This finding aid is intended as a historical document of the event, July 1-4, 1967 and the participants in this festival. Not all of the individuals listed below were recorded or photographed. The documentation of this festival was minimal so there is not a wealth of material still existing or accessible from this event for study. What exists is listed later in this document. Contains parts of several boxes of paper records. 7 reel to reel audiotapes, photographs.
Scope and Content note:
The collection includes the paper records that resulted from the production of the program. The collection includes audiovisual documentation during the festival itself including audio recordings and photographs. For specific information about the materials in each series, please refer to the series description. For additional information about the 1967 Festival of American Folklife, one should consult the central Smithsonian Institution Archives and the papers of the Division of Performing Arts.
Historical note:
In 1967, the Smithsonian held its first ever Festival of American Folklife. Then Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley was interested in getting the museum out to the people. He assigned the task of creating a festival to James Morris, head of what was then the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts. Ralph Rinzler was hired as the folklore consultant. Rinzler had been one of the chief talent scouts for the Newport Folk festival and had done extensive fieldwork on American folk traditions. Rinzler had also been involved in the creation of the "festival workshop" concept which incorporates narratives and audience interaction with musical performance. He also felt strongly that craft and food traditions were equally important and also a major part of the folklife of a traditional community.
This four day event set the pattern for what became a yearly event. It featured craft traditions as well as musical performances by some of the well known traditional musicians of the 20th century, many of whom had previously appeared at the Newport Folk Festival.
List of Festival Participants:
Crafts
Louise Jones, Coil basket making, South Carolina
Margaret Coochwytewa, Coil and Yucca leaves, Hopi basket maker, Arizona
Joseph Grismayer, Willow, basket maker, Pennsylvania
Bea Hensley, blacksmith, North Carolina
Homer Miracle, Hand-hewn bowls, carver, Kentucky
Charles Mayac, Ivory carver, Alaska
Leo J. Meyer, scrimshaw carver, Maryland
Edd Presnell, Dulcimer maker, North Carolina
Willard Watson, Toy maker, North Carolina
Dewey Harmon, Whittler, North Carolina
Herman Benton, Scoop maker, New York
Robert Keith, Chair maker, North Carolina
Mrs. Robert Keith, Chair maker, North Carolina
Clifford Lucas, Indian dolls, New Mexico
Hazel Miracle, Apple face, corn shuck dolls, Kentucky
Mildred Cleghorn, Indian cloth dolls, Oklahoma
Alice Merryman, Corn shuck dolls, Arkansas
Lila Marshall, Corn shuck dolls, North Carolina
Ann Mitchell, Corn shuck dolls, Maryland
Maisy Coburn, Apple face and Corncob dolls, Arkansas
Mary Bowers, Seminole patchwork, needlework, Florida
Wade Ward and the Buck Mountain Band, mountain sting band, Virginia
Ed Young and family, African American fife and drum group, Mississippi
Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, shouts, jubilees, spirituals, and ring games, Georgia
The Moving Star Hall Singers, shouts, jubilees, spirituals, and ring games, South Carolina
Yomo Toro Band, Puerto Rican music, New York
Billie and De De Pierce and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Orleans jazz, Louisiana
Jimmie Driftwood, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas
John Papakee, Mesquakie Indian music, Iowa
Grace Papakee, Mesquakie Indian music, Iowa
Almeda Riddle, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas
Vinice Lejeune Group, Cajun band, Louisiana
John Jackson, Songster and blues singer, Virginia
Libba Cotten, Country guitarist, North Carolina, Washington, D.C.
The Baca Family Band, Czech-American polka music, Texas
Norman Kennedy, Scots ballad singer, Massachusetts
The McGee Brothers with Sid Harkreader, String band, Tennessee
Glenn Ohrlin, Cowboy singer, Arkansas
Young People's Chorus from the Scripture of Church of Christ, gospel, Virginia
Dance
Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers, cloggers, North Carolina
St. Andrews Society Group, Scottish dancing, Washington, D.C.
Glinka Dancers, Russian dance group, New Jersey
McNeff Dancers, Irish dancing with Ceilidh band, New York
Chinese Lion Group, Washington, D.C.
Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
Mrs. Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
Los Gallegos d'Espana, Galician dance, New York
Henry Paterick, square dance caller, Virginia
Maurice Flowers, square dance caller, Maryland
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://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Related Publications:
The following publications exist in the archive library and can be studied on-site.
Eaton, Allen H., Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1937
Jones, Bessie and Bess Lomax Hawes, Step it Down: Games, Plays, Songs, and Stories from the Afro-American Heritage, New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Kirlin, Katherine S., and Thomas M. Kirlin, Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1991
Kurin, Richard, Reflections of a Culture Broker: A View from the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1997
Kurin, Richard, Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Culture Of, By, and For the People, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies, 1998
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.
Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Documentation Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archive and Collection, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of Eli Reed)
Gatschet, Albert S. (Albert Samuel), 1832-1907 Search this
Extent:
11 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
North America
Date:
1828-1906
Scope and Contents:
The collection is composed mainly of corrected proofs of the dictionary and texts including in Gatschet's The Klamath Indians of Southwestern Oregon, 1890, and correct proof and copy of Ortsetymologische Forschungen als Beitrage zu einer Topopnomastik der Schweiz. Few of the corrections were incorporated in the final printing of these works. In addition, there is a copy of Powell's Introduction to the Study of Indian Lanaguages with the schedule partially completed with Tuscarora, Wyandot, Seneca, and Caughnawaga and a tapa-cloth-bound dictionary of Samoan, not in Gatschet's hand.
In addition there are several certificates and other such formal documents from Bern, visiting cards, and two letters. Most of these documents seem to pertain to members of Gatschet's family in Switzerland. Most are in German script.
A small photographic collection includes a portrait of Gatschet dated 1906. Most of the other images are of Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Dakota, Kiowa, and Navaho Indians by J.N. Choate and C.C. Stotz. There are also prints from negatives in the archives' glass negative collection that includ Mandan, Miami, Osage, and Shoshoni. Some of the photographs are annotated by Gatschet and James Mooney.
Biographical / Historical:
Educated in his native Switzerland and in Germany (University of Bern; University of Berlin, Ph.D., 1892), early in his career Albert S. Gatschet pursued antiquarian research in European museums and wrote scientific articles. Among his projects was the study of the etymology of place names in Switzerland. After coming to the United States in 1869, he worked on the American Indian vocabularies collected by Oscar Loew of the United States Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian (Wheeler Survey). Eventually he was employed as an ethnologist with the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Regions (Powell Survey). He joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology when it was founded in 1879 and continued there until he retired in 1905.
For the Powell Survey, Gatschet carried out research among the Klamath in Oregon and the Modoc in Oklahoma. He came to be used to collect material and investigate special problems for the classification of Indian languages of North America north of Mexico, working on languages of the Southeast, including groups settled in the southern Plains. In connection with this, he not only visited well known tribes but also searched out and studied small groups like, for example, the Biloxi and Tunica. He also worked with the Natchez, Tonkawa, Chitimacha, and Atakapa in the United States and the Comecrudo and several other small groups in northern Mexico. Through library research, he studied the Timucua, Karankara, and Beothuk. Duing the last part of his career, Gatschet was assigned the task of preparing a comparative work on all the Algonquian lanaguages. Although the project was never completed, he did collect considerable material in the field on many of the languages, including especially Peoria, Miami, and Shawnee. In addition, he worked with members of diverse tribes of the eastern United States.
Related Materials:
Most of Gatschet's scientific papers are among the collection of numbered manuscripts in the National Anthropological Archives.
Restrictions:
Access to the Albert S. Gatschet papers requires an appointment.
Along Navajo trails : recollections of a trader, 1898-1948 / by Will Evans ; edited by Susan E. Woods and Robert S. McPherson ; foreword by Charles S. Peterson
