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Catalog Data

Creator:
Anacostia Neighborhood Museum  Search this
Names:
Anacostia ACs  Search this
Anacostia Community Museum  Search this
Anacostia Neighborhood Museum  Search this
Birney Elementary School  Search this
Campbell African Methodist Episcopal Church (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Greenwood Transfer Moving and Storage Company, Inc. (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Macedonia Baptist Church (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Southeast Neighborhood House (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Allen, Helen Greenwood  Search this
Dale, Almore  Search this
Douglass, Frederick, 1817?-1895  Search this
Duckett, Ruth  Search this
Ellis, Martha  Search this
Greenwood, Benjamin O., Sr.  Search this
Kinard, John, 1936-1989  Search this
McKenzie, Walter  Search this
Taylor, Blakely  Search this
Collection Creator:
Anacostia Community Museum  Search this
Extent:
3 Video recordings (open reel, 1/2 inch)
1 Sound recording (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Barry Farms (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1972
Scope and Contents:
Older residents of Anacostia share their experiences and memories growing up and living in the once tight knit community, Anacostia, to provide evidence of Anacostia's history with goal of understanding the history of the community for present and future generations and with the theory that if man does not know where he came from, he/she cannot know here he/she is, and has no direction for the future. Martha Ellis reminiscences about her work at the public schools, particularly Birney School. Ruth Duckett, Ellis' daughter, talks about her work with the youth group at the Southeast House; when it was safe to sit outside and walk down the street; the portrayal of Anacostia in the newspapers and media; successful people who grew up in Anacostia and moved to other parts of the city and country; the baseball club Anacostia ACs; and ministers and movement of churches in the area. Churches mentioned by Duckett and other residents include Macedonia Baptist Church, St. Teresa's Catholic Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, and Campbell A.M.E. Church. Residents speak about Anacostia's rich heritage of people doing things - the craftsmen, construction workers, business people, and entrepreneurs - including sign painter, automobile painter, and artist Walter McKenzie; the fish man Mr. Chapman; the Greenwood family and their family business, Greenwood Transfer Moving and Storage Company; and the Taylor family, specifically Blakely Taylor, who were brick layers. They reminiscence about how everyone knew everyone, how everyone helped each other and the community thrive, when mothers stayed home and took care of children, when children participated in programs at the recreation center, when police had closer tie to community; and when it is so quiet, residents could hear cars go across the 11th street bridge. Residents also talk about the present: movement of people from different communities into Anacostia, younger Anacostians forced away because of zoning and no housing besides apartments, dirty streets, and violence. Overall, residents do not feel as if everything is bad in Anacostia; they just wish something would be done to fix the problems before they become worse.
Community Program. Filmed during exhibit Evolution of a Community with introduction by John Kinard (transcribed from physical asset AV003581) and moderated by Almore Dale. AV003581: Part 1. AV003088: Part 2. AV003550: Part 3, poor image quality. Part of Evolution of a Community Audiovisual Records. Dated 19720524. AV003383-3 and AV003383-4: sound only, content overlaps with video recordings, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Evolution of a Community, an exhibit at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from January 1972 though December 1972, presented the history of Anacostia from post-World War II to the present through photos, text, drawings, video tape programs, and a slide/tape show. Evolution of a Community Part II, also known as Anacostia Today, was on display at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from March 1973 though July 1973. The exhibitions developed as a result oral histories collected from Anacostia residents.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003088 ACMA AV003550 ACMA AV003383-3 ACMA AV003383-4
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Museums and community  Search this
Community museums  Search this
African Americans  Search this
Communities  Search this
Neighborhoods  Search this
African American neighborhoods  Search this
Churches  Search this
African American churches  Search this
Schools  Search this
Baseball teams  Search this
Recreation centers  Search this
Entrepreneurship  Search this
African American businesspeople  Search this
Business enterprises  Search this
African American business enterprises  Search this
Small business  Search this
Family-owned business enterprises  Search this
Crime  Search this
Police  Search this
Police-community relations  Search this
Migration, Internal  Search this
Social history  Search this
Genre/Form:
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Citation:
Down Memory Lane, Exhibition Records AV03-040, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
ACMA.03-040, Item ACMA AV003581
See more items in:
Evolution of a Community: 1972 Exhibition Records
Evolution of a Community: 1972 Exhibition Records / Series ACMA AV03-040: Evolution of a Community Audiovisual Records
Archival Repository:
Anacostia Community Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa7fa13516d-f889-420e-9460-c3d93e00fa0f
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-acma-03-040-ref562