The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Las Américas: Un mundo musical/The Americas: A Musical World
Series 3: Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture
Series 4: Special Events
Series 5: Wales Smithsonian Cymru
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
The twentieth century saw an unprecedented, worldwide acceleration of social change. Often, such rapid evolution outpaced time-honored values and practices, eroding their currency, overwhelming cultural self-determination and displacing the local with the foreign. In a time-span as short as a single generation, entire languages, musical traditions, and other expressive cultural systems were abandoned in favor of cultural trappings invented by others. The 43rd annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2009 told another version of this story, inviting visitors to explore the process of cultural evolution from the other side of the equation. Festival audiences were able to experience the creativity, resilience, and fortitude of people, institutions, and cultures that follow their own path amid a torrent of contrarian voices.
Wales Smithsonian Cymru provided a forum for discovering how the Welsh people successfully integrate both the tradition and the change that are part of their cultural heritage. On the one hand, about one-fifth of the country's three million inhabitants speak Welsh (Cymru is the Welsh word for Wales). And the people of Wales still work to preserve the rustic rural landscapes that have long informed their sense of self. On the other hand, the Welsh can lay claim to the nineteenth-century mantle of being "the first industrialized nation," and they take pride in their ongoing innovative spirit. How have the Welsh managed to navigate the turbulent waters of continuity and change to shepherd an economically and culturally sustainable society into the future? The Festival offered visitors the chance to find out firsthand from this "living exhibition" of Welsh heritage.
Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture presented living testimony to the resilience and imagination of a people. Out of three centuries of subjugation came a distinctive and separate black world, a source of refuge and endurance in the face of cruel and wrenching societal decimation. Tapping the power and the play of African American oral traditions and verbal arts, the program "gave voice" to this poignant, powerful, and quintessentially American story of cultural transcendence. Organized in partnership with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Giving Voice explored the realm of African American cultural creation via verbal expression, considering it as both a means of social resistance and a major contributor to contemporary American life. Festival visitors could listen and be moved by compelling stories about the history, struggles, and creativity of African Americans, told through six tracks of programming: storytelling, oral poetry, interpretive drama, children's and youth culture, humor, and radio.
Las Américas: Un mundo musical/The Americas: A Musical World showed how the seemingly monolithic term música latina refers in reality to an inviting rainbow of musical sounds, styles, and traditions. The program also supplied vivid proof that music can amount to much more than just music. Each tradition represented in Las Américas is a musical flag of identity, a beacon that unites cultural communities, and a means of cultural self-actualization. This Festival program, the result of eight years of research and documentation, was the fourth and final in a series dedicated to exploring Latino music as a window into the cultures that give it meaning. The overarching project, entitled Nuestra Música: Music in Latino Culture, began with the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings series Tradiciones/Traditions. The series produced thirty recordings that had, as of the 2009 Festival, earned eight GRAMMY nominations, one GRAMMY, and one Latin GRAMMY. Additionally, the project included Música del Pueblo: A Smithsonian Virtual Exhibition ( musicadelpueblo.org), that featured dozens of video mini-documentaries of grassroots Latino musicians from the United States, Puerto Rico, and several Latin American countries.
The 2009 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 24-28 and July 1-5) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 9th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). It featured three programs and the Rinzler Concert.
The 2009 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; keynote essays (or, for Wales, a set of short essays) provided background on each of the programs.
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Daniel Sheehy, Acting Director; Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Diana Parker, Festival Director; Stephen Kidd, Production Manager; Charlie Weber, Media Specialist; Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: Daniel Sheehy, Curator and Director; Anthony Seeger, Curator and Director (emeritus); D.A. Sonneborn, Assistant Director; Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections: Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Stephanie Smith, Assistant Archivist; Cultural Heritage Policy: James Counts Early, Director; Sita Reddy, Fellow; Cultural Research and Education: Olivia Cadaval, Chair; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist (emeritus); Betty J. Belanus, James Deutsch, Marjorie Hunt, Richard Kennedy (emeritus), Diana Baird N'Diaye, Peter Seitel (emeritus), Curators, Folklorists, Education and Cultural Specialists; Robert Albro, Geri Benoit, Carla Borden, Irene Chagall, Patrick Delatour, Roland Freeman, Nancy Groce, Frank Proschan, Sita Reddy, Jesús "Chucho" Valdés, Patrick Vilaire, Research Associates
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Advisory Council
Kurt Dewhurst (chair), J. Scott Raecker (vice chair), Michael Asch (ex officio), Mounir Bouchenaki, G. Wayne Clough (ex officio), Anthony Gittens, Mickey Hart, John Herzog, Debora Kodish, Richard Kurin (ex officio), Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Libby O'Connell, Robert Santelli, Cathy Sulzberger
Smithsonian Folkways Advisory Council
Michael Asch (chair), Patricia Campbell, Hal Cannon, Don De Vito, Sandra Gibson, Suni Paz, Anthony Seeger, Fred Silber
National Park Service
Daniel N. Wenk, Acting Director; Peggy O'Dell, Regional Director; Lis Mendelson-Ielmini, Acting Superintendent, National Mall and Memorial Parks
The Festival was supported by federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust funds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales. General support for this year's Festival came from the Music Performance Fund, with in-kind support provided by WAMU-88.5 FM and WashingtonPost.com.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Photographs documenting Mexican people in built and natural environments, as well as industries, markets, and agriculture. The photographs were originally contained in envelopes labeled by William Henry Holmes, who may have collected them during his travels to Mexico. The collection also includes some photographs made in Cuba, Guatemala, and Chile, as well as Holmes's notes on Argentina. The bulk of the photographs were made by William Henry Jackson; additional photographs were made by Charles Edward Doty, E. J. Kildare, Sumner W. Matteson, C. B. Waite, and Corral and Parker studios.
Biographical/Historical note:
William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) was an artist, geologist, and archeologist who spent most of his career with the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, United States Geological Survey, Bureau of American Ethnology, and Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian. From 1894-1897, he was the head of anthropology at the Field Columbian Museum (Field Museum of Natural History) and on the staff of the University of Chicago. During this time, he carried out investigations of ancient ruins in the Yucatan and other areas of Mesoamerica as a member of an expedition of Allison V. Armour. Holmes served as head curator for the US National Museum Department of Anthropology from 1897-1902 and head of the BAE from 1902-1909.
William Henry Jackson was a photographer for the US Geological and Geographical Surveys (1870-1878) before he opened a studio in Denver, Colorado, and began making official photographs for various railroad companies. In 1883, he made his first trip to Mexico under the sponsorship of the Mexican Central Railway. On one of his subsequent trips, he was accompanied by William Henry Holmes, who may have collected Jackson's photographs because of this trip.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 87-20
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Manuscripts and notes by Holmes can be found throughout the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4698, MS 2125, MS 7112, and MS 7570.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds the William Henry Holmes Papers, 1870-1931 (SIA RU007084).
Additional photographs by Jackson can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 37, Photo Lot 40, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 93, Photo Lot 143, Photo Lot 87-2P, Photo Lot 90-1, Photo Lot 92-3, the records of the Department of Anthropology, and the BAE historical negatives.
This collection, which dates from circa 1961-2006, contains audiorecordings from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World, as well as related business records. Includes recordings of tradition and sacred music from Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sudan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, China, Korea, the Solomon Islands, India, Bali, Java, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Thailand, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Syria, and Turkey.
Biographical/Historical note:
The UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World included more than a hundred pioneering audio recordings of the world's traditional music published from 1961 to 2003 on a number of different recording labels. The series was launched in 1961 in collaboration with ethnomusicologist Alain Daniélou (1907-1994) and the International Music Council (created by UNESCO in 1949). The recordings in the Collection are mostly field recordings made in situ, in their original context. Each recording is accompanied by scholarly annotations and photographs. Together, these discs are a reflection of the immense variety of music making and of the position music holds within cultures around the globe.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1989 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: American Indian Program
Series 3: The Caribbean: Cultural Encounters in the New World
Series 4: Les Fêtes Chez Nous: France and North America
Series 5: Hawai'i
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 1989 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Office of Folklife Programs and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
In commemoration of our common French and American covenants of human rights and in recognition of our common French heritage, the 1989 Festival celebrated the Bicentennial of the French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (on display during the Festival in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building). One of the Festival's four programs thus featured Francophone musicians and craftspeople from France, Quebec, New England, Louisiana, Missouri, and North Dakota.
The Hawai'i program included the descendants of immigrants, mainly from the Pacific rim (but also from the Atlantic), who came to the islands to work on plantations, enduring servitude and hardship in hope of a better life. Hawai'i is unique in that its indigenous culture suffuses its society as a whole, giving nuance to the forms of immigrant cultures that came there. This thirtieth anniversary of Hawaii's statehood invited the Smithsonian to reflect upon human cultural freedom - equity for and conservation of traditional cultures, as the Festival celebrated the vitality and open spirit of an indigenous Hawaiian culture that endured political, ideological and commercial attempts to restrict its practice and growth.
The continuity of culture depends upon access to various natural, social, and cultural resources. We bridle at unfair restrictions of such access that limit our freedom to realize our visions of who we are. The American Indian program in 1989 examined such restrictions and their impact upon contemporary tribal life. What happens when tribal rituals depend on endangered species, or traditional means of subsistence are threatened by land and water pollution? The program also illustrated attempts by various tribes to gain freedom over their cultural future through the innovative management of traditional resources.
The Caribbean program illustrated the historical flow of cultural and aesthetic ideas between diverse Native, European, and African populations in several island societies. Caribbean populations are characterized by the creative creolization of music, food, language, and art. Indeed, this encounter of diverse peoples defined the New World that developed in the wake of the Columbian voyages, whose 500th anniversary would be commemorated a few years later, in 1992. The Festival hosted contingents of musicians from Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico so that Americans could hear their musics and the complex historical tale they tell about the making of the New World.
The 1989 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 23-27 and June 30-July 4) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). The 1989 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; the Program Book featured four substantial essays, each laying out in depth the rationale for one of the four Festival programs.
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Office of Folklife Programs.
Office of Folklife Programs
Richard Kurin, Acting Director; Diana Parker, Festival Director; Anthony Seeger, Curator, Folkways Records; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist; Peter Seitel, Senior Folklorist; Olivia Cadaval, Marjorie Hunt, Phyllis M. May-Machunda, Heliana Portes de Roux, Frank Proschan, Nicholas R. Spitzer, Folklorists; Betty Belanus, Education Specialist; Richard Kennedy, Winifred Lambrecht, Curators; Jeffrey Place, Archivist
Folklife Advisory Council
Richard Bauman (Chair), Roger Abrahams, Henry Glassie, Rayna Green, John Gwaltney, Charlotte Heth, Adrienne Kaeppler, Ivan Karp, Bernice Reagon, John Kuo Wei Tchen, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez
National Park Service
James M. Ridenour, Director; Robert G. Stanton, Regional Director, National Capital Region
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1969 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Crafts
Series 3: Pennsylvania
Series 4: Performances
Series 5: Toby Show
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 1969 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Festival Speakers and Consultants:
Richard Allen, Louisiana
Guy Carawan, 1927-2015, California
John Cohen, 1932-, New York
Josh Dunson, 1941-, Pennsylvania
Henry Glassie, Pennsylvania
Archie Green, 1917-2009, Illinois
Joe Hickerson, 1935-, Washington, D. C.
Mack McCormick, 1930-2015, Texas
Guthrie (Gus) Meade, 1932-1991, Washington, D. C.
Jim Meyer (Father), Michigan
Ethel Raim, Pennsylvania
Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1942-, Georgia
Mike Seeger, 1933-2009, Washington, D. C.
Ellen Stekert, 1935-, Michigan
Introduction:
The 1969 Festival took place July 1-6 on the National Mall, between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of History and Technology and the National Museum of Natural History (see site map). For the second time, a State was featured - in this case, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Two themes were the focus of craft presentations: 1) sheep shearing and wool production and 2) corn culture. These thematic programs were complemented by presentations of basketry, toy-making, doll-making, and other crafts. Daytime and evening concerts presented a panorama of traditional music and dance.
The Division of Performing Arts, directed by James R. Morris, again organized the 1969 Festival. Ralph Rinzler was the Festival Director, assisted by Marian Hope.
The 1969 Program Book included participant lists and schedules.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Alberta at the Smithsonian
Series 3: Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions
Series 4: Nuestra Música: Latino Chicago
Series 5: Special Events
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
The 2006 Festival, celebrating its 40th year on the National Mall of the United States, again presented a compelling, research-based sampling of the diverse traditions of America and the world to large public audiences in an educational, respectful, and profoundly democratic way. Employing a format it had both pioneered and mastered, the Festival illustrated the vital, living aspect of cultural heritage and provided a forum for discussion of issues of contemporary concern.
For the first time, the Festival featured a Canadian province - Alberta, which had just completed its own celebration of its centennial. Albertans have created a dynamic home for diverse peoples - aboriginal inhabitants, settlers, and later immigrants - in a varied and dramatic landscape. They've built large world-class industries - oil and gas, ranching, farming, forestry - as well as two large, modern metropolises, Calgary and Edmonton, all the while being creative in the arts and sciences. Festival visitors could see how Alberta's oil sands are mined and processed, witness ranching skills, appreciate fine Native craftsmanship, hear ballads from talented singer-songwriters, and experience their contemporary "Theatresports." The Festival program resulted from close collaboration between the Smithsonian and its Albertan partners, and was a testament to how good will and common purpose can effectively cross borders and serve the educational and cultural interests of Canadians, Americans, and a broader visiting public.
The same kind of engaged collaborative partnership was illustrated through the Carriers of Culture program that brought together the Festival, the National Museum of the American Indian, Michigan State University Museum, and a network of Native basket makers' organizations around the United States. The collaboration was built upon the needs of basket makers themselves, in the face of various challenges to their living heritage. Basket makers need access to trees, bushes, and plants untainted by pollutants; they need recognition, appreciation, and access to markets as well as opportunities to train the next generation. Festival visitors could meet scores of basket makers from dozens of Native communities from every part of the United States. They demonstrated their masterful techniques, making baskets of meaning and delight in every imaginable shape and texture. Their participation in the Festival, including sales at the marketplace and related public programs and consultations at the National Museum of the American Indian, was part of a cultural self-help strategy, shaped by participatory research, and aiming to assure the vitality of long-lived traditions.
Nuestra Música: Latino Chicago reflected another substantive partnership. The Festival joined the Smithsonian Latino Center and Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music to present a small sampler of Chicago's Latino cultural heritage. More than a million Latinos - largely from Mexico, but also from Puerto Rico and just about every nation in Latin America - have made the Chicago area their home. Cultural institutions, dozens of community-based dance groups, and myriad shops, clubs, and restaurants indicate the growth and vitality of the community. Music is both a measure and symbol of that vitality. On the Mall, visitors joined in Mexican folk and contemporary dances, heard the beat of Puerto Rican bomba and plena, and enjoyed Andean music and song. Through the Festival's live performances, as well as through the related Grammy-nominated Smithsonian Folkways series of Latino recordings, the Smithsonian sought to provide a means for Americans to understand each other, to speak, listen, and be heard.
Finally, the Been in the Storm So Long concert series at the Festival represented an important collaboration between the Festival and the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Festival itself grew in part from events on the Mall during the Civil Rights Movement, and thousands of leading figures of African American culture have graced its stages and illustrated their traditions through its programs over the preceding four decades. To initiate the partnership, the Museum and the Festival featured musicians from New Orleans: folks who were hit with the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but nonetheless strove, with determination and grace, to continue the cultural traditions that give their communities their unique character and uplifting spirit so admired and appreciated around the world. Concerts featured New Orleans jazz, rhythm & blues, and sacred music.
The 2006 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 30-July 4 and July 7-11) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 7th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). It featured three programs and Special Events that included the Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert and Been in the Storm So Long.
The 2006 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; keynote essays provided background on the Festival and on each of the programs (with a Spanish version of the Latino music essay).
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Richard Kurin, Director; Richard Kennedy, Deputy Director; Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Diana Parker, Festival Director; Stephen Kidd, Production Manager; Charlie Weber, Media Specialist; Smithsonian Folkways Recordings/Smithsonian Global Sound: Daniel Sheehy, Curator and Director; Anthony Seeger, Curator and Director, Emeritus; D.A. Sonneborn, Assistant Director; Ralph Rinzler Archives: Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Stephanie Smith, Assistant Archivist; Cultural Heritage Policy: James Counts Early, Director; Cultural Research and Education: Olivia Cadaval, Chair; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist Emeritus; Betty J. Belanus, Olivia Cadaval, Nancy Groce, Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Frank Proschan, Peter Seitel (Emeritus), Cynthia Vidaurri, Curators, Folklorists, Education and Cultural Specialists; John W. Franklin, Program Manager; Research Associates: Robert Albro, Geri Benoit, Carla Borden, Patrick Delatour, Roland Freeman, Kip Lornell, Mara Mayor, Joan Nathan, Sita Reddy, Sam-Ang Sam, Preston Scott, Cynthia Vidaurri, Patrick Vilaire, Nilda Villalta; Fellows: Bernard L. Bakaye, Gary Burns, Julie Chenot, Chiara Bortolotto, Sharon C. Clarke, Trinidad Gonzales, Navina Jafa, Susan Keitumetse, Mary Kenny, Reina Prado, Laurajane Smith, Will Walker, Amy Winston
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Advisory Council
Kurt Dewhurst (chair), Judy Mitoma (vice-chair), Michael Asch (ex officio), Michael Doucet, Anthony Gittens, John Herzog (ex officio), Debora Kodish, Enrique Lamadrid, Worth Long, Libby O'Connell, J. Scott Raecker, Robert Santelli
Smithsonian Folkways Advisory Board
Michael Asch (chair), Phyllis Barney, Hal Cannon, Don De Vito, Ella Jenkins, Anthony Seeger (ex officio), Fred Silber
National Park Service
Fran P. Mainella, Director; Donald W. Murphy, Deputy Director; Joseph M. Lawler, Regional Director; Vikki Keys, Superintendent, National Mall and Memorial Parks
The Festival was supported by federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust funds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales. General support for this year's programs included the Music Performance Fund, with in-kind support for the Festival provided through Motorola, Nextel, WAMU 88.5-FM, WashingtonPost.com, Whole Foods Market, Pegasus Radio Corp., and Icom America. The Folklore Society of Greater Washington generously provided hospitality for participants, as it had for many years. The Festival was co-sponsored by the National Park Service.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Food Culture USA
Series 3: Forest Service, Culture, and Community
Series 4: Nuestra Música: Music in Latino Culture
Series 5: Oman: Desert, Oasis, and Sea
Series 6: Special Events
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
In its 39th year, the Festival once again presented a sample of the diverse cultural heritage of America and the world to large public audiences in an educational, respectful, and profoundly democratic way on the National Mall of the United States. True to form, the Festival illustrated the living, vital aspect of cultural heritage and provided a forum for discussion on matters of contemporary concern.
For the first time, a full-scale Festival program was devoted to an Arab nation, Oman. Oman is at the edge of the Arabian Peninsula, both geographically and historically situated between East Africa and the Indian Ocean. Trade routes, frankincense, silverwork, Islam, a strategic location, and oil have connected it to the cultures of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean region, and beyond. Contemporary Omanis live poised between a long and rich past and a future they are in the midst of defining. New roads, hospitals, schools, businesses, high-tech occupations, and opportunities for women are developing alongside traditionally valued religion, family life, artistry, and architecture. Omanis are well aware of the challenges of safeguarding their cultural heritage in an era of globalization. The Festival program provided a vivid illustration of the approaches they have taken and enabled American visitors and Omanis to engage in open, two-way interchange.
During the Festival, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service celebrated its 100th anniversary. Programs in previous years have illustrated the traditions of White House workers and of Smithsonian workers. This Festival examined the occupational culture of Forest Service rangers, smokejumpers, scientists, tree doctors, and many others devoted to the health and preservation of our nation's forests. They were joined by artists and workers from communities that depend upon the forests for their livelihood or sustenance. The Festival offered the opportunity for an active discussion of the significance of our national forests and rangelands to the American people.
Food Culture USA examined the evolution of our nation's palate over the preceding generation. New produce, new foods, new cooking techniques, and even new culinary communities have developed as a result of immigrant groups taking their place in our society, the rise of organic agriculture, and the growing celebrity of ethnic and regional chefs on a national stage. A diversity of growers, food inspectors, gardeners, educators, home cooks and prominent chefs shared their knowledge and creativity as they demonstrated the continuity and innovation in America's culinary culture.
The program in Latino music continued with a series of evening concerts. The 2004 program drew many Latinos to the National Mall, helping the Smithsonian reach out to a major segment of the American population. Audiences in both 2004 and 2005 were thrilled by the performances, as were the musicians who presented their own cultural expressions and thus helped educate their fellow citizens of the nation and the world. Smithsonian Folkways released recordings of three of the groups that had performed the previous year, and one later went on to be nominated for a Grammy award.
The 2005 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 23-27 and June 30-July 4) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 9th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). It featured four programs and the Rinzler Concert.
The 2005 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; keynote essays provided background on the Festival and on each of the programs (with a Spanish version of the Latino music essay).
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Richard Kurin, Director; Richard Kennedy, Deputy Director; Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Diana Parker, Festival Director; Arlene L. Reiniger, Program Specialist; Charlie Weber, Media Specialist; Smithsonian Folkways Recordings/Smithsonian Global Sound: Daniel Sheehy, Curator and Director; Anthony Seeger, Curator and Director, Emeritus; D.A. Sonneborn, Assistant Director; Ralph Rinzler Archives: Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Stephanie Smith, Assistant Archivist; Cultural Heritage Policy: James Early, Director; Cultural Research and Education: Olivia Cadaval, Chair; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist Emeritus; Betty J. Belanus, Olivia Cadaval, Nancy Groce, Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Frank Proschan, Peter Seitel, Cynthia Vidaurri, Nilda Villalta, Curators, Folklorists, Education and Cultural Specialists; Carla Borden, Program/Publications Manager; John W. Franklin, Program Manager; Research Associates: Robert Albro, Geri Benoit, Patrick Delatour, Kip Lornell, Mara Mayor, Joan Nathan, Sam-Ang Sam, Preston Scott, Chucho Valdez, Patrick Vilaire, Nilda Villalta; Rockefeller Humanities Fellows (2004-05): Robert Albro, Jane Anderson, Lesley Fordred-Green, Christina Kreps, Tong Lam, Lillian Manzor, Marya McQuirter, Sita Reddy
Folklife Advisory Council
Kurt Dewhurst (chair), Judy Mitoma (vice-chair), Michael Doucet, Anthony Gittens, John Herzog (ex-officio), Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Debora Kodish, Enrique Lamadrid, Worth Long, Libby O'Connell, J. Scott Raecker, Robert Santelli, Ricardo Trimillos
Folkways Advisory Board
Michael Asch (chair), Phyllis Barney, Hal Cannon, Don De Vito, Ella Jenkins, Anthony Seeger (ex-officio), Fred Silber
National Park Service
Fran P. Mainella, Director; Donald W. Murphy, Deputy Director; Joseph M. Lawler, Regional Director, National Capital Region
The Festival was supported by federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust funds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales. Support for this year's Festival came from the Music Performance Fund, with in-kind support provided through Motorola, NEXTEL, WAMU 88.5 FM, WashingtonPost.com, Pegasus Radio Corp., and Icom America.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1974 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 9 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: African Diaspora
Series 3: Children's Program
Series 4: Family Folklore
Series 5: Festival Stage
Series 6: Native Americans
Series 7: Old Ways in the New World
Series 8: Regional America
Series 9: Working Americans
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 1974 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
With the 1974 Festival of American Folklife (July 3-7 and July 10-14, 1974), the seven programs that would constitute the Bicentennial Festival were all in place. As in 1973, the Festival took place in the western part of the National Mall alongside the Reflecting Pool, between 17th and 23rd Streets, and between Constitution Avenue N.W. and Independence Avenue S.W. (see site plan). It was co-organized by the Smithsonian Institution, Division of Performing Arts (James R. Morris, Director; Richard Lusher) and the National Park Service (Ronald H. Walker, Director). Ralph Rinzler was Director of the Folklife Program and the Festival.
The 1974 Festival included seven programs, with a Festival Stage bringing together performers from other programs and, in the second week, its own participants. The 1974 Program Book was supplemented by daily folios with additional information on that day's programs.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Cook Labs records, which date from 1939-2002, document the activities of audio engineer Emory Cook and his label Cook Labs. The contents include business records, materials relating to recording artists, photographs, and production materials, as well as phonograph records, master recordings and unpublished recordings produced by or associated with the Cook Labs label. The collection also contains two interviews conducted with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer. There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.
Scope and Contents note:
There are two primary components of the Cook Labs records: the records, master tapes and other audio recordings, and the related paper files.
The Cook Labs records contains about 150 of the 200 released Cook recordings, and 739 master tapes. In addition, there are 330 unpublished tapes.
The the paper files include acquisition materials; business correspondence; recording reports; various production notes on records produced; news articles both about and by Emory Cook and Cook Labs; copyright, licensing, and trademark materials; photographs, correspondence, contracts, and other materials relating to recording artists; production materials for each Cook Labs release; and other miscellany. Many contracts are signed by both Cook Labs and the artist. Correspondence is primarily between business associates.
Two interviews were done with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer; both interviews are included in the Cook Labs records.
There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.
Arrangement note:
Many of the items in this list have been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been grouped together to create seven series:
Series 1: Business Papers, 1939-1990
Series 2: Recording Artists, 1949-1981, bulk 1950-1959
Series 3: Photographs, undated, 1957
Series 4: Production files, 1948-1995, bulk 1952-1963
Series 5: Objects, undated, 1908-1964
Series 6: Audio Interviews, 1990
Series 7: Audio Recordings
Biographical/Historical note:
Emory Cook (1913-2002) is widely regarded as a highly influencial audio engineer. Born and raised in Albany, New York, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1932. After his discharge in 1934 he obtained his degree from Cornell University and began working for Western Electric in the Audio Engineering Force. During World War II, while still at Western Electric, Cook supervised the creation of a fire-controlled radar "Trainer," for which he received a Commendation from the Service.
In the late 1940's, convinced he could do better than what was on the market, Cook began experimenting with making his own audio equipment. Cook Laboratories was started in 1945 when he developed a new cutting head to be used in record production. Future development of equipment brought about the discovery that he could record frequencies as high as 20,000 hertz, more than any other recording company at the time. He cut a record of piano and organ music to demonstrate this discovery, and took it to the 1949 Audio Fair in New York. When he demonstrated the record with the hopes to sell the recording equipment, he found that people were much more interested in buying the record itself. Shortly after, Sounds of Our Times, later called Cook Records, was born.
Cook Records collected many different sounds and was mostly aimed at the devoted high-fidelity listener. Cook believed that hearing was a sense often overlooked by people, and he wanted listeners of his albums to be able to hear things they might otherwise miss. In a New Yorker profile by Daniel Lang in 1956, Cook claimed that hearing was "always being kicked aside in favor of sight… There's a time and a place for everything, and that includes sound." In order to encourage listening, he put out many albums full of everyday sounds, such as Voice of the Sea, an album of noises of the ocean and Eye of the Storm, recorded during a thunderstorm. One of the most successful albums was Rail Dynamics, an album of steam trains pulling in and out of a station.
Cook Records also produced traditional music albums from its plant in Stamford, Connecticut. The label produced everything from organ music to folk, flamenco guitar, calypso and steel band. Cook had little interest in name musicians and instead searched high and low for anything he thought might be an interesting contribution to his label. He even invited listeners to send in their favorite sounds, some of which he eventually recorded.
Cook had such a large interest in Calypso music that he set up a second pressing plant in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. There he pressed calypso and steel band music for both a Trinidadian and American audience, and most albums sold well in both countries.
In addition to the wide range of music Cook recorded, he was also an inventor. It was Cook who first came up with the idea of pressing records with powdered, rather than solid, vinyl, a technique he dubbed "microfusion." This technique not only saved money, but cut out many of the traditional crackles and pops associated with records.
He also developed the binaural system of recording and playing records, which he thought was superior to the more commonly used stereo method. Binaural was more precise than stereo, and it required placing two microphones six inches apart, approximately the space between two ears, during the recording. It was then played back with a special two-needle playing arm. Binaural recordings were thought by Cook to best duplicate the original sound.
Emory Cook died at the age of 89 in 2002 after a long hospitalization.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
COOK RECORDINGS - NUMERICAL LISTING:
001 20,000 Cycle Demo (1949) COOK00001
002 Night Rain and Surf COOK00002
003 Specimen Heart Beats COOK00003
004 Katydids, Frogs and Forrest Birds
E101 Grenada Stories and Songs (1957-58) COOK00101
E102 Amazon Sound: Yacu River Tribes (Rituals and Rites) (1954) COOK00102
E103 Music of St. Lucia (1953) COOK00103
E104 Rada (1958) COOK00104
E105 JOSE RAMON FORTUNE AND OLGA MAYNARD Nancy Stories (1956) COOK00105
106 Afro-West Indian Cultural Practices (1957-58) COOK00106
107 ESCOLA DE SAMBA DE BRAZIL The Boli, The Cocolute, and Brazil (1957-58) COOK00107
901 Steelband Jump Up Boys Town, Tropical Harmony, Silvertone COOK00901
904 THE ESSO STEEL BAND Esso Steelband of Bermuda (1958) COOK0904
906 LORD MELODY Lord Melody Sings Calypso (1958-59) COOK00906
911 TOM CHARLES AND HIS SYNCOPATER ORCHESTRA Fete for So! (1959) COOK00911
914 LORD MELODY Again! Lord Melody Sings Calypso (1957-58) COOK00914
916 Calypso Cross Section Young Killer, The Mighty Bomber, Small Island Pride, The Mighty Wrangler (1957-58) COOK00916
920 THE MIGHTY SPARROW King Sparrow's Calypso Carnival (1959) COOK00920
927 LORD MELODY Calypso through the Looking Glass (1959) COOK00927
928 CLARENCE CURVAN His Drums, His Orchestra COOK00928
930 Belly to Belly Clarence Curvan, Johnny Gomez, Tom Charles, Fitz Vaughn Bryan (1960-61) COOK00930
931 LORD MELODY Lord Melody, 1962 COOK0931
1000 TITUS MOODY DDDs of Binaural (1952) COOK01000
1011 The Christmas Music Box (1950) COOK01011
1012 Music Boxes of Long Ago (1950) COOK01012
1013 CHARLIE MAGNANTE Accordion Pops Concert (1954-55) COOK01013
1014 CHARLIE MAGNANTE AND LaVERGNE SMITH His and Hers (1954-55) COOK01014
1020 SAM ESKIN Sam Eskin's Songs of All Time COOK01020
1021 GROUPE MI-O Un Ti Bo (1958) COOK01021
1022 LAVINIA WILLIAMS' GROUPE FOLKLORIQUE Haiti Confidential (1958) COOK01022
1023 The Ramayana (Hindu Ceremony) (1961) COOK01023
10120 Music Boxes, Carousels, and Hand Organs (01012 and 05010) (1950-53) COOK10120
10248 The Voice of Mexico Gustavo Zepoli, Trio Leones (01024 and 01080) (1954) COOK10248
10251 SEAN McGONIGAL AND ST. COLUMCILLE'S UNITED GAELIC PIPE BAND Kilts on Parade (01025 plus solos) (1950-53) COOK10251
10271 CARLOS MONTOYA AND THE JOSE GRECO TROUPE Fiesta Flamenca (selections from 01027 and 01028) (1952) COOK10271
10289 CARLOS MONTOYA Montoya (selections from 01028 plus) (1952) COOK10289
10301 EDWARD AND JOSEPH VITO The Harp (selections from 01030 and 01031 plus) (1951-54) COOK10301
10326 Cafe Continental Ruth Welcome, Dick Marta, and Anita Ast (selections from 01026 and 01032) (1951-52) COOK10326
10350 Nickelodion and Calliope (selections from 01035 and 05010) (1950-53) COOK10350
10500 REGINALD FOORT The Theater Organ COOK10500
10501 MICHAEL CHESHIRE Pipe Organ in the Mosque (selections from 01050 and 01051) (1952) COOK10501
10523 REGINALD FOORT Percussion and Pedal (selections from 01052 and 01053) (1952) COOK10523
10545 REGINALD FOORT The Organ at Symphony Hall (01054 plus) (1954) COOK10545
10579 REGINALD FOORT Foort Pops (selections from 01057 and 01058) (1956) COOK10579
10646 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Tempo Vivace: Symphonic Masterpieces of Dance & Theater (selections from 01064 and 01066) (1955-56) COOK010646
10657 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Two Classical Symphonies: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (01065 and 01067) (1955) COOK10657
10659 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Two Classical Symphonies: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Haydn Symphony No. 100 (01065 and 01069) (1955-56) COOK10659
10683 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Modern Orchestral Textures (01068 and 01063) (1955) COOK10683
10850 RUPERT Cook LabsEMENDORE BAND Le Jazz Trinidad COOK10850
10867 Before and After Willie Rodriguez (selections from 01086 and 05007) (1953-54) COOK010867
10889 RED CAMP Horizontal & Upright & Downright & Dunright (01088 and 01089) (1954) COOK10889
10890 The Castiliane Johnny Gomez Band, John Buddy Williams Band, Girl Pat Steel Band, And Grand Curacaye String Orchestra (1956) COOK10890
11312 BRUCE PRINCE-JOSEPH AND HUFSTADER SINGERS The Forgotten Pedal Harpsichord and Hufstader Singers (01131 and 01092) (1953) COOK11312
11815 TONY ALMERICO'S PARISIAN ROOM BAND AND LIZZIE MILES Clambake on Bourbon Street (1954-55) COOK11815
50130 Tour of Cook Labs COOK50130
70889 RED CAMP Popular Piano and Combo COOK70889
80134 LUIZ BONFA Waterfall: Guitar COOK80134
80417 MARIMBA ORCHESTRA Waterfall: Children's Music COOK80417
80680 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Waterfall: Symphonic COOK80680
XX1 Audio Follies Sampler COOK00XX1
XX2 Calypso Jazz Sampler COOK00XX2
Series 10 Cook Series 10 COOK_Series10
Series 30 Cook Series 30 COOK_Series30
Series 60 Cook Series 60 COOK_Series60
Series 70 Cook Series 70 COOK_Series70
Series 80 Cook Series 80 COOK_Series80
Series 90 Cook Series 90 COOK_Series90
Series 100 Cook Series 100 COOK_Series100
Series 300 Cook Series 300 COOK_Series300
Series 301 Cook Series 301 COOK_Series301
Series 302 Cook Series 302 COOK_Series302
Series 303 Cook Series 303 COOK_Series303
Provenance:
The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired the Cook Labs Records in 1990, when Emory and Martha Cook donated their company records to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Anthony Seeger, then Director of Smithsonian Folkways Records, received a call from Mr. Cook in the summer of 1989 offering to donate the Cook label to the Smithsonian. Dr. Seeger visited him in August of that year to view the contents of the collection, and the Smithsonian received custody of the collection in May 1990. In return for the donation from Mr. Cook, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage agreed to keep the record titles available and to store the papers in the archives.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Topic:
Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this
3.83 Cubic feet (8 binders containing contact sheets, slides, and prints; 7 boxes (8.5"x10.75"x2.5") of 35 mm negatives; 2 binders of 35 mm and 120 format negatives; and 1 box of 11 oversize prints.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Contact sheets
Slides (photographs)
Black-and-white negatives
Photographic prints
Place:
New York (N.Y.)
Saint Simons Island (Ga. : Island)
Date:
1963-2009
Summary:
The Diana Davies photographs consist of images taken by Diana Davies at various stages of her career. Locations include the Festival of American Folklife, the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Poor People's Campaign, various peace and protest marches and outdoor performances, New York City, and the Georgia Sea Islands. The collection includes contact sheets, negatives, photographic prints, and slides.
Original photographs, negatives, and color slides taken by Diana Davies. Materials date from 1963-2009. Bulk dates: Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1969, 1987, 1992; Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1967-1968, 1987.
Scope and Contents:
The Diana Davies photographs, 1963-2009, consist of black and white negatives, contact sheets and prints, as well as color slides and negatives. The bulk of materials depict major festivals and protest movements (including the Poor People's March of 1968) documented by Diana Davies (located in Series 1: Newport Folk Festival, Series 2: Philadelphia Folk Festival, Series 6: Festival of American Folklife, and Series 11: Social Justice). Also well-represented are non-festival performances (in locations such as clubs, concert halls, and homes), recording sessions, and other music-related images, mainly of notable figures in the American folk music revival (located in Series 3: Broadside Magazine, Series 4: Sing Out! Magazine Concerts, Series 5: Miscellaneous Concerts and People, Series 7: Recording Sessions, Series 8: Instruction Book Shots, and Series 9: Jazz, Blues, and Salsa Musicians). Series 10: Georgia Sea Islands consists of photographs depicting the culture, environment, and daily life of these coastal islands in 1966. Series 12: New York City Scenes contains photographs taken on the street depicting everyday life in NYC in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection also contains related papers in Series 13: Miscellaneous Papers and Correspondence.
Arrangement note:
Each item in the Diana Davies Photographs has been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been put together such as the Newport Folk Festival photographs, in a chronological sequence as much as possible. Materials in the three more recent donation batches (1998, 2004, and 2006) were numbered and integrated into the collection. In some series, the accession numbers are in numerical order, and in others, the numbers are random because like items with different number sequences were pulled together in a series for subject coherence. The best way to find occurrences of a particular subject is to use the ctrl+F function. Please consult the archivists if you have any questions about the collection contents.
Contact sheets, slides, and prints arranged in 8 binders; negatives and oversize prints are stored separately.
Arranged in 14 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Newport Folk Festival
Series 2: Philadelphia Folk Festival
Series 3: Broadside Magazine
Series 4: -- Sing Out! -- Magazine Concerts
Series 5: Miscellaneous Concerts and People
Series 6: Festival of American Folklife
Series 7: Recording Sessions
Series 8: Instruction Book Shots
Series 9: Jazz, Blues, and Salsa Musicians
Series 10: Georgia Sea Islands
Series 11: Social Justice
Series 12: New York City Scenes
Series 13: Miscellaneous Papers and Correspondence
Series 14: Oversize Materials
Biographical/Historical note:
Diana Davies is a well-known photographer of folk performers and festivals. Davies photographed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in its earlier years. Born in 1938, Davies grew up in Maine, the Catskills, New York City, and Boston. Her grandparents were local union organizers and Debs socialists; one grandfather was a gandy dancer with the railroad, and her grandmother was a textile worker in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. Davies finds that her family background was later expressed in her own activist efforts.
Davies left high school at 16, and worked sweeping out coffeehouses, which gave her the opportunity to listen to music while she worked. She became interested in theater and music. In Greenwich Village, she began doing some sound technician work, and then got interested in photography. She taught herself how to develop and print photographs in a darkroom, and began photographing in theaters, shooting from behind the scenes. Her theater photos are at Smith College in Northampton, where she presently lives. In the early 1960s, she began working with the editors of Broadside Magazine, Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen. She developed an interest in human rights work, which grew from her contact with Sis and Gordon, and also her own family background. She also worked as a photographer in a wide range of settings, including night clubs, weddings, and doing portrait photography. This led her to work for major national and international media including the New York Times, covering such events as the war in Biafra, and traveling to Mexico, Cuba, and Portugal on assignment.
Davies' folk photographs represent about one-quarter of her body of work; her other major photographic work includes the Civil Rights Movement, the Peace Movement, and theater. Davies began photographing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, which she covered for a number of years. She knew Ralph Rinzler, and found him a vibrant, alive person excited by all aspects of culture. He introduced her to Bessie Jones from the Georgia Sea Islands, and in 1966 she made a photographic journey to the islands. Her work from this trip is included in the collection. Davies has also been a musician. She became involved with the punk rock movement of the 1970s, and felt that there was a connection between the hard-hitting songs from the punk world and the songs being published in Broadside Magazine. In 1975, she became part of a folk/punk women's band in Boston, and later moved to Western Massachusetts. In addition to being a photographer and musician, Davies is also a writer. She wrote a play entitled "The Witch Papers" in 1980, which was produced in Boston and other locations. The play was a vehicle for her human rights activism, comparing the technology of inquisition with labor sweatshops. In 1998, her play "The War Machine" was produced in Amherst, Mass. She lives in Northampton, and enjoys and participates in street performance, which she describes as the "most essentially communicative stuff you can come up with."
General note:
All contact sheets from the collection are digitized and accessible through this finding aid. Series-level slideshows accessible through this finding aid represent a small sampling from the collection.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Provenance:
The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired portions of the Diana Davies Photograph Collection in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Ms. Davies photographed for the Festival of American Folklife. More materials came to the Archives circa 1989 or 1990. Archivist Stephanie Smith visited her in 1998 and 2004, and brought back additional materials which Ms. Davies wanted to donate to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. These two more recent donations of additional photographs (contact sheets, prints, and slides) consisted of documentation of the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Poor People's March on Washington, the Civil Rights Movement, the Georgia Sea Islands, and miscellaneous personalities of the American folk revival. In a letter dated 12 March 2002, Ms. Davies gave full discretion to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to grant permission for both internal and external use of her photographs, with the provison that her work be credited in any use.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection documents the personal life and professional career of Graciela Perez-Gutierrez, a well known Afro-Cuban singer. Born in Havana, she performed for over thirty years, first with the all-female Orquesta Anacaona and El Trio Garcia and then with her brother Machito before a solo career.
Scope and Contents:
Collection documents the music career of Graciela and the development of Afro Cuban jazz in the United States. It includes correspondence, music manuscripts, financial records, photographs, posters, flyers, newsclippings, and audiovisual materials. These materials primarily relate to Graciela's professional career but also include her personal papers. There is a substantial amount of material relating to other jazz artists including Machito, Mario Bauza, Celia Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, and Chico O'Farrill. In addition, the career of Maria R. Torres (Mappy), head of production for the Afro-Cu-Bar Company and manager of Graciela's music career, is also documented. The richest portion of the collection lies in the photographic and performance materials which include social gatherings and many of the performance spaces where Afro Cuban jazz (Danzón or Salsa) developed, including The Palladium and Lincoln Center. Music festival programs related to jazz and Latin rhythms; tribute concerts; song and lyric notes and music manuscripts composed by Bobby Manrique, Lou Perez, and Lillian Gonzalez document the creative process of the music. Finally, researchers interested in Cuban and Caribbean history, immigration, and Latin internet forums for Afro Cuban jazz will find materials of value in this collection.
The collection is arranged into seven series. Series one contains Graciela's personal papers. Series two consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Series three has business records. Series four comprises the largest portion of the collection and contains photographic materials. Series five includes materials relating to performances. Series six contains publications and Series seven includes audiovisual materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into eight series:
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1934-2010, undated
Subseries 1.1: Personal Materials, 1934-2010
Subseries 1.2: Latin American Publications, undated
Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-2010, undated
Series 3: Business Records, 1937-2008, undated
Series 4: Photographic Materials, 1938-2009, undated
Subseries 4.1: Albums, 1938-2004, undated
Subseries 4.2: Photographs, 1944-2009, undated
Recognized as Queen of Boleros, First Lady of the Afro Cuban-Jazz, Graciela Perez Gutierrez was born in La Habana, Cuba, on August 23, 1915 and died in New York, United States on April 7, 2010 at the age of 94 years. Daughter of Marta Gutierrez Izquierdo and Rogelio Perez, Graciela started her professional career in the early 1930's at the age of sixteen with the all-female group "El Septeto Anacaona" at the famous Cuban bar "Tropicana" without the permission of her father. She stayed in the group for ten years and traveled to Puerto Rico, México, Panamá, the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, and France. She performed with the "Trio Garcia" for a year mostly in the Vedado, Cuba. In 1943, she decided to join, with her stepbrother (Frank "Machito" Grillo) and brother in law (Mario Bauza) in the band called "Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra." Graciela became the "First Lady of the Afro Cuban-Jazz" in the 1940's-1950's when mambo and Latin rhythms where at their peak and became accepted by American jazzmen. They performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Lester Young, Polito Galindo, and many others. "Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra" stayed together for almost 35 years and their biggest hits were: "! Si, si, No, no! ," "Ay Jose," and "Caso Perdido". At this time Graciela became a famous solo star but she preferred to stay with Machito and Mario and they made almost 70 albums with the orchestra. In 1970, Graciela left Machito's Orchestra and joined "Mario Bauza and the Afro-Cuban Orchestra" as a lead singer for 20 years. Graciela, Machito and Mario recorded many albums including: "¿Dónde estabas tú?" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1952), "Esta es Graciela" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1963), "Íntimo y sentimiental" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1965), "Yo soy así" (1972), "Sí sí no no" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Mike Young, 1999), "Cubop City" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Howard McGhee, Brew Moore, Flip Phillips, 2000) and "Inolvidable" (Candido & Graciela, 2004). After Mario Bauzá died (1993), she decided to retire, but she continued recording singles in a very selective way; she recorded with Chico O'Farrill, Steve Turre, and other artist. Graciela was honored by the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2007 for her pioneering career as a Latin and jazz rhythms fusionist.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie (NMAH.AC0979)
Chico O'Farrill (NMAH.AC0892)
Tito Puente Papers (NMAH.AC0894)
Paquito D'Rivera Papers (NMAH.0891)
Mongo Santamaria Papers (NMAH.AC0893)
Leonard Gaskin Papers (NMAH.AC.0900)
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews (NMAH.AC0766)
Separated Materials:
Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History
Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.01
Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.02
Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.03.01
Jacket, Accession number: 2018.0078.03.02
Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.04
Ring, Accession number: 2018.0078.05
Ring, Accession number: 2018.0078.06
Bracelet, Accession number: 2018.0078.07
Painting of Graciela by Erich Padilla, Accession number: 2018.0078.08
Print of Ballerina, owned by Graciela, Accession number: 2018.0078.09
Print of Three Birds, owned by Graciela, Accession number: 2018.0078.10
Latin Grammy awarded to Graciela in 2006, Accession number: 2018.0078.11
50 Years of Cuban Music Plaque, Accession number: 2018.0078.12
Microphone with case, Accession number: 2018.0078.13
Bible, Accession number: 2018.0078.14
Cigar box, Accession number: 2018.0078.15
Eyeglasses, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.01
Fan, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.02
Badges, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.03
Badge from Jazz '92, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.04
Artist Badge, Heimatklange 1992 Carnevale Caribe, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.05
Provenance:
Collection donated by Lisa Sokolov, 2017.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audio-visual materials. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection consists of lantern slides and stereographs produced by several companies: Keystone View Company, Better America Lecture Service, Incorporated, American Press Association, J. Stanley-Brown, William H. Rau, and J. F. Maertz Department Store. The lantern slides were primarily intended to be used for educational presentations about the United States, other countries, history, and society. Many of the slides and stereographs are accompanied by descriptive text and in some instances by small cards--one card for each slide--and in other instances directly on the back of a stereoview. The majority of images were taken from 1900 to 1930.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of lantern slides and stereographs primarily designed for use in audio-visual educational presentations about the United States, other countries, history, and society. Many of the slides and stereographs are accompanied by descriptive text. In some instances on small cards--one card for each slide-- and in other instances printed directly on the back of a stereoview. A few of the lantern slides, particularly the ones of the J. F. Maertz Department Store of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are advertisements for consumer products. The majority were taken from 1890 through 1930. While the collection as a whole is in good general condition, some lantern slides, stereographs, and text cards are missing, and some of the lantern slides are cracked.
The collection will appeal to researchers examining the course of nineteenth-century social history broadly, especially how lantern slides were marketed to educators to teach geography, social studies, science, history and reading. The lantern slides as artifacts will be of interest to those who study material culture.
Series 1, Keystone View Company Lantern Slides and Stereographs, undated, is divided into seven subseries: Subseries 1, #1-#600, undated; Subseries 2, H-1 to H-300; Subseries 3, Biblical, undated; Subseries 4, Santa Barbara, California, undated; Subseries 5, Roads, undated; and Subseries 6, Miscellaneous, undated.
The series depicts scenes from around the United States and the rest of the world. Each image is intended to be characteristic of its location and in most cases is accompanied by a text card that describes the scene and gives the geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the location. Many of the glass lantern slides have corresponding stereoviews and in these instances two box numbers are given.
Subseries 1, #1-#600, undated, is arranged in order by the numbers on the image. Views #1-261 are arranged in a rough geographic order beginning in Maine and proceeding down the Atlantic Coast, through the former Confederate states, into the Midwest and Plains states, the mountain West states and the West coast, and ending in the territories of Alaska and Hawaii and the Panama Canal. Views #262-346 begin in eastern Canada, proceed across Canada and move through Mexico and Central America into the Caribbean, thence the length of South America and the Antarctic. Views #347-554 begin in the British Isles and move through Northern and Southern Europe and into Central Europe and then Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East. Views #556-592 begin in North Africa and cover the length of the continent and a few areas in the Pacific. The series concludes with views of several planets, President McKinley reviewing Civil War heroes (1899), and the work of a Mexican artist (1900).
Subseries 2, H-1 to H-300, undated, is arranged in order by the numbers on the image. H-1 to H-258 depict scenes and sites of American history beginning with several images of indigenous peoples and proceeding, roughly chronologically, through major events and locations to about 1925. Images H-259 to H-300 document a range of localities and activities across the country in the mid-1920s, including major buildings in Washington, D.C., industrial activities, and modern agricultural practices.
Subseries 3, Biblical, undated, shows religious art works and rural scenes.
Subseries 4, Santa Barbara, California, undated, contains two images. One is pastoral with a Franscican friar, the other a fountain.
Subseries 5, Roads, undated, includes three images of roads, one with a person on horseback, the other two depicting wagons.
Subseries 6, Miscellaneous, undated, contains lithoprint stereographs, each with a short description, depicting scenes such as landmarks in the United States; news events in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; warfare; domestic scenes and scenes of foreign countries.
This series consists of lantern slides produced by Newell Dwight Hillis' Better America Lecture Service Incorporated. Newell Dwight Hillis (1858-1929), was a noted clergyman, lecturer and author. The Better American Lecture Service sought to make better Americans and to inspire greater loyalty to American institutions. Better America Lecture Service rented the lecture manuscript and slides to churches, societies, schools, and patriotic organizations. Slides were sent in a tin box and contained suggestions for publicity arrangements. (Nevada Educational Bulletin, December 1920).
Hillis published more than twenty volumes including collections of his sermons, inspirational works, and a novel. In addition, many of Hillis addresses were published and distributed as pamphlets. The slides were intended to be used for lectures on subjects such as socialism and equality. The slides generally consist of text, drawings, images of persons, paintings, and landscapes. A few slides in each set are missing, and there is no text accompanying any of the slides. The series is arranged into twelve subseries alphabetically by topic.
Series 3, American Press Association lantern slides, undated, is divided into ten subseries: Subseries 1, General Images, undated; Subseries 2, Coffins and soliders, undated; Subseries 3, Mexican War, undated; Subseries 4, Niagara Falls Conference, undated; Subseries 5, Pancho Villa and Major Gonzales, undated; Subseries 6, Parade, undated; Subseries 7, Refugees, undated; Subseries 8, Warships, undated; Subseries 9, West Virginia Mine Explosion, undated; and Subseries 10, Women March for Votes (Suffrage), undated.
The series consists of lantern slides from the American Press Association depicting news events from early twentieth century history (e.g., Mexican War; Ludlow Colorado strike; suffragettes; Gettysburg veterans; various ship disasters). Each slide has a caption with a brief description of the scene. Many slides are cracked; one is completely broken and is in a folded paper. There are also approximately fifty slides with scenes of events associated with the Mexican-American War, most with short captions identifying the scenes. Many of these slides are cracked.
Series 4, J. F. Maertz Department Stores advertisement lantern slides, early 1920s, is divided into thirteen subseries: Subseries 1, Bathrooms, undated; Subseries 2, Children's shoes and clothing, undated; Subseries 3, Dress goods, undated; Subseries 4, Dress patterns, undated; Subseries 5, Hosiery, undated; Subseries 6, House furnishings, undated; Subseries 7, House wares, undated; Subseries 8, Ladies' Home Journal, undated; Subseries 9, Shoes, undated; Subseries 10, Store advertising, undated; Subseries 11, Underwear, undated; Subseries 12, Women's clothing, undated; and Subseries 13, Miscellaneous, undated.
The series consists of lantern slides showing advertisements used in J.F. Maertz Department Store catalogs for consumer goods. Slides are categorized by type of goods, including children's shoes and clothes, bathroom needs, dress patterns, men's wear, shoes, house furnishings, house wares, Ladies' Home Journal, and underwear.
Series 5, J. Stanley-Brown and E. H. Harriman lantern slides, undated, is divided into nineteen subseries: Subseries 1, Alaska-California scenes, undated; Subseries 2, Animal life, undated; Subseries 3, Artifacts, undated; Subseries 4, California/Franciscan life, undated; Subseries 5, California Indians, undated; Subseries 6, California mission exteriors, undated; Subseries 7, California mission interiors, undated; Subseries 8, Eskimos,undated; Subseries 9, Franciscans, undated; Subseries 10, Indians, undated; Subseries 11, Landscapes, undated; Subseries 12, Maps, undated; Subseries 13, Mission interiors, undated; Subseries 14, Seascapes, undated; Subseries 15, General images (#1-7;10), undated; Subseries 16, General images (#11-14; 16-17; 19-20), undated; Subseries 17, General images (#21-30), undated; Subseries 18, General images (#31-33; 36-40), undated; and Subseries 19, General images (#42; 45-50), undated.
The series contains lantern slides, each labeled with the names of distributors, "J. Stanley-Brown, 1318 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. and E.H. Harriman, 1 East, 55th Street, New York." The slides, some with captions, depict maps; landscapes; seascapes; Eskimos; animal life; Franciscan dwellings; Indians of California; California missions and Franciscan life. There are slides depicting various scenes of California missions and scenes of indigenous Alaskans. Some slides are cracked.
The series consists of lantern slides and stereoviews from distributors that include the American Series; Griffith and Griffith; Pesko Binocular Company; William H. Rau Publisher; and the Universal Photo Art Company.
The stereographs related to domestic and military issues and geography are dated circa 1905, and copyrighted by H. C. White, and distrbuted by World Series.
The stereo views produced by William H. Rau, a publisher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, show parades and other ceremonies at Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) encampments and Elks conventions held in Philadelphia. The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army who served in the American Civil War.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Keystone View Company Lantern Slides and Stereographs, undated
Subseries 1, #1-#600, undated
Subseries 2, H-1 to H-300, undated
Subseries 3, Biblical, undated
Subseries 4, Santa Barbara, California, undated
Subseries 5, Roads, undated
Subseries 6, Miscellaneous, undated
Series 2: Hillis Better America Lecture Service Lantern Slides, undated
Series 3: American Press Association Lantern Slides, undated
Subseries 1, General Images, undated
Subseries 2, Coffins and Soliders, undated
Subseries 3, Mexican War, undated
Subseries 4, Niagara Falls Conference, undated
Subseries 5, Pancho Villa and Major Gonzales, undated
Subseries 6, Parade, undated
Subseries 7, Refugees, undated
Subseries 8, Warships, undated
Subseries 9, West Virginia Mine Explosion, undated
Subseries 10, Women March for Votes (Suffrage), undated
Series 4: J. F. Maertz Department Store Advertisement Lantern Slides, early 1920s
Subseries 1, Bathrooms, undated
Subseries 2, Children's shoes and clothing, undated
Subseries 3, Dress goods, undated
Subseries 4, Dress patterns, undated
Subseries 5, Hosiery, undated
Subseries 6, House furnishings, undated
Subseries 7, House wares, undated
Subseries 8, Ladies' Home Journal, undated
Subseries 9, Shoes, undated
Subseries 10, Store advertising, undated
Subseries 11, Underwear, undated
Subseries 12, Women's clothing, undated
Subseries 13, Miscellaneous, undated
Series 5, J. Stanley-Brown and E.H. Harriman lantern slides, undated
Subseries 1, Alaska-California scenes, undated
Subseries 2, Animal life, undated
Subseries 3, Artifacts, undated
Subseries 4, California/Franciscan life, undated
Subseries 5, California Indians, undated
Subseries 6, California mission exteriors, undated
Subseries 7, California mission interiors, undated
Subseries 8, Eskimos, undated
Subseries 9, Franciscans, undated
Subseries 10, Indians, undated
Subseries 11, Landscapes, undated
Subseries 12, Maps, undated
Subseries 13, Mission interiors, undated
Subseries 14, Seascapes, undated
Subseries 15, General images (#1-7;10), undated
Subseries 16, General images (#11-14; 16-17; 19-20), undated
Subseries 17, General images (#21-30), undated
Subseries 18, General images (#31-33; 36-40), undated
Subseries 19, General images (#42; 45-50), undated
Series 6: Miscellaneous Stereographs, 1887-1907
Subseries 1, American Series, 1887
Subseries 2, C.H. Graves Publisher, 1907
Subseries 3, Griffith and Griffith, 1894
Subseries 4, Pesko Binocular Company, 1907
Subseries 5, William H. Rau Publisher, undated
Subseries 6, Domestic scenes, undated
Subseries 7, Military, undated
Subseries 8, Places-Asia, undated
Subseries 9, Places-Cuba, undated
Subseries 10, Places-Egypt, undated
Subseries 11, Places-France, undated
Subseries 12, Places-Germany, undated
Subseries 13, Places-Italy, undated
Subseries 14, Places-Monte Carlo, undated
Subseries 6.15, Palestine, undated
Subseries 6.16, Places-United States, undated
Subseries 6.17: Miscellaneous, undated
Series 7: Miscellaneous Lantern Slides, undated
Historical:
Lantern slides are hand-drawn, painted, or photographic images on glass, intended for viewing by projection; often made in sets. Photographic lantern slides were introduced in the United States by 1850 and popular through World War I; commonly 3.25 x 4 in. (9 x 10 cm.) with a black paper mask, a cover glass, and taped edges. Thesaurus of Graphic Materials
Stereographs consist of two nearly identical photographs or photomechanical prints, paired to produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image, usually when viewed through a stereoscope. Typically, the images are on card mounts, but they take the form of daguerreotypes, glass negatives, or other processes. Stereographs were first made in the 1850s and are still made today. They were most popular between 1870 and 1920.
In 1851 stereo daguerreotypes were exhibited for the first time to the general public at the London International Exhibition (Crystal Palace). Shortly thereafter, American photographers began making stereographs. One of the first American photographic firms to produce stereographs was the team of William and Frederick Langenheim. The Library owns a set of their early stereoviews of American cities on the East Coast.
By 1860 both amateur photographers and publishing firms were making stereographs. The major stereo publishers sold their views by mail order, door-to-door salesmen, and in stores. Stereographs were sold individually and in boxed sets.
Stereographs are usually mounted. They were typically published with caption information printed under the image or on the back of the mount. The mount also provided information about the publisher, photographer, and sometimes the series or a list of views available from the photographer or publisher.
Stereographs were collected by many middle-class families in the late 19th century. People acquired stereographs of tourist sites they had visited, as well as exotic locales that they would only experience through the wonder of the stereoscope. Viewing stereographs was a common activity, much like watching television or going to the movies today. Stereoviews were also used as an education tool in classrooms.
(Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, Stereograph Format)
The Division of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History assembled a collection of miscellaneous lantern slides and stereographs beginning in 1943. Other collection contents were acquired over many years in unrecorded transactions.
Several distributors and publishers of stereographic images are represented in the collection. One of the most prominent was the Keystone View Company of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Founded by Benneville Lloyd Singley (d.1938), a former Underwood & Underwood salesman, Keystone became a major distributor of stereographic images. From 1892 through 1963 it produced and distributed both educational and comic/sentimental stereoviews and stereoscopes used to see the images in 3-D. By 1905 it was the world's largest stereographic company. In 1963 Department A (stereoviews sold to individual families) and the education departments were closed, but Keystone continued to manufacture eye-training stereographic products as a subsidiary of Mast Development Company. In 1972 Mast closed the Meadville manufacturing site.
All of Keystone's manufacturing was done in Meadville, but branch offices were in New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Toronto, Canada and London, England. Salesmen and photographers were scattered around the world, and the company offered 20,000 different views.
Selling stereoviews and lantern slides to schools was a field pioneered by Underwood & Underwood, and for several years Underwood & Underwood and Keystone were competitors for the growing educational market. According to the 1953 Keystone Sales Manual the more aggressive sales methods and the more progressive editorial policies of the Keystone View Company soon made it the acknowledged leader in the industry, and Underwood & Underwood decided to give up the contest.
Between 1915 and 1921 Keystone View Company purchased the negatives of nearly all of its competitors. They also continued to have staff photographers travel the world, so that by 1935 Keystone had approximately two million stereoscopic negatives.
Keystone View Company produced stereographic sets up through the mid-twentieth century, and had a stereoscopic photographer on staff until at least 1955.
References
Thesaurus of Graphic Materials, (2007), http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/ (accessed February 10, 2011).
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, Stereograph Format, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/stereo/background.html (accessed February 14, 2011).
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
University of California, Riverside/California Museum of Photography
George Eastman House
Temple University
Brooklyn Historical Society
Provenance:
Donated to the Department of Anthropology, United States National Museum by Mrs. Joseph Stanley-Brown, through Mrs. Herbert Feis, in 1943.
The Division of Cultural History (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) at the National Museum of American History assembled a collection of miscellaneous lantern slides and stereographs beginning in 1943. Other collection contents were acquired over many years in unrecorded transactions. An unknown portion of the collection transferred to the Archives Center, date unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected lantern slides and stereographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
The collection consists of 98 ink and watercolor drawings by the artist Kim Chun-gŭn. The drawings depict various subject including: marriage and funeral rites and ceremonies; hunting and fishing; farming; artisans and crafts; merchants and peddlers; household chores; schooling and education; military and court officials; civil servants; punishments; and musicians and performers. The drawings are titled in Hanja and stamped with the artist's seal.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
Kim Chun-gŭn (also known as Kim Jun-geun, Gisan, and Kisan) was a Korean painter specializing in genre scenes illustrating traditional Korean life. His paintings were acquried by many foreign visitors in port areas such as Pusan and Wonsan at the end of 19th and early 20th centuries.
Robert Wilson Shufeldt (1822–1895) was an officer in the United States Navy best known for his negotiation of the 1882 Shufeldt Treaty with Korea. He was commander of the USS Wachusett and USS Ticonderoga, and Consul-General of the United States to Cuba.
Local Numbers:
USNM Accession 38151
Variant Title:
Korean life
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds MS 7356, reproductions of a set of drawings by Kim Chun-gŭn deposited in the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania (cat. 21574) by Mary Shufeldt. The NAA also holds photographs collected by Robert Shufeldt in Photo Lot 97 and Photo Lot 81-64 Robert W. Shufeldt photograph of American Legation in Seoul.
The collection of Chinese, Japanese and Korean objects acquired by USNM from Shufeldt is held by the Department of Anthropology (Accession Number 38151).
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Drawings
Citation:
Kim Chun-gŭn drawings of Korean life, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The papers of California and New York painter Ethel Fisher measure 12.5 linear feet and 0.558 GB and date from 1930 to 2017. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, writings, project files, exhibition files, artists' files, personal business records, printed and digital material, artwork and several sketchbooks, a few sound and video recordings, and photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of California and New York painter Ethel Fisher measure 12.5 linear feet and 0.558 GB and date from 1930 to 2017. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, writings, project files, exhibition files, artists' files, personal business records, printed and digital material, artwork and several sketchbooks, a few sound and video recordings, and photographic material.
Biographical material includes Art Students League records, address books and business cards, artist statements and resumes, an interview transcript and sound cassette, and other miscellaneous documents.
Correspondence is with family, friends, colleagues, artists, galleries, and museums. The bulk of the correspondence is with daughter Sandra Fisher and husband Seymour Kott. Notable correspondents include Will Barnet, Keith Coleborn, Elaine Ehrenkranz, Rafael Fernandez, Henry Pearson, and others. There are also greeting cards and postcards, inluding numerous illustrated cards from Fisher to her husband Seymour.
Writings mostly consist of annotated appointment calendars and travel diaries along with some writings by others, such as a travel diary by Keith Coleborn and a graduate thesis by Keri Jones.
Project files include correspondence, grant applications, printed and digital material, and publication agreements for art projects, commissions, studio tours, auctions, and speaking engagements. Notable projects include material on the NBC-TV film Family Ties, art loans for the Showtime movie Town of the Eighties, and teaching material from Brentwood Art Center.
Exhibition files contain exhibition announcements, catalogs, publicity, reviews, correspondence, exhibition lists, price lists of artwork, and other material for Ethel Fisher's group and solo shows.
Artists' files include printed material about and limited correspondence with various artists in which Fisher was interested or with whom she was friends, including Stanley Boxer, Irving Fine, Ilse Getz, Ibram Lassaw, and Paul Thek.
Personal business records include consignments, price lists, loan agreements, receipts, donations, and sales documentation.
Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, announcements, magazines, and clippings about Ethel Fisher and other artists. There are also books inscribed to Fisher.
The artwork series includes sketchbooks, drawings, watercolors, and loose sketches.
Photographic material consists of photographs, digital photographs, slides, and negatives of Ethel Fisher, her artwork, exhibitions, events, family, friends, artists, studios, and travel. There are also "reference photos" of people, places, and objects which Fisher used for her portraits and paintings.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-2014 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 1, 13)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1930-2017 (5.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-6, 13, 15)
Series 3: Writings, 1965-2014 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 6-7, 13)
Series 4: Project Files, 1954-2011 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 7, 12, 0.128 GB; ER01)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1945-2006 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 6: Artists' Files, 1952-2010 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 8, 12)
Series 7: Personal Business Records, 1959-2017 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 8, 13)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1940-2016 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 8-9, 12-13)
Series 9: Artwork and Sketchbooks, 1944-2014 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 9, 12-15, OV16)
Series 10: Photographic Materials, 1942-2014 (2.2 linear feet;Boxes 9-11, 14, 0.430 GB; ER02)
Biographical / Historical:
Ethel Fisher (1923-2017) was a painter who lived in Pacific Palisades, California.
Ethel Fisher was born in Galveston, Texas in 1923. She studied art at the University of Houston, University of Texas, and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. After college, she moved to New York City and attended The Art Students League on scholarship from 1943-1946. In New York, she studied with painter Will Barnet, Morris Kantor, and Robert Beverly Hale, and befriended many people in the art world. She married Gene Fisher and their first daughter Sandra was born. Sandra also became a painter and later married artist R. B. Kitaj.
Fisher and her family moved to Miami in 1948 where her daughter Margaret was born. Upon her divorce, Fisher travelled in Europe for about a year before returning to New York City in the early 1960s, where she continued to paint and maintained 2 studios for her artwork. She married art historian Seymour Kott in 1963.
In 1970, Fisher and her husband moved to Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, California. Throughout her career as a painter, Ethel Fisher has had solo and group exhibitions at galleries in Havana, Cuba; West Palm Beach, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; New York City, New York; and San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and continues to paint. In 2003, Fisher had solo exhibit of portraits at Platt Gallery in Los Angeles.
Provenance:
The Ethel Fisher papers were donated by Ethel Fisher in two installments in 1997 and 2015.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
