Hutchinson, Louise Daniel, interviewee Search this
Extent:
4 audiotapes (Reference copies).
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Transcripts
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- History
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Washington, D.C.)
Ridge (Md.)
Date:
1987
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Institution Archives began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives'
record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program
staff conduct interviews with current and retired Smithsonian staff and others who have made significant contributions to the Institution. There are also interviews conducted
by researchers or students on topics related to the history of the Smithsonian or the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Hutchinson was interviewed for the Oral History Collection because of her pioneering career in black history at the National Portrait Gallery and Anacostia Neighborhood
Museum. Additional information about Hutchinson can be found in the Records of the Anacostia Community Museum, which are also housed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Hutchinson's personal papers will be available to researchers at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Descriptive Entry:
The Louise Daniel Hutchinson Interviews were conducted for the Smithsonian Institution Archives in January and July of 1987 by Anne McPherson Rogers, a graduate student
at the University of Maryland, as part of course requirements for an oral history seminar. The interviews discuss Hutchinson's family history, youth, education, work at the
NPG and Frederick Douglass Home, career at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, and reminiscences of colleagues such as John R. Kinard, S. Dillon Ripley, and Lawrence Erskine
Thomas, c. 1928-1986. The interviews consist of 3.0 hours of tape and 77 pages of transcript.
Historical Note:
Louise Daniel Hutchinson (1928-2014), was Director of the Research Center at the Anacostia Museum from 1974 to 1986. Born on June 3, 1928 in Ridge, Maryland, she grew
up in Washington, D.C. Her parents, Constance Eleanor Hazel and Victor Hugo Daniel, were teachers and active in African American community affairs. She attended Miner Teachers
College, Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College, and Howard University, where she received a B.A. degree in 1951 and pursued additional graduate studies in sociology.
After her marriage to Ellsworth W. Hutchinson, Jr., she taught as a substitute teacher while raising their six children.
In 1971, Hutchinson began her Smithsonian career as a researcher at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), where she worked with the William E. Harmon and Winold Reiss collections
of portraits of African Americans and on the exhibit, The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. After her 1972 appointment as an Education Research
Specialist, she focused on the creation of cooperative programs between the NPG and the District of Columbia Public Schools and the development of a curriculum on the history
of the District of Columbia.
Hutchinson left the Smithsonian in 1973 to become an Education Research Specialist for the National Park Service at the Frederick Douglass Home in Anacostia. At the Douglass
Home, she trained staff to use artifacts and historical writings to enhance interpretation of the site.
In 1974, Hutchinson was appointed Historian and Director of Research at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum [renamed Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) in 2006]. At the museum,
Hutchinson was responsible for research in support of exhibits, including The Anacostia Story: 1608-1930, Out of Africa: From West African Kingdoms to Colonization,
and Black Women: Achievements Against the Odds. During her tenure, Hutchinson also worked to define a mission for the ANM; increase dialogue with the museums on the
Mall; build a permanent collection; establish close ties with the local community; and create exhibits which responded to community needs and the changing mission of the ANM.
She developed the ANM's program of recording community history through oral history and was a catalyst in the formation of the Anacostia Historical Society. Hutchinson retired
from the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in 1986.
Rights:
Restricted. The interviews are open to researchers but may not be cited, quoted or reproduced without the permission of Louise Daniel Hutchinson prior to 2025. Contact SIHistory@si.edu for more details.
