United States National Museum Division of Ethnology Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Department of Civil History Search this
National Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Department of Cultural History Search this
National Museum of History and Technology Division of Musical Instruments Search this
National Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Division of Costume and Furnishings Search this
National Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Division of Ethnic and Western Cultural History Search this
Type:
Mixed archival materials
Date:
1957
1957-1968
1957-1969
Category:
Agency History
Notes:
This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
Guide to the Smithsonian Archives, 1996
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1956-1957
Smithsonian Year, 1968, 1969
Before 1957 cultural history collections at the Smithsonian were in the care of the Division of Ethnology, Department of Anthropology. With the establishment of the Museum of History and Technology in that year, a Department of Civil History was created; and Cultural History became one of its divisions. In 1969 the Division of Cultural History ceased to exist and was replaced by a department of that same name in the newly titled National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT). The new Department of Cultural History supplanted the former Department of Civil History. The old Division's work was reorganized around new divisions, including Ethnic and Western Cultural History, Costume and Furnishings, and Musical Instruments.
C. Malcolm Watkins was appointed first Curator of Cultural History in 1957. Other curators of the cultural history collections included G. Carroll Lindsay, Assistant Curator of Ethnology, 1956-1957, Associate Curator, 1958; Rodris Roth, Assistant Curator, 1957-1959, Associate Curator, 1960- 1968; John D. Shortridge, Associate Curator, 1958-1960; John N. Pearce, Assistant Curator, 1960-1963, Associate Curator, 1964; Cynthia A. Hoover, Assistant Curator, 1961-1963, Associate Curator, 1964-1968 ; Anthony N. Hathaway, Junior Curator, 1961, Assistant Curator, 1962-1963; Howard Mayer Brown, Associate Curator, 1965; and Richard E. Ahlborn, Associate Curator, 1966-1968.
For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of" above.
Repository Loc.:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520
