National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution). Department of History Search this
Extent:
0.5 cu. ft. (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Floor plans
Sketches
Date:
1989-1992
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records that document the planning and execution of Living Self-Portraits, a series of interviews with prominent American artists.
Marc Pachter, Chief Historian, conducted the interviews at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG). The "evenings" were a collaborative effort between the Resident Associates
Program, Smithsonian Productions, WETA (Washington, DC's public television station), and NPG.
As stated in a letter to Agnes De Mille (interviewed October 10, 1990), "the self-portraits are informally autobiographical, going beyond what might be found in published
biographical sources" and the format was "an hour of conversation with . . . Marc Pachter" before "a select group of 250 enthusiastic and informed guests to share the event
in the Great Hall of the National Portrait Gallery." The interviews were videotaped and segments were to be used in the Smithsonian Productions series Smithsonian World
that aired on WETA television.
The interviewees featured in the records are dancer and choreographer Agnes De Mille, actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., editor of the Washington Post Katharine Graham, and
photographer Gordon Parks.
Materials include correspondence, memoranda, program notes, budgets, itineraries, sketches of the Great Hall (NPG), technical specifications, releases and agreements, logistical
planning files, reference files, mailing lists, notes, and related records.
Topic:
Television -- Production and direction Search this
