The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1989 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: American Indian Program
Series 3: The Caribbean: Cultural Encounters in the New World
Series 4: Les Fêtes Chez Nous: France and North America
Series 5: Hawai'i
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 1989 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Office of Folklife Programs and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
In commemoration of our common French and American covenants of human rights and in recognition of our common French heritage, the 1989 Festival celebrated the Bicentennial of the French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (on display during the Festival in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building). One of the Festival's four programs thus featured Francophone musicians and craftspeople from France, Quebec, New England, Louisiana, Missouri, and North Dakota.
The Hawai'i program included the descendants of immigrants, mainly from the Pacific rim (but also from the Atlantic), who came to the islands to work on plantations, enduring servitude and hardship in hope of a better life. Hawai'i is unique in that its indigenous culture suffuses its society as a whole, giving nuance to the forms of immigrant cultures that came there. This thirtieth anniversary of Hawaii's statehood invited the Smithsonian to reflect upon human cultural freedom - equity for and conservation of traditional cultures, as the Festival celebrated the vitality and open spirit of an indigenous Hawaiian culture that endured political, ideological and commercial attempts to restrict its practice and growth.
The continuity of culture depends upon access to various natural, social, and cultural resources. We bridle at unfair restrictions of such access that limit our freedom to realize our visions of who we are. The American Indian program in 1989 examined such restrictions and their impact upon contemporary tribal life. What happens when tribal rituals depend on endangered species, or traditional means of subsistence are threatened by land and water pollution? The program also illustrated attempts by various tribes to gain freedom over their cultural future through the innovative management of traditional resources.
The Caribbean program illustrated the historical flow of cultural and aesthetic ideas between diverse Native, European, and African populations in several island societies. Caribbean populations are characterized by the creative creolization of music, food, language, and art. Indeed, this encounter of diverse peoples defined the New World that developed in the wake of the Columbian voyages, whose 500th anniversary would be commemorated a few years later, in 1992. The Festival hosted contingents of musicians from Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico so that Americans could hear their musics and the complex historical tale they tell about the making of the New World.
The 1989 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 23-27 and June 30-July 4) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). The 1989 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; the Program Book featured four substantial essays, each laying out in depth the rationale for one of the four Festival programs.
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Office of Folklife Programs.
Office of Folklife Programs
Richard Kurin, Acting Director; Diana Parker, Festival Director; Anthony Seeger, Curator, Folkways Records; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist; Peter Seitel, Senior Folklorist; Olivia Cadaval, Marjorie Hunt, Phyllis M. May-Machunda, Heliana Portes de Roux, Frank Proschan, Nicholas R. Spitzer, Folklorists; Betty Belanus, Education Specialist; Richard Kennedy, Winifred Lambrecht, Curators; Jeffrey Place, Archivist
Folklife Advisory Council
Richard Bauman (Chair), Roger Abrahams, Henry Glassie, Rayna Green, John Gwaltney, Charlotte Heth, Adrienne Kaeppler, Ivan Karp, Bernice Reagon, John Kuo Wei Tchen, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez
National Park Service
James M. Ridenour, Director; Robert G. Stanton, Regional Director, National Capital Region
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
