Most of Ruth Landes's papers relate directly or indirectly to Landes's American Indian research, her work in Brazil, and her study of bilingualism. There is also a considerable amount of material that relates to her experiences (sometimes fictionalized) at Fisk University. There is only small amount of material related to her other interests. Her collection also has material of and relating to the Brazilian folklorist and journalist Edison Carneiro. There is also noteworthy material concerning Herbert Baldus, Ruth Benedict, Elmer C. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, and Robert E. Park. There is a large amount of printed and processed materials in the collection, mainly in the form of newspaper clippings and a collection of scholarly papers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is mainly comprised of the professional papers of Ruth Schlossberg Landes. Included are correspondence, journals, published and unpublished manuscripts of writings, research materials including field notes and reading notes, photographs, drawings, scholarly papers and publications by other scholars, and clippings from newspapers and periodicals.
Landes's field research on Candomblé in Brazil is well-represented in this collection, consisting of her field journals, writings, and photographs. Also present are Maggie Wilson's stories that were the basis for Landes's The Ojibwa Woman. Unfortunately, Landes was unable to locate her journals for her early research with the Ojibwa/Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Dakota. There are, however, field photographs of the Ojibwa/Chippewa and Potawatomi in the collection. There is also a great deal of her research on groups, especially minorities, in multilingual states with particular focus on the French of Quebec, Basques of Spain and the United States, Boers and Blacks of South Africa, the several socio-linguistic groups of Switzerland, and Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana. In the collection are several drafts of her unpublished manuscript on bilingualism, "Tongues that Defy the State." There is also a small amount of material about Black Jews of New York and considerable material about Landes's experience among African Americans when she taught briefly at Fisk University, including her unpublished manuscript "Now, at Athens," containing fictional and autobiographical accounts of her time at Fisk.
Reflections of other facets of Landes's professional activities are also included. Some materials concern her teaching activities, and there is also documentation of her work with the Fair Employment Practices Commission (a federal government agency during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt) and a similar private organization which immediately succeeded the FEPA; Gunnar Myrdal's research into the plight of African Americans ("The Negro in America"); the Research in Contemporary Cultures project at Columbia University; and the American Jewish Congress.
Among Landes's correspondents are Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ralph Bunche, Herbert Baldus, Edison Carneiro, Sally Chilver, Frances Densmore, Sol Tax, Elmer S. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, Robert E. Park, and Hendrik W. van der Merwe.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 6 series: (1) Correspondence, 1931-1991; (2) Research Materials, circa 1930s-1990; (3) Writings, circa 1930s-1990; (4) Teaching Materials, 1935-1975, undated; (5) Biographical and Personal Files, 1928-1988; (6) Graphic Materials, 1933-1978, undated
Biographical Note:
Ruth Schlossberg Landes was born on October 8, 1908 in New York City. Her father was Joseph Schlossberg, an activist in the Yiddish labor socialist community and one of the founders of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. She studied sociology at New York University (B.A. 1928) and social work at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University (M.S.W. 1929). While in graduate school, Landes studied Black Jews in Harlem for her master's thesis, a topic that developed her interests in anthropology.
After graduating in 1929, she worked as a social worker in Harlem and married Victor Landes, a medical student and son of family friends. Their marriage ended after two years when she enrolled in the doctoral program in anthropology at Columbia against her husband's wishes. She kept his surname due to the stigma of being a divorced woman.
At Columbia, Landes studied under Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict, her main advisor. Under the guidance of Benedict, Landes moved away from further study of African Americans to focus on Native American communities. Upon Benedict's suggestion, Landes studied the social organization of the Ojibwa in Manitou Rapids in Ontario from 1932 to 1936 for her Ph.D. fieldwork. Her dissertation, Ojibwa Sociology, was published in 1937. Landes also contributed "The Ojibwa of Canada" in Cooperation and Competition among Primitive Peoples (1937), a volume edited by Margaret Mead. In 1938, Landes published Ojibwa Women (1938), a book written in collaboration with Maggie Wilson, an Ojibwa interpreter and informant.
In addition to studying the Ojibwa in Ontario, Landes also conducted fieldwork with the Chippewa of Red Lake, Minnesota in 1933, working closely with shaman or midé Will Rogers. Her book, Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin (1968) was based largely on her research with Rogers and Maggie Wilson. In 1935 and 1936, she undertook fieldwork with the Santee Dakota in Minnesota and the Potawatomi in Kansas. Like Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin, her books on the Santee Dakota and Potawatomi were not published until several years later—The Mystic Lake Sioux: Sociology of the Mdewakantonwan Sioux was published in 1968 while The Prairie Potawatomi was published in 1970. In between her field research in the 1930s and the publication of The Prairie Potawatomi, Landes returned to Kansas to study the Potawatomi in the 1950s and 1960s.
Landes's plan to continue her studies with the Potawatomi in 1937 changed when Benedict invited her to join a team of researchers from Columbia University in Brazil. Landes was to conduct research on Afro-Brazilians in Bahia, Brazil, while Walter Lipkind, Buell Quain, and Charles Wagley studied indigenous people in the Amazons. To prepare for her research, Landes was at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937 and 1938 to consult with Robert Park and Donald Pierson and to use the university's library collections of African and African American materials. During that time, Landes also held a teaching position at Fisk and lived in the non-segregated women's residence on campus. Landes later wrote "Now, at Athens," an unpublished memoir containing fictional and true accounts of her experiences at Fisk.
From 1938 to 1939, Landes conducted fieldwork on the role of Afro-Brazilian women and homosexuals in the Candomblé religion in Bahia, Brazil. Unable to move freely by herself in Brazil as a single woman, Landes was accompanied by Edison Carneiro, a Bahian journalist and folklorist. With Carneiro as her companion, Landes was allowed access to rituals and people that would have been closed off to her otherwise. Due to her association with Carneiro, a member of the Brazilian Communist Party, Landes was suspected of being a communist and was forced to leave Bahia early. Publications from her research in Brazil include "A Cult Matriarchate and Male Homosexuality" (1940) and City of Women (1947). She returned to Brazil in 1966 to study the effects of urban development in Rio de Janeiro. In 1967, a Portuguese translation of City of Women was published, a project that Carneiro had commissioned as the first director of the Ministry of Education and Culture's Special National Agency for the Protection of Folklore.
Landes returned to New York in 1939, working briefly as a researcher for Gunnar Myrdal's study of African Americans. Unable to obtain a permanent position at a university, she worked in several other short term positions throughout most of her career. During World War II, Landes was a research director for the Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs (1941) and consultant for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Committee on African American and Mexican American cases (1941-44). In 1945, Landes directed a program created by Pearl S. Buck and a group of interdenominational clergy to analyze pending New York anti-discrimination legislation. She moved to California the following year to work for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Welfare Council on a study of race and youth gangs. After her contract ended, she moved back to New York and was hired as a contract researcher for the American Jewish Congress (1948-50). She also participated in Columbia University's Research in Contemporary Cultures (1949-51), studying Jewish families. She coauthored with Mark Zborowski, "Hypothesis concerning the Eastern European Jewish Family." From 1951 to 1952, Landes spent a year in London, funded by a Fulbright fellowship to study colored colonial immigrants and race relations in Great Britain.
After her fellowship ended, Landes returned to the United States and held short term appointments at several universities. She taught at the William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution in New York (1953-54), the New School for Social Research in New York (1953-55), University of Kansas (1957, 1964), University of Southern California (1957-62), Columbia University (1963), Los Angeles State College (1963), and Tulane University (1964). At Claremont Graduate School, Landes helped to develop and direct the Claremont Anthropology and Education Program (1959-62).
It was not until 1965 that Landes obtained a permanent faculty position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario; she was recruited for the position by Richard Slobodin. Due to Ontario's age retirement law, Landes was forced to retire in 1973 at the age of 65. She continued to teach part-time until 1977, when she became professor emerita.
Landes passed away at the age of 82 on February 11, 1991.
Sources Consulted
Cole, Sally. 2003. Ruth Landes: A Life in Anthropology. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
Chronology
1908 October 8 -- Born Ruth Schlossberg in New York City
1928 -- B.A. in sociology, New York University
1929 -- M.S.W., New York School of Social Work, Columbia University
1929-1931 -- Social worker in Harlem Married to Victor Landes
1929-1934 -- Studied Black Jews in Harlem
1931 -- Began graduate work in anthropology at Columbia University
1932-1936 -- Studied the Ojibwa in Ontario and Minnesota (in field periodically)
1933-1940 -- Research Fellow, Columbia University
1935 Summer-Fall -- Studied the Santee Sioux (Dakota) in Minnesota
1935-1936 -- Studied the Potawatomi in Kansas
1935 -- Ph.D., Columbia University
1937 -- Instructor, Brooklyn College
1937-1938 -- Instructor, Fisk University
1938-1939 -- Studied Afro-Brazilians and Candomblé in Brazil, especially at Bahia
1939 -- Researcher on Gunnar Myrdal's study, "The Negro in America"
1941 -- Research Director, Office of Inter American Affairs, Washington, D.C.
1941-1945 -- Representative for Negro and Mexican American Affairs, Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), President Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration
1944 -- Interim Director, Committee Against Racial Discrimination, New York
1946-1947 -- Researcher, study of Mexican American youth, gangs, and families, Los Angeles Metropolitan Council
1948-1951 -- Researcher, American Jewish Congress, New York
1949-1951 -- Research consultant, study on Jewish families in New York for Research in Contemporary Cultures Project, Columbia University
1951-1952 -- Fulbright Scholar, to study colored colonial immigration into Great Britain
1953-1954 -- Lecturer, William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution, New York
1953-1955 -- Lecturer, New School for Social Research, New York
1956-1957 -- Married to Ignacio Lutero Lopez
1957 Summer -- Visiting Professor, University of Kansas
1957-1958 -- Visiting Professor, University of Southern California
1957-1965 -- Consultant, California agencies (Department of Social Work, Bureau of Mental Hygiene, Department of Education, Public Health Department) and San Francisco Police Department
1958-1959 -- Director, Geriatrics Program, Los Angeles City Health Department
1959-1962 -- Visiting Professor and Director of Anthropology and Education Program, Claremont Graduate School
1962 -- Extension Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley
1963 -- Extension Lecturer, Columbia University Extension Lecturer, Los Angeles State College
1963-1965 -- Consultant, International Business Machines (IBM)
1964 January-June -- Visiting Professor, Tulane University
1964 Summer -- Field work with Potawatomi in Kansas Professor, University of Kansas
1965-1975 -- Professor at McMaster University
1966 -- Studied urban development in Rio de Janeiro
1968-1975 -- Studied bilingualism and biculturalism in Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, United States, and Canada (in Spain and the United States concentrated on Basques)
1975 -- Became part-time faculty member at McMaster University
1977 -- Professor Emerita, McMaster University
1978 -- Award of Merit from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
1991 February 11 -- Died in Hamilton, Ontario
1991 -- Establishment of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund at Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM)
Related Materials:
Correspondence from Ruth Landes can be found in the William Duncan Strong Papers, the Leonard Bloomfield Papers, and MS 7369. The Ruth Bunzel Papers contains a copy of a grant application by Landes.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Ruth Landes in 1991.
Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
1 Folder (11 photographic prints; 23 digital images)
Type:
Archival materials
Digital images
Place:
Fox Hollow (Ridgeland, Mississippi)
United States of America -- Mississippi -- Madison -- Ridgeland
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets and an articles.
General:
Fox Hollow was once approximately ten acres of undeveloped pastureland with a 200 year old southern red oak and an upward incline toward a wooded ravine. It was transformed into a garden with a collection of plants supporting pollinators and wildlife. After purchase in 1991 the owners planted 50 trees near the public road for privacy, including loblolly pine, magnolia, beech, cedar, dawn redwood, hickory, cypress, oaks, tulip poplar, ash, and several sugar maples transplanted from a family farm in Virginia. Their Louisiana Acadian style house was built by 1997 and is now surrounded by formal gardens with iron and lead decorative features from former family farms and gardens; these include a cottage garden, a white garden, and a Louisiana style courtyard with a three tiered iron fountain in the center. The walkways and edgings of the beds are brick while the uneven pickets of the wooden fences are in the Louisiana style. The bordering flower beds include wintergreen boxwood hedges, wax myrtle, pale pink camellias, aspidistra, and monkey grass; large clay pots in the courtyard hold annuals like dianthus, pansies and snapdragons in fall and winter and begonias in spring and summer.
The next areas to be planted were a large lawn, multi-level woodland garden, and a cutting garden. The lawn is edged with hundreds of passalong daffodils and trees that include flowering cherry, apricot, plum, magnolias, gingko, persimmon, maples, and tupelo. The one acre woodland garden was once an eroded forest floor of pine needles, leaves, beauty berry, privet, honeysuckle and poison ivy. Gravel paths, rugged stone creek beds and plantings of passalongs or end-of-season purchased plants have stopped erosion in the ravines. On a ridge about half way down the 20 foot drop of the ravine they have created a seating area with a fire pit surrounded by trees, flowering evergreen bushes, ferns, grasses, hostas, hydrangeas, and azaleas. Paths through the ravine are shaded by trees that were planted and enlivened by the colors of bulbs, perennials, seasonal plantings and flowering shrubs.
The cutting garden is set on low mounds that look down on the house. Flowering trees and bushes include kousa dogwood, snowball viburnum, magnolia, spirea, and butterfly bushes. In the flower beds there are old fashioned butterfly weed, iris, varieties of rudbeckias, phlox, daisies, and coreopsis as well as agapanthus, anemones, larkspur, zinnias, cosmos and chartreuse potato vines, daylilies and coleus. The mild climate means that cutting materials can be grown for three seasons, and trees add texture, height and color year round.
Persons associated with the garden include: Al Jones (architect, 1991-1997); Overton Moore (landscape architect, 1996-1998); and Robert F. Poore (landscape architect, 2010).
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.
101 Bluegrass / New Coon Creek Girls, Kathy Kuhn, Vickie Simmons. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo.
102 African-American Gospel / Birmingham Sunlights, Barry Taylor, Reginald Speight.
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0009
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 Songs of Stuggle / Freedom Singers, Bettie Mae Fikes, Rutha Harris.
102 Low Country Blues / Highway 61 (Musical group), Armand Lenchek, Skeeter Brandon. Keyboards (Music),Guitar,Saxophone,Trombone.
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0010
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 African-American Gospel / Birmingham Sunlights, Barry Taylor, Reginald Speight.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0017
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
102 Songs of Stuggle / Freedom Singers, Bettie Mae Fikes, Rutha Harris.
103 Bluegrass / New Coon Creek Girls, Kathy Kuhn, Vickie Simmons. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0018
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0043
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0044
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
102 Jazz,Parade,Rhythm and Blues / Treme Brass Band, Frederick Shepard, Lionel Baptiste. Drum,Trumpet,Tuba,Trombone,Snare drum.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0045
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 Country / Louisiana Hayride Band, Margaret Lewis Warwick, Tillman Franks. Hawaiian guitar,Keyboards (Music),Guitar,Fiddle.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0046
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 27, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 Jazz,Parade,Rhythm and Blues / Treme Brass Band, Frederick Shepard, Lionel Baptiste. Drum,Trumpet,Tuba,Trombone,Snare drum.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Drum,Bass,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
103 Afro-Cuban Music and Dance / Ife Ile (Musical group), Luis E. Torres, Neri Torres. Conga (Drum),Bata (Drum).
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0048
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 27, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
102 Afro-Cuban Music and Dance / Ife Ile (Musical group), Luis E. Torres, Neri Torres. Conga (Drum),Bata (Drum).
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0054
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 29, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
101 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
102 Jazz,Parade,Rhythm and Blues / Treme Brass Band, Frederick Shepard, Lionel Baptiste. Drum,Trumpet,Tuba,Trombone,Snare drum.
103 Bluegrass / New Coon Creek Girls, Kathy Kuhn, Vickie Simmons. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0055
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 29, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Massachusetts, United States, October 31, 1987.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Massachusetts, United States, November 4, 1987.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Massachusetts, United States, November 7, 1987.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Ingenuity and Tradition: The Common Wealth of Massachusetts
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
Massachusetts, like the rest of the United States, is a complex place where old and new stand side by side on the landscape and where tradition and innovation combine in people's lives to make them whole. The ingenious combination of old and new is repeated throughout Massachusetts by people as varied as black blues musicians, Cambodian craftspeople, Finnish cranberry farmers, Portuguese fisherfolk and Chinese computer assemblers. In examining Massachusetts traditions for the Festival program, scholars found that change, no matter what its cause, challenged individuals and communities to find creative ways to maintain traditions.
Like the great transformations that have shaped Massachusetts and the country as a whole, traditions can undergo change and emerge transformed but still recognizable. Puerto Rican singer Felix Luna of Lowell applied the traditional decima song form to new lyrics about the Challenger disaster. Gospel singer Napolean Stovell of Springfield directed his southern-born quartet to enunciate their words more clearly because the New England audiences like to understand what is being sung. Mario Picardo of Boston incorporated traditional Italian architectural features to make a bandstand but used plywood, foam, tin foil, and cardboard ravioli boxes to erect his towering confection on the streets of the North End as part of an annual saint's day feast, transplanted to the National Mall by a large contingent during the 1988 Festival. These individuals and their communities remolded traditions into usable form because these traditions add meaning to their lives. That's what folklife both in Massachusetts and in the modem world is all about, and what visitors could experience during the Festival of American Folklife.
Betty Belanus was Curator of the Massachusetts program and Barbara Lau was Program Coordinator. Ingenuity and Tradition: the Common Wealth of Massachusetts was made possible by the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities.
Fieldworkers:
Michael Bell, Dillon Bustin, Louis Carreras, Stephen Cole, Kathleen Dunlay, Janice Gadaire, Heidi Gitelman, Nora Groce, Betty Hillmon, Ellen McHale, Stephen Matchak, Linda Morley, Mario Montaño, Kathy Neustadt, Pioneer Valley Folklore Society, Refugee Arts Group, Mary Jo Sanna, Pam Swing, Joe Thomas, Robert Weir
Presenters:
Dillon Bustin, Louis Carreras, Rena Deth, Janice Gadaire, Rayna Green, Betty Hillmon, Sue Manos, Steve Matchak, Elizabeth Mathias, Ellen McHale, Linda Morley, Mario Montaño, Kathy Neustadt, Jessie Payne, Mary Jo Sanna, Joe Sciorra, Nancy Sweezy, Pam Swing, Annette Thornton, Eleanor Wachs
Participants:
Crafts
Karolina Danek, Polish iconographer, Worcester
Bienvenida Figueroa Negron, Puerto Rican needle worker, Lowell
Ann Horkan, Irish needle worker, Watertown
Susan lind-Sinanian, needle worker, dancer, Watertown
Tim Sao, Cambodian kite maker, Lowell
Ruth Thomasian, Armenian photograph collector and historian, Watertown
Sourn Veuk, Cambodian kite maker helper, Lowell
Gladys 'Wild Cranberry" Widdiss, 1914-, Wampanoag Indian potter and bead worker, Gay Head
Urban Ethnic Gardens
Julia Gelowtsky, 1913-1999, Polish gardener, cook, East Cambridge
Paul Piquette, 1954-, metal engraver, Feeding Hills
Anne Zaccari, hand-bordered stationery, Pittsfield
Bocce
Richard Barzottini, Pittsfield
Anthony Saltamartini, 1935-1999, North Adams
Clambake
Julie Ford Brown, 1963-, herb farmer, South Dartmouth
Priscilla Davoll, 1929, cook, South Dartmouth
Raymond Davoll, clambake rake-out, South Dartmouth
Burney Gifford, herb farmer, South Dartmouth
Cathi Gonet, clambake food preparation, South Dartmouth
Peter Gonet, bake master, South Dartmouth
Marjorie Macomber, 1914-2008, cook, Acushnet
Ralph Macomber, 1914-2004, clambake rake-out, Acushnet
Wilfred Morrison, 1915-2006, general store proprietor, Dartmouth
Foodways
Anahid Kazazian, cook, needle worker, Lexington
Albina Martin, 1918-, Acadian cook, Gardner
Stone Wall Building
David Gilson, Groton
Maritime
Al Doucette, scrimshaw carver, New Bedford
David Francis, 1949-, fisherman, lobster cook, Wellfleet
Frank B. James, 1923-2001, scrimshaw carver, Brewster
Lynne Multer, scrimshaw carver, Brewster
Dan Oldale, boat builder, North Falmouth
Steve Smith, boat builder, South Dartmouth
Steve Sperry, sailmaker, Marion
Carl M. Widdiss, scallop fisherman, Gay Head
Charles York, boat builder, South Dartmouth
Agriculture Fair Area
Grace Andruk, cranberry cook and screener, Bridgewater
Dorothy Angley, cranberry cook and screener, Carver
Josephine Burnett, 1932-, maple sugar producer, Conway
Willis Burnett, maple sugar producer, Conway
Kyle Clark, oxen raiser, logger, Heath
William Clark, 1942-, oxen raiser, logger, Heath
Lawrence Cole, 1916-2004, cranberry grower, North Carver
Daniel Fleuriel, tobacco farmer, Buckland
Preston Horton, maple sugar producer, Cummington
Melvin Longley, 1920-1997, ox yoke maker, Shirley
Alan Sanderson, Jr., tobacco farmer, Whately
Francis Wells, maple sugar producer, Cummington
Music
Portuguese Fado
Fernando Barreto, guitarist for fado singers, New Bedford
Alice Lebre, fado singer, Fall River
Antonio Lebre, 1920-, fado singer, Fall River
Sasha Lima, fado singer, Tiverton, Rhode Island
Sergio Lima, fado singer, Tiverton, Rhode Island
Manuel Antonio Ramos, guitarist for fado singers, Fall River
Natalia Ritchie, 1954-, fado singer, Tiverton, Rhode Island
Fiddlers
Edmond Boudreau, guitarist for Acadian fiddler, Waltham
John Campbell, 1929-, Cape Breton fiddle player, Watertown
Seamus Connolly, Irish fiddle player, Watertown
Julie Horkan, Irish step-dancer, Watertown
Helen Kisiel, pianist for Irish fiddle player, Watertown
Mary Jesse MacDonald, pianist for Cape Breton fiddler, Watertown
Gerald Robichaud, Acadian fiddle player, Waltham
Bay State IV, -- Polish polka band -- Bay State IV, Polish polka bandJanice Bajgier, 1949-, polka instructor, South DeerfieldBill Belina, EasthamptonJack Libera, 1955-, trumpet, clarinet, keyboard player, OxfordJohn Libera, 1919-2007, polka instructor, historian, SouthbridgeJim Motyka, PalmerGary Ogulewicz, Westfield
Oscar Lugo Y Su Conjunto Jibaro, -- Puerto Rican -- jibaro -- -- Oscar Lugo Y Su Conjunto Jibaro, Puerto Rican jibaroMiguel Almestica, 1953-, Caribbean musician and cook, WorcesterAngel Figueroa, jibaro musician, HolyokeRamon Lopes, jibaro musician, HolyokeElvin Lugo, jibaro musician, SouthbridgeOscar Lugo, 1942-, jibaro musician, SouthbridgeJose Luna, decima singer and cook, LowellAntonio Peres, jibaro musician, HolyokeDavid Rodrigues, jibaro musician, Holyoke
Silas Hubbard Jr. & The Hot Ribs, -- Blues and Jazz -- Silas Hubbard Jr. & The Hot Ribs, Blues and JazzSilas Hubbard Jr., harmonica player, blues singer, BostonThomas McMullen, guitar player, CambridgeCharles Robinson, drummer, CambridgeEd Williams, bass player, Quincy
The Motivators, -- Afro-American gospel -- The Motivators, Afro-American gospelDavid Bass, SpringfieldGary Bass, SpringfieldJesse Lee Burgess, SpringfieldRev. Robert Leon Winston, SpringfieldJames Edward Milner, SpringfieldJohn Winberly, SpringfieldShowndu Winberly, Springfield
The Contemporary Greek Ensemble, -- Greek -- The Contemporary Greek Ensemble, GreekJohn Bogis, guitar player, BostonGary Gianoukow, bouzouki player, ArlingtonKlotsonis Satirios, bajlama player, ArlingtonKosmas Vrouvlianis, bouzouki player, Newton
Krom Phleang Propeini Prasat Bayon, -- Cambodian -- Krom Phleang Propeini Prasat Bayon, CambodianChann Nhak, takhe player, LowellChorb Chan, tro so player, LowellHong Kla, khim player, LowellCheap Sophal, vocalist, LowellSouen Tim, vocalist and tro ou player, LowellPha Vith, skor player, LowellSorn Veuk, skor player, Lowell
Saints Day Celebration
Cosmas and Damian Society -- Cosmas and Damian SocietyStephen BertonciniCharles DeFrancecsoMarie DiDomenico, co-coordinator, Cosmas and Damian SocietySal DiDomenico, co-coordinator, Cosmas and Damian SocietySalvatore N. DiDomenicoRoland FarinatoAnthony LecceseSalvatore NardellaJoseph NardellaMike NocoloroSalvatore RealeCharles Reale
Filarmónica Santo Antonio -- Filarmónica Santo AntonioDavide Alamo, alto saxophone playerAlvaro Amaral, trombone playerOtilia Amaral, flag girlLuis Arruda, trombone playerAlexandre Bicalho, trumpet playerDinarte Botelho, clarinet playerJoao CardosoEddie Carvalho, trumpet playerJulio Carvalho, trumpet playerCristina Costa, flag girlDavide M. Costa, baritone horn playerJoao Pedro DaPonte, conductorManuel G. DaSilva, baritone horn playerManuel Da Silva, alto horn playerFernando Doo, alto horn playerElizabeth Fagundes, flag girlJose A Fagundes, trumpet playerJohn Feitor, trumpet playerJohn C. Feitor, president, general assemblyLuis GarciaFrancisco Jorge Gil, band presidentCarlos JacomeGabriel Madeiros, alto saxaphone playerAntonio C. Marques, clarinet playerMoises Moreira, clarinet playerJose Pacheco, tuba playerAntonio J. Pacheco, percussionistCarlos A Pascoal, baritone sax playerCarlos Pascoal Jr., alto horn playerJose M. Pinheiro, trombone playerJoseph Ramos, percussionistAntonio Ramos, percussionistMario Raposo, E flat clarinet playerJudith Hothan Riley, trombone playerManuel Rodrigues, tuba playerManuel S. Ramos, percussionistArmando Santos, clarinet playerPaulo Santos, baritone clarinet playerManuel SantosFrancisco M. Soares, alto saxophone playerWalter Silva, alto saxophone playerLuis SimaoAna Sousa, flag girlIvone Sousa, flag girlJoseph SousaRui Sousa, clarinet playerJoao SousaJoe SousaJose M. Tavares, trumpet playerJoao Tavares, clarinet playerPaulo J. Tavares, baritone horn playerManuel Tavares, percussionistWilliam Vasconcelos
North End Italian Band -- North End Italian BandEddie Aloisi, clarinet playerSidney Bomari, trombone playerLeo Brandenburg, clarinet playerMurray Burnstine, clarinet playerHoward Caster, percussionistElaine Corrieri Ziegner, trumpet playerTony DiCiccio, clarinet playerFelix Dicienzo, clarinet playerDavid Dunton, clarinet playerGuy Giarraffa, conductorRickie Gimmelli, percussionistJohn Gimmelli, baritone horn playerNunzio Innocenzo, trumpet playerHeidi Larisch, alto sax playerGuy Laudato, percussionistJoseph Mauro, percussionistCosmo Nardella, French horn playerSammy Pinella, percussionistSalvatore Pugliesi, trumpet playerIrving Shine, trombone playerLyle Shubert, baritone horn playerArthur Spellman, percussionistNeal Sugarman, tenor sax playerChris Teixeira, trumpet playerRobert Vanaria, tenorWilliam Voight, sousaphone player
Saint Anthony's Society -- Saint Anthony's SocietyJoseph AuferoCharles ChicarelloJoseph ColarussoFrank ContradoAnthony DeStefanoPaul DeGregorioGerry DiPrizio, president, Saint Anthony's SocietyPeter Grieco, co, chairman, Feast of Saint AnthonyPhil Pennacchio, Sr.Richard RagoRobert RagucciJames RyanCarl Salvi, co-chairman, Feast of Saint AnthonyRalph StatutoJohn TaminineGeno Testa
The Society of the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca -- The Society of the Madonna del Soccorso di SciaccaRichard BeilskiRaymond BonoPeter BrunoAndrew CardinaleVincent CiullaSal DeicidueJames Geany, chairman, Madonna del Soccorso FeastRay Geany, president, Madonna del Soccorso SocietyGus GraffeoJoseph GraffeoJoe GuarinoRaymond GuarinoRichard GuarinoLonnie LangoneMarc LetiziaJames LicataJames MarinoEdward MarinoAnthony PrimoAnthony PrimoJohn PrimoJames PrimoGus PrimoFrank Sclafani
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
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