature games such as shuffleboard and badminton during the trans-Atlantic cruise. Once there, the families visit Paris on Bastille Day, Düsseldorf, and Berlin among others by land. They also stay with extended family at La Pineta at Bissone on Lake Lugano and Duchastels at Montrouge near Rheims. La Pineta was owned by Josephine Barr and her husband Carl Kuchler of 109 State Street and Duchastels at Montrouge to Josephine's sister, Julie Pelerin.

Brooklyn and Manhattan The Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines were filmed in detail as the family left for Europe by boat. Footage of New York and Brooklyn from 1920–1945 was shot at 17 Monroe Place and occasionally 109/11 State Street, 84 Henry Street, 124 and 122 Joralemon Street, and 17 Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights. The films that show Brooklyn are outtakes or unused cuts from the narrative film "War on the Roof". The footage features people riding trolley trains, street games, and preparing for their movie. There is footage that shows younger members of the family drinking on the roof in Manhattan around the area of 470 Park Avenue; the Granbery branch of the family moved there after 1936.

Narrative Films The Granbery and Barr families made four narrative films, "War on the Roof", "Race for Love", "On Holiday", and an untitled film in Wyoming during the 1920s. "Race for Love" is a movie featuring a woman being abducted and tied to a chair by E.C. Granbery, Sr. in blackface with the help of Yale boys as savages in black paint. E.C. Granbery, Jr. played a messenger boy, while John Granbery shot the film. The untitled film in Wyoming has a similar theme. However, instead of African savages, it features cowboys, Native Americans, and outlaws. "On Holiday" is a recent edit by donor Joya Hoyt created 70 years later featuring a soundtrack by one of the original filmmakers, John Granbery. "On Holiday" was shown at the 12th Night Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. "War on the Roof" highlights youthful life in Brooklyn and is about a gangster and armies meeting on rooftops in Brooklyn Heights. There is also one commercial newsreel film about Charles Lindbergh and his trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.

Home Movies 1930s and 1940 The 1930s films and one 1940 film show the Granbery and Barr families' excursions around the country and world. Some of the footage is in black and white, while others are in color. It features sports, Scottish games, bike races, skiing vacations in Connecticut, and the Yale College class reunion of 1902. The locations in these films are Northampton, Long Island, Bermuda, Cooperstown, Greenwich, Canada, Virginia, Italy and Manchester. These are home movies of the Granbery and Barr families as opposed to the amateur films of the 1920s.

Military The final set of films features color footage from the Asian Arena in World War II that occured between 1944 and 1945. E.C. Granbery Jr. was in the Army Construction Detachment that left for the Pacific Islands from San Francisco. The films depict troop life including drills before shifting to the Pacific landscapes and people. The films focus on the realities of soldiers and Pacific Islanders as well as the landscape of a foreign land.