Collection is open for research but negatives and audiovisuial materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Some papers of living persons are restricted. Access to restricted portions may be arranged by request to the donor. Gloves required for unprotected photographs. Viewing film portions of the collection and listening to LP recording requires special appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
The Archives Center does not own exclusive rights to these materials. Copyright for all materials is retained by the donor, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.; permission for commercial use and/or publication may be requested from the donor through the Archives Center. Military Records for Franklin A. Robinson (b. 1932) and correspondence from Richard I. Damalouji (1961-2014) are restricted; written permission is needed to research these files. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
The Robinson and Via Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Preservation of the 8mm films in this collection was made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Film Preservation Fund.
The collection consists of a map of the village of Orongo on Rapa Nui, with an inset drawing of a stone house. Notes indicate that the village was surveyed by Lieutenant Frederick M. Symonds and C.M. McCormick and give information about items removed from specific locations on the map.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Historical Note:
In late 1886, under the auspices of the US Navy, the warship USS Mohican was sent on a scientific expedition to Easter Island to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution.
The expedition took place from December 18- 31, 1886, and began with the Mohican's arrival in Hanga Roa Bay, Rapa Nui on December 18. A small group from the crew, including Surgeon George Cooke, Paymaster William Thomson, Lieutenant Frederick M. Symonds, and C.M. McCormick formed the main investigators of the island. Island resident Alexander P. Salmon, a Tahitian living on Easter Island, served as the expedition's translator. Among the main goals of the mission were to document Easter Island and its inhabitants, as well as to return with a complete specimen of one of its stone figures as an addition to the Smithsonian collections.
Publication Note:
A version of the map was published in:
Thompson, Walter J. "Te pito te henua, or Easter Island." Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1889. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1891. pp 47-552.
Related Materials:
The collections from the Mohican Survey of Easter Island came to the Smithsonian Institution in a series of accessions under the names of several donors. During the voyage the ship was under the command of Commander Benjamin F. Day, and a number of members of his crew were responsible for collecting and reporting on what was seen there. Although the Thomson collection (donated and collected by ship Paymaster William Thomson) is the main body of the material from the expedition, various members of the Mohican's crew are the named donors of items of other items which have become part of the Smithsonian Institution's Easter Island collections. See Department of Anthropology object collections Accession 19025, 20078, 23078
The National Anthropological Archives holds additional material from the expedition in the William Edwin Safford photograph albums relating to Easter Island, Samoa, and South America (Photo Lot 76-26); William J. Thomson photograph collection of Easter Island Rongorongo boards (Photo Lot 75-13); and Photo Lot 97.
Provenance:
The map was transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives on August 15, 1995.
Oldman, W. O. (William Ockleford), 1879-1949 Search this
Extent:
255 Digital images
Type:
Archival materials
Digital images
Date:
1904-1910
Collection Restrictions:
Digital access only. For physical access see the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa website. https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/4913
Collection Rights:
Copyright in the business records is owned by the Estate of W. O. Oldman represented by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Media Licensing, at: mediasalesandlicensing@tepapa.govt.nz.
For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changedand the source of the image is identified as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa/National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Citation:
William Ockleford Oldman Archive research materials, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Oldman, W. O. (William Ockleford), 1879-1949 Search this
Extent:
252 Digital images
Type:
Archival materials
Digital images
Date:
1910-1914
Collection Restrictions:
Digital access only. For physical access see the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa website. https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/4913
Collection Rights:
Copyright in the business records is owned by the Estate of W. O. Oldman represented by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Media Licensing, at: mediasalesandlicensing@tepapa.govt.nz.
For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changedand the source of the image is identified as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa/National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Citation:
William Ockleford Oldman Archive research materials, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Oldman, W. O. (William Ockleford), 1879-1949 Search this
Extent:
899 Digital images
Type:
Archival materials
Digital images
Date:
1902-1916
Collection Restrictions:
Digital access only. For physical access see the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa website. https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/4913
Collection Rights:
Copyright in the business records is owned by the Estate of W. O. Oldman represented by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Media Licensing, at: mediasalesandlicensing@tepapa.govt.nz.
For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changedand the source of the image is identified as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa/National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Citation:
William Ockleford Oldman Archive research materials, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.
Misilagi, "Freddie" Letuli Olo, 1919-2003 Search this
Extent:
1.25 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Ephemera
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Date:
1920-2011, undated
Summary:
Photographs and ephemera collected by the McIntire Family of Hawaiian musicians documenting their careers throughout the United States, and those of other performers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of photographs and ephemera relating to and collected by the McIntire family of Hawaiian musicians as well as materials from fellow performers. Photographs of Lani McIntire and members of his orchestra as well as those of his brothers, and niece Lani Ellen McIntire are numerous. There are programs, newspaper articles, postcards, advertisements, sheet music, and one album cover. The collection dates from the early 20th century to the late 20th century and is a comprehensive collection documenting the extensive career of the McIntire family and those that worked with them, and performers they worked with in motion pictures, night clubs, and hotels.
The collection also, "documents Lani E. McIntire's craft and career as one of the most prolific professional practitioners of Pacific Islander dances in the mid-20th century. She traveled the United States and parts of the world with Native Hawaiian and Samoan troupes, and carefully documented their travel and work." The collection critically documents, "the Hollywood Pacific Islander community that established the "Polynesian Club" scene in Hollywood [California], as well as of the Pacific Islander communities that did the same work in New York City [New York}, New Orleans [Louisiana], and other metropolitan areas in the United States."
This collection includes "candid "on the road" photographs, photographs of members of these communities socializing together during their off-time, as well as publicity photographs that together document the work as well as the cultural expressions of Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander musical entertainers. The portion of the collection that originated with Jean Alice Mayo documents the early years of filmmaking in Silent Era Hollywood. These photographs consist of "on set" candids, publicity photographs, "head-shots" of various celebrities, glamour photographs, and documentation of early stuntwomen.
Source
National Museum of American History, Acquisition Information Sheet, July 17, 2021, Archives Center Control File NMAH.AC.1511.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1: Photographs, 1920-1960, undated
Series 2: Scrapbook Pages, Personal Papers, and Ephemera, 1929-2011, undated
Biographical / Historical:
The McIntire family has a long history in performance of Hawaiian music, especially Hawaiian guitar, and dance. Lani McIntire (1904-1951) composer, vocalist, and guitarist, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1904. Initially he entered his father's laundry business but then landed a position as ship's musician that led to a life-long career as a professional musician. Lani served in the United States Navy on the U.S.S. Birmingham as a bugler and musician in the Navy Band. After the war, Lani formed his own orchestra. In addition to leading his own orchestra, he wrote and recorded his own music the most popular song being, "The One Rose." As of 1941, he had recorded over 150 compositions and with Sam Koki recorded a version of "Sweet Leilani" that sold over two million copies. His orchestra played nationally, and it was reported that his favorite venue was the Lexington Hotel in New York City, New York.
The McIntire's, "played a critical role in creating a global Hawaiian music craze that by the 1930s had swept Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Austrailia, and the continental United States." Al McIntire (1906-1960) bass player and vocalist and his brothers Richard "Dick" McIntire (1902-1951) Hawaiian steel guitar player, and the aforementioned Lani McIntire became some of the best-known Hawaiian musicians in the world. They left Oahu in the 1920s and played in Polynesian-themed nightclubs while recording and working on feature films along with the extensive Pacific Islander community based in Hollywood, California. The McIntire brothers younger sister, Kahala McIntire (1925-2003) "stowed away on a ship at the age of 15 to work on the continent as a professional hula dancer." The McIntire's were well known performing in Hollywood, California, Chicago, Illinois, and at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York. The McIntire's recorded "hundreds of songs with fellow Hawaiian musicians and with populuar non-Hawaiian artists cush as Jimmie Rodgers and Bing Crosby."
The liner notes from Lani McIntire's "Aloha Hawaii" album read, "You'll hear Lani McIntire broadcasting twice a week, over a 190-station Mutual Broadcasting System network. You'll see him at the Hotel Lexington in New York City-or at another of American's famous night spots. (He's played at the Biltmore Bowl and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, the Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit, the Congress Hotel, Chicago, and many others).
As you listen, you'll soon know why Lani is called, "King of Hawaiian Music". In a few minutes, the exotic, native rhythm . . . the soothing, haunting melodies . . . will create for you a vision of lush, tropical islands, of star-studded skies and warm, romantic nights.
Lani would have to be a native Hawaiian, born with that rhythm in his blood, to play the way he does-his mother was Hawaiian, his father Scotch, and he was born in Honolulu. But he didn't start his musical career until he joined the Navy, where he began playing the saxaphone. He soon switched to the guitar-which he now plays as he leads his orchestra.
'When I got my discharge from the Navy," McIntire explains, "I went to Hollywood and for eight years worked in movies. Mostly, my contributions could be heard but not seen-although finally I did appear with Bing Crosby in several pictures."
Composer, arranger, guitarist, singer-Lani McIntire has many unusual talents that stamp him as one of the most versatile of all orchestra leaders." ("Aloha Hawaii" album cover, undated)
Lani Ellen McIntire (1934-), daughter of Al McIntire and Jean Alice Mayo (1897-?) a white woman who acted in silent films and was an equestrian rider, dancer, and vocalist, continued the family performing tradition. Lani Ellen was raised in the Hawaiian community and performed hula during her family's entertainments from a young age. Lani Ellen performed dance professionally into the 1970s. She appeared on television and in Hollywood films such as, "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956). Lani Ellen was married to (1) "Freddie" Letuli Olo Misilagi (1919-2003) an American Samoan entertainer, who began dancing at the age of 15 and was described in his obituary as the "father" of the fire knife dance. Letuli later was elected village senator in 1977 and "was re-selected to the Samoan Senate in 1993."
Sources
National Museum of American History, Acquisition Information Sheet, July 17, 2021, Archives Center Control File #1511.
"Chief Letul Olo, 84, of Samoa; Father of the Fire Knife Dance", obituary, The New York Times, July 31, 2003, Section B, page 9.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution by Lani Ellen McIntire, August 2021.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Occupation:
Photographers -- California -- Hollywood Search this
Topic:
American Polynesia -- Hawaiian Islands Search this
The papers of California painter, printmaker, and art instructor Dorr Bothwell date from 1900-2006, and measure 10.6 linear feet and 1.72 GB. Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes and writings, five diaries, art work and 19 sketchbooks, three scrapbooks, printed material, and print and digital photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of California painter, printmaker, and art instructor Dorr Bothwell date from 1900-2006, and measure 10.6 linear feet and 1.72 GB. Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes and writings, five diaries, art work and 19 sketchbooks, three scrapbooks, printed material, and print and digital photographs.
Biographical material consists of biographical sketches, resumés, identity cards, award certificates, typescripts of autobiographical interviews, address books, and a file concerning UFOs, spirituality, and philosophy.
Correspondence consists of letters exchanged between Bothwell and her colleagues and friends discussing their art-related activities, travel, and birthday greetings. There are scattered letters from Ansel and Virginia Adams, Etel Adnan, Benjamin Chinn, Claire Falkenstein, and Emmy Lou Packard.
Personal business records include teaching contracts, contracts and royalty statements for the publication of Bothwell's book Notan, insurance records, income tax records, records concerning a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, estate records, card files, lists of art work, price lists, exhibition entry cards, receipts for the sale of art work, travel receipts, medical receipts, and consignment/sales records.
Notes and writings include three diaries, two travel journals, guest books, miscellaneous lists, schedules of classes for various organizations and art schools including the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, typescripts of lecture notes, and miscellaneous notes. There are also scattered writings by Bothwell and others.
Seventeen sketchbooks, including several completed during Bothwell's travels, and one dated 1942 illustrated with daily drawings of her activities while preparing for World War II, are found within the papers. There are also miscellaneous drawings, collages, a serigraph It's Time for a Change, an etching by Martha Jackson, and a drawing by Charles Howard.
Three scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, programs, and photographs of art work. Scrapbook 3 contains materials concerning spiritualism and mysticism. Additional printed material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, press releases, brochures for art classes, the sale of art work, travel, and camera equipment, reproductions of art work, picture postcards, programs, books, and miscellaneous commercial business cards.
Photographs are of Bothwell, her mother and brother, her studio/residences, miscellaneous friends and colleagues including her former husband, sculptor Donal Hord, miscellaneous events, and art classes conducted by Bothwell. There are also photographs of art work by Bothwell and others, as well as numerous photographs and slides of travel various forms in nature that Bothwell would incorporate into her art work.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-2001 (Box 1, 11, 13, 15; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1942-2002 (Box 1-3, 13; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1925-2006 (Box 3-4; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Notes and Writings, 1949-1998 (Box 4, 11, 14, 15; 0.8 linear feet.)
Series 5: Art Work, 1920-1994 (Box 4-5, 11, 13, 16, 17; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1926-1979 (Box 5, 11, 12; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1923-2000 (Box 5-7, 12, 13; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1900-2001 (Box 7-9, 10; 2.4 linear feet, ER01-ER04; 1.72 GB)
Biographical Note:
Dorr Bothwell (1902-2000) worked primarily in California as a painter, printmaker, and art instructor.
Doris Bothwell was born on May 3, 1902 in San Francisco, and later changed her first name to Dorr in order to more easily enter the art business. Bothwell began her art studies in 1916 with her parents' friend Anna Valentien, a student of Rodin. Between 1921 and 1922, she studied at the California School of Fine Art, and continued her studies at the University of Oregon at Eugene. After attending the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in 1924, she established her own studio in San Francisco from 1924 to 1927. Also during this time Bothwell, with eight other artists opened the Modern Gallery on Montgomery Street, mounting her first solo exhibition there in 1927.
Between 1928 and 1929, Bothwell traveled to American Samoa, where she created paintings and drawings, and documented tapa (barkcloth) drawings for the Bishop Museum of Honolulu. She then spent a year of study in Europe, returning to San Diego, California in 1931 and marrying sculptor Donal Hord. Four years later, they divorced and she moved to Los Angeles where she worked for the pottery manufacturer Gladding McBean, joined the post-surrealist group around Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg and opened the Bothwell-Cooke Gallery.
Between 1936 and 1939, Bothwell worked in the mural division of the Federal Arts Project of Los Angeles, and learned the art of serigraph printing. She designed dioramas and mechanized exhibitions for the Los Angeles County Museum. In 1940 she also created murals in the Manning Coffee Restaurant in San Francisco.
After teaching color and design at the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco from 1944 to 1948, Bothwell was awarded the Abraham Rosenberg Traveling Scholarship that financed study in Paris from 1949 to the fall of 1951. In 1952 she taught textile design for mass production at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Returning to San Francisco, Bothwell taught again at the California School of Fine Art from 1953 to 1958, and at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1959 to 1960. From 1960 to 1961 she took a sabbatical in England and France, creating paintings for an exhibition. In 1962 she was asked to teach at the new Mendocino Art Center and she taught there until 1983. She was also asked by Ansel Adams to teach design and composition for photographers at his Yosemite Workshop summer sessions, which she did from 1964 to 1977.
From 1966 to 1967, Bothwell documented indigo dying techniques, strip weaving, and pottery in Western Nigeria and Tunisia. In 1968, she published her book, co-authored with Marlys Frey, NOTAN The Principle of Dark-Light Design. The book was reissued in 1991. Bothwell continued her travels from 1970 to 1971, when she studied 12th century enamels in England, France, and Holland, and conducted a symposium, "Notan Design," for the London Educational Authority. In 1974, she traveled to Bali, Java, and Sumatra, making a slide documentary on batik, woodcarving, and folk design.
In 1977 Bothwell moved to Joshua Tree, California, from Mendocino in Northern California, but moved back and forth between the two studio/residences until 1992 when she moved to her last residence on the desert at Apache Junction, Arizona. From 1979 to 1980, she taught composition at the Victor School of Photography in Colorado and a design course at the Women's Art Guild in Kauai, Hawaii. Following a tour of China with a watercolor artists' group in 1982, Bothwell conducted workshops at the Mendocino Art Center. In 1985, she traveled to Japan.
Dorr Bothwell died on September 24, 2000 in Fort Bragg, California.
Provenance:
The Dorr Bothwell papers were donated in 1978 by the artist, and in 2002, 2009, and 2012 by the Dorr Bothwell Trust.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection, Acc. 1992.0023, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
