The films in the Bentsen Film Collection were made during the 1930s and 1940s by Alton Bentsen. Alton was one of six children born to Peter and Tena Bentsen, Danish immigrants who came to the United States to farm. Originally homesteading in South Dakota, the Bentsen family eventually found their way to the Rio Grande Valley, where they bought and developed land in Hidalgo County. Future generations of the Bentsen family became active in banking and financial services as well as politics. Alton Bentsen was a paternal uncle of Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr., who served as U.S. Senator, U.S. Treasury Secretary and was the 1988 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.