Hill, Jerome

Hill, a filmmaker, artist and philanthropist, maintained friendships and working relationships with a wide variety of artists and musicians both mainstream and experimental. His innovations in documentary film and in feature films have been influential. His papers also represent a unique vantage point into the families of railroad magnates James J. Hill and Louis W. Hill, his grandfather and father, respectively.

James Jerome Hill was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 2, 1905. He was born into the family of Louis W. Hill, one of the prominent families of Saint Paul and heirs to the railroad fortune of James J. Hill, the famed "Empire Builder." Hill's father and grandfather maintained large collections of artwork from contemporary and classic European painters, such as Corot, Rousseau and Delacroix, and Hill was fascinated and inspired by these paintings to begin painting and drawing from an early age.

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