Collection documents activist and educator Elaine Ostroff who advocated for improved access for people with disabilities in public places, co-founded the Adaptive Environments Center and who taught universal design in several institutions.
Scope and Contents:
The papers include correspondence, reports, photographs and slides, course-related materials, evaluations, printed publications, lectures and presentations, grant applications, conference materials, audiovisual materials and newspaper clippings documenting the career of Elaine Ostroff, an activist and educator of universal design.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series. The arrangement follows Ms. Ostroff's original file order which for the most part has been retained.
Series 1: Personal/Biographical Materials, 1967-2008
Elaine Phillips Ostroff was born on February 27, 1933 and grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts. She graduated from Durfee High School (1951), received a B.S. from Brandeis University (1955), was awarded a Radcilffe Fellowship (1970) and an Ed.M from Harvard University (1972). In 1978, Ostroff co-founded with Cora Beth Abel the Adaptive Environments Center (now the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) to confront the barriers which prevent persons with disabilities and older people from fully participating in community life. In 1989, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, she developed the National Universal Design Education Project (UDEP) at Adaptive Environments. A national project, UDEP sought to incorporate universal design in professional curricula. Ostroff coined the term "user/expert" in 1995 to identify individuals whose personal experiences give them unique critical capacity to evaluate environments.
As an educator, Ostroff has been involved with the accessible environments effort on a national and international level since 1971. She was the former director of training for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health where she developed graduate programs and courses to sustain community based living for people with disabilities. In 1977, she was the United States representative to the United Nations meeting on the Rights of Children.
She convened the national seminar on Design for All People that provided the framework for the UDEP in 1982. In 1986, she developed the "Best of Accessible Boston," an awards program honoring the architects and owners of buildings that exemplified good as well as accessible design. Ostroff is internationally renowned for her role on the team that created the Principles of Universal Design. The Principles are taught to designers including architects, landscape architects, interior and product designers and their students and used in design, constructions and product development. In 2001, she was the senior editor of the "Universal Design Handbook" used as a textbook in educational settings. In 2004, she was the first American, and first woman, to receive the Misha Black Medal from the Royal College of Art. In 2006, the American Institute of Architects awarded her the Honorary AIA designation. Ostroff's experience emphasized creating educational programs for non-designers, facilitating their design advocacy as well as collaboration with design professionals. She has written and produced technical assistance materials on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that were used in the National Network for ADA Technical Assistance.
She married Earl Carlton Ostroff (1931-2006) in 1953. The couple had three children, Rebecca, Joshua, and Sam.
Historical Note:
The Universal Design Movement is an international effort advocating design for disabled persons to enjoy access, independence, and convenience. It also is known as design-for-all, accessible design, inclusive design, and human-centered design. It is applied to buildings, consumer products, packaging, appliances, tools, and devices. It can aid persons with mobility, visual, hearing, cognitive, developmental, neurological, and other disabilities.
The Universal Design movement has its roots in the disability rights movement, in the post-World War II era. Previously and especially before the First World War people with disabilities were members of a small minority and persons with severe handicaps tended to have short lifespans. The world wars caused a huge influx of disabled veterans into the population. Advances in medicine and drugs and better sanitation enabled increased lifespans resulting in a higher population of older and disabled people. Awareness of the problems and limitations experienced by people with disabilities has increased.
The "Barrier-Free" movement in the 1950s was born of the demands by veterans and their advocates to participate equally in educational and employment opportunities enjoyed by the non-disabled population. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s influenced the rising Disability Rights Movement. Legislative changes in the 1960s and 1970s prohibited discrimination against persons with disabilities and mandated access to some, though not all, public spaces, public transit, and places of public accommodation.
The progression from the Barrier-Free movement to the Universal Design movement was aided by several pieces of national legislation and activism on the part of numerous organizations. The Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 required buildings designed, built, altered, or leased with federal funds to be made accessible. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first civil rights law for disabled people. It prohibited discrimination against people with handicapping conditions, but again, only applied to institutions or groups receiving federal funding. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 required educational institutions to provide a free education to handicapped children. The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 expanded the requirements of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 to include disabled people. This applied to both public and private properties. The biggest change came in 1990 with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This broad and sweeping legislation raised public consciousness about disability rights as a civil rights issue. It prohibited discrimination in employment, access to public accommodations, services, programs, public transit, and telecommunications. The law mandated the removal of physical barriers and the development of non-discriminatory policies.
The Universal Design Movement sought to integrate people with disabilities into the mainstream, and to promote inclusion by reducing the physical and social barriers that exist between people with disabilities. As planners, builders and architects struggled to meet the demands of the ADA, they realized that segregated accommodations were costly, unattractive, and unfair. They also realized that improvements in the built environment not only that benefitted people with disabilities, they benefitted all users. According to the Center for Universal Design, "Recognition that many such features could be commonly provided and thus less expensive, unlabeled, attractive, and highly marketable, laid the foundation for the universal design movement."
Against this background, Ostroff's own special interest was improving the environment for people with developmental disabilities. She initially worked with teachers in the Department of Mental Retardation (State of Massachusetts) to help them transform their classrooms into more engaging and supportive environments for young children with disabilities. She was inspired by Gunnar Dybwad (1909-2001), a prominent international international advocate who fought for community living and the de-institutionalization of people with developmental disabilities and Raymond Lifchez (1932-), professor of architecture and city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley. She also worked closely with, and learned from, Ron Mace (1941-1998), FAIA, the architect who powered the accessibility movement through his personal experience of disability along with his architectural training and experience.
Related Materials:
The Universal Design News is a quarterly publication that Ostroff edited from 2000-2012 and wrote column on international design education. A full run of the newsletter is available the wesbite for Universal Designers and Consultants, Inc.
Materials at the Archives Center:
Target Stores Collection of Fashion Advertising Using Disabled Models (AC0436)
Accessible Snowboard Collection (NMAH.AC.0747)
Disability Reference Collection (NMAH.AC.1319)
Safko International, Inc. Records (NMAH.AC.0911)
Harriet Green Kopp Papers (NMAH.AC.1130)
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Elaine Ostroff in 2015.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Reference copies for audio and moving images materials do not exist. Use of these materials requires special arrangement. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information has been rendered unreadable and redacted. Researchers may use the photocopies in the collection. The remainder of the collection has no restrictions.
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.
The Sherman Poppen Papers document the snurfer, the predecessor of the snowboard that he invented in 1965. The snurfer, a sled that was ridden while standing up, originally consisted of two skis bound together. Snurfer competitions fueled the development of the snowboard as a piece of sporting equipment. This collection contains material describing the snurfer's place in snowboarding history, and the associated business and legal aspects.
Scope and Contents:
The Sherman Poppen Papers document the invention of the snurfer and its distribution. The collection is arranged into two series. The collection consists of correspondence, product literature, photographs, books, notes, a scrapbook, newsletters, newspaper and magazine articles, and VHS videocassettes documenting the snurfer. The business and legal materials, 1966-2006, contains correspondence, notes, and legal documents.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1, History, 1966-2008
Series 2, Business and Legal Materials, 1966-2006
Biographical / Historical:
Sherman Poppen (1930-2019) was born in Muskegon, Michigan. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1952 and served in the United States Navy as a supply office at sea from 1952-1956. He owned an industrial business, Lake Welding Supply Company, which sold gases and welding supplies in Muskegon, Michigan.
On December 25, 1965, Poppen created the snurfer, a predecessor of the snowboard, by binding two children's skis together. His wife, Nancy, was pregnant with their third child and his two restless daughters, Wendy and Laurie, wanted to play on Christmas day. Poppen entertained them by playing outside in the snow. The girls' desire to stand up while riding on a sled and Poppen's vision of snow drifts as waves collided, and the idea for the snurfer was born. Nancy coined "snurf" by combining the words snow and surf. Neighborhood children soon began asking for snurfers of their own. Poppen decided to patent his creation (US Patent #: 3,378,274 --Surf-Type Snow Ski) and trademarked the words snurf and snurfer (US Trademark #: 1,518,101). It was also patented in Canada (Patent #: 819,596). In 1966, he licensed the product to the Brunswick Corporation and worked with them to create a board from the laminated wood used for bowling alley gutters. Brunswick manufactured the snurfer and sold it as a novelty item, not sports equipment, and it gained popularity. From 1968 through the late 1970s, snurfer racing competitions were held in Muskegon at Blockhouse Hill. In 1972, Brunswick discontinued production of the snurfer, but JEM Corporation continued manufacture until the early 1980s. By 1977, Jake Burton Carpenter, an avid competitive snurfer, began developing an improved model without a rope handle and with the addition of rigid bindings for ski boots to the board. As more resorts began allowing snowboards on their ski lifts, the popularity of the snurfer waned.
Poppen took up snowboarding at the age of 67. He received recognition from the snowboarding community as the grandfather of the sport and was inducted into the Snowboarding Hall of Fame in Banff, Canada in 1995 and the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
The Division of Culture and the Arts holds artifacts related to this collection. See accession #: 2009.0092.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Sherman Poppen on June 22, 2009.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 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.
(Correspondents include Frantz Jourdain, Fr. Linley Sanbourne, and Cowan family members)
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and not served to researchers.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
John White Alexander papers, 1775-1968, bulk 1870-1915. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Helen C. Rountree is emeritus professor of anthropology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied the history of the Virginia Tribes from the 17th century to the 21st century and is considered a leading expert on Pocahontas. The Helen C. Rountree papers include field notes, correspondence, and sound recordings relating to her field work among the Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Nansemond, Rappahannock, Chickahominy, Monacan, as well as the area around Nottoway Reservation and Gingaskin Reservation.
Scope and Contents:
The Helen C Rountree papers contain correspondence, field notes, and sound recordings relating to her field work primarily among Virginian tribes including the Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Nansemond, Rappahannock, Chickahominy, Monacan, as well as the area around Nottoway Reservation and Gingaskin Reservation. Correspondents include Robert Y. Barham, Christian F. Feest, Samuel Proctor, C.G. Holland, Frank Porter, Marshall Becker, and Nancy Oestreich Lurie.
The sound recordings relate to Rountree's fieldwork and contain recordings of the Chickahominy Fall Festivals, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1981-1986 and a Chickahominy tribal meeting 1987; Nansemond Tribe Spring Festival, 1984, and Homecoming, 1988. Also included are recordings among the Pamumkey; Mattaponi; Shoshoni; Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada; meetings; public events, and some lectures by Helen Rountree and others. There is one unidentified sound cassette.
Arrangement:
The collection contains: Correspondence, 1969-1985; Field notes, 1969-1988; Cook Books, 1981, 1983; Audio Ephemera, undated; Sound Recordings, 1969-1990.
Biographical note:
Helen C. Rountree earned an A.B. in Sociology & Anthropology from the College of William and Mary, an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Utah, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She joined the faculty of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia as an Instructor in 1968 and retired as a full Professor in 1999. Dr. Rountree worked initially with the Shoshone in Nevada, then began research on the Algonquian-speaking Native Americans of eastern Virginia, becoming an honorary member of the Nansemond and Upper Mattaponi tribes in Virginia. She is acknowledged as a leading researcher and writer on Virginia Indians from the 17th century to the present and is considered an expert on Pocahontas.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Helen C. Rountree in 2005.
Restrictions:
Materials related to interview notes are restricted until June 2025.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Naúl Ojeda papers, circa 1960-2004, circa 2013. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing and digitization of this collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Additional funding for the digitization of the papers was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Collection Citation:
Ed Clark papers, 1923-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight papers, 1816, 1914-2008, bulk 1973-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the 2007 processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the 2018 processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
