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 1968 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 4 series.
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Crafts
Series 3: Performances
Series 4: Texas
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 1968 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
After the 1967 Festival proved to be a great success, the Smithsonian decided that the Festival of American Folklife would become an annual event. The 1968 Festival took place July 3-7 on the National Mall, between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the Museum of History and Technology and the Museum of Natural History (see site map). It followed the same approach that had proven effective in 1967, but innovated by also including a program focused on a single State, Texas.
As in 1967, the Festival was organized by the Division of Performing Arts, James R. Morris, Director, and directed by Festival Director Ralph C. Rinzler.
The 1968 Program Book included information to complement each of the programs, ranging from discussions of the definitions of folklore and folklife to the relations between folklife and cultural history. Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, in his introduction to the booklet, noted that:
The Festival of American Folklife offers the Smithsonian Institution an opportunity to show through demonstration and performance some aspects of the cultural roots of the people of the United States. The Festival is a living exhibition of the creativity of the many ethnic groups that make up the culture of this country.
After the 1967 Festival proved to be a great success, the Smithsonian decided that the Festival of American Folklife would become an annual event. The 1968 Festival took place July 3-7 on the National Mall, between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the Museum of History and Technology and the Museum of Natural History (see site map). It followed the same approach that had proven effective in 1967, but innovated by also including a program focused on a single State, Texas.
As in 1967, the Festival was organized by the Division of Performing Arts, James R. Morris, Director, and directed by Festival Director Ralph C. Rinzler.
Crafts
Performances
Texas
The 1968 Program Book included information to complement each of the programs, ranging from discussions of the definitions of folklore and folklife to the relations between folklife and cultural history. Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, in his introduction to the booklet, noted that:
The Festival of American Folklife offers the Smithsonian Institution an opportunity to show through demonstration and performance some aspects of the cultural roots of the people of the United States. The Festival is a living exhibition of the creativity of the many ethnic groups that make up the culture of this country.
Festival speakers and consultants:
Bruce Jackson, 1936-, New York
Guthrie (Gus) Meade, 1932-1991, Washington D.C.
Mack McCormick, Texas
Robert Messinger, New York
Sandy Paton, Connecticut
Caroline Paton, Connecticut
Jean Ritchie, New York
Mike Seeger, 1933-2009, Washington, D.C.
Dick Waterman, Massachusetts
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.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1968 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 collection is the result of research conducted by Dr. Alixa Naff (1920-2013) relating to the study of the early Arab immigrant experience in the United States from about 1880-World War II. The study began with oral history interviews in 1962 and became a major project in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It documents the assimilation of Arabic speaking immigrants in the United States.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the immigration and assimilation of mostly Christian Syrian-Lebanese who came to America at the turn of the twentieth century. The immigrants were predominately-small land-owning peasants and artisans from the village of Syria and Lebanon. According to Alixa Naff, immigrants knew exactly where they were going to live and what they were going to do once they immigrated to America. They mostly chose to live in cities where earlier immigrants had already created communities. The majority of the immigrants became peddlers. Peddlers carried packs containing scissors, razors, pins, buttons, ribbons, threads, needles, combs, mirrors, soap, voile and muslin, lace and crotchet crafts, perfume, scarves, picture frames, oriental rugs, fine linens, leather goods, pictures of saints, religious notions from the holy land, confections and cakes. Peddling offered the immigrants a source of income and a way to learn the English language, American customs and lifestyles. It often led to ownership of a small dry goods store. More successful businesspersons then went on to own a department store or a chain of stores. For those Syrian/Lebanese who chose not to pursue peddling as a source of income other occupations included farming, work in New England textile mills, Midwestern factories, Pittsburgh and Birmingham steel mills and Detroit's automobile assembly lines.
It was in these Syrian communities created by Arab immigrants that Dr. Naff sought interviews, photographs and personal papers. For Alixa Naff this pioneering generation of people offered a wealth of information on the immigrant experience and the critical role that peddling played. Naff conducted interviews in urban and small town communities with an emphasis on Midwestern states. Her informants included first and second generation Christians, Druze and Muslims. Locations of interviews included Detroit, Michigan because it was an industrial city with a large and stable Syrian population of all faiths. Cedar Rapids, Iowa was smaller, a railroad depot at the turn of the century and home to the earliest Muslim groups. Peoria, Illinois was also a small, railroad depot at the turn of the century and it consisted predominately of the Maronite Sect originally from one village in Mount Lebanon. Spring Valley, Illinois was a small mining town with a Christian community and the remnant of a once flourishing peddling settlement. Their Eastern Rite Syrian Orthodox Church was the only one in Illinois until 1961 and served smaller Syrian groups.
Oral history interviews deal with the sociological factors of the assimilation process. Most tapes have been fully transcribed or abstracted. Information from the interviews are supported with published articles; demographic statistics; articles from the Arab-American press, books, journals and dissertations published in the United States or in Arab countries. Personal papers collected from individuals and families provide evidence of the experiences discussed in the interviews and add a personal touch to the reference materials. While there are a number of original items included among the personal papers, there is a substantial amount of duplicate materials. Naff would often collect the originals make copies and then return the originals to the donors.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into the eight series created by Alixa Naff.
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1891-2002, undated
Series 2, Photographs, 1890-1996, undated
Series 3, Oral interviews, Abstracts, Transcripts and Supporting Materials, 1962-1995, undated
Series 4, Publications, 1862-2000, undated
Series 5, Subject Files, 1888-2000
Series 6, Project Files, 1977-1995
Series 7, Alixa Naff Personal Papers, 1943-1996, undated
Series 8, Audio Visual Materials, 1908-1994, undated
Biographical / Historical:
The Faris and Yamna Naff Collection is the result of the dedication and research efforts of Dr. Alixa Naff, the daughter of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants. She spent most of her life documenting the early American experience of the generation of Arabs, mostly Christian, from Syria/Lebanon who came to this country around the turn of the century.
After an administrative career in private industry, Alixa Naff enrolled at the University of California to obtain her B.A. degree. During her senior year, she was required to write a paper for an American history seminar. The topic for the seminar was immigration. Alixa Naff chose Arabs in America as her subject. According to Naff, there was a lack of reference materials relating to her topic. Therefore, she relied mostly on conversations with her parents' friends. Impressed by her work, Alixa Naff's professor offered her a grant to collect Arab folklore.
Alixa Naff conducted her research during the summer of 1962. She interviewed eighty-seven people in sixteen communities across the United States and eastern Canada. All of her informants were at least sixty years old at the time of the interviews and represented the last surviving members of her parents' pioneer immigrant generation. After completing her fieldwork, Naff went on to earn her master's and Ph.D. degrees. She taught on the college level at California State University and the University of Colorado. In 1977, she left teaching citing anti-Arab feelings as the reason for her shift in career paths. Her desire to counter the anti-Arab stereotyping with accurate sources of information created yet another opportunity for her to pursue more research about Arab Americans.
Later in 1977, Alixa Naff served as a consultant on a documentary film relating to Arabs in America. She again realized existed on the subject of the Arab immigrant experience in America. Moreover, much of what she found conflicted with what pioneer informants had told her. Naff was also painfully aware that family members of decreased Arab immigrants often discarded the early artifacts, personal papers, photographs and books brought to America. Shortly after, she began working on a study on the history of Arab immigrants. In 1979, Alixa Naff met Gino Baroni, then undersecretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and founder of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs. His center helped her secure funding for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities and provided an office for her to work. The result of this work was a book entitled Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience published in 1985. Richard Ahlborn, then curator of the Smithsonian's Community Life Division (now its Department of Cultural Affairs), convinced Naff to donate the collection to the Smithsonian in honor of her parents, Faris and Yamna Naff, and their generation of Arabs who immigrated to America.
Alixa Naff died on June 1, 2013 at the age of 93.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
The Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life)holds artifacts related to this collection including. See Accession #: 2007.3245.
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 2011-02, Alixa Naff photographs of Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean and audio tapes on Mediterranean folklore, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
The collection is the result of research conducted by Dr. Alixa Naff relating to the study of the early Arab immigrant experience in the United States from about 1880-World War II. The study began with oral history interviews in 1962 and became a major project in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Researchers must use microfilm copies. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Viewing film portions of collection require special appointment; please inquire with a reference archivist. Do not use when original materials are available on reference video or audio tapes.
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.
Topic:
Associations, institutions -- voluntarism Search this
3555 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 35 mm)
4 Notebooks ((1 box))
1 Cassette tape ((2 boxes))
25 Film reels (Super 8)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Contact sheets
Negatives (photographic)
Notebooks
Cassette tapes
Film reels
Place:
Nigeria
Nigeria -- Osun State -- Ilesha
Nigeria -- Kaduna -- Zaria
Lagos (Nigeria)
Benin (Nigeria)
Nigeria -- Federal Capital Territory -- Abuja
Nigeria -- Plateau -- Jos Plateau (Bauchi Plateau)
Oshogbo (Nigeria)
Kumasi (Ghana)
Cape Coast (Ghana)
Niamey (Niger)
Abomey (Benin)
Benin -- Atlantique -- Ouidah
Nigeria -- Benue State
Bida (Nigeria)
Kano (Nigeria)
Date:
1971-2003
Summary:
Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003 and was created primarily in Nigeria but with some images from Ghana (Kumase, Cape Coast), Niger (Niamey), and the Benin Republic (Road to Abomey, near Ouidah). Much of the collection documents masquerades, shrines, festivals, market scenes, and ceremonies in the then Bendel State (now Edo and Delta States), and includes images from Etsako (specifically, Auchi, Avianwu, Ekperi, North Ibie/Ivie, South Ibie/Ivie) Okpella, Okhu, and Weppa-Wano peoples), Akoko Edo (Urhurhun Uneme, Igarra), and Owan (Otuo and Ikao peoples), as well as some images from Ishan (Ekpoma-Illeh, Ubiaja, Ugboha), Urhobo (Ughelli, Ohoro, Okpedomu, Emadaja) and Benin City as well as other parts of Nigeria including the then Western State (Oshogbo, Ibadan, Oyo, Ilesha), Benue Plateau State (Oturkpo-Makurdi Road, Tiv country, Jos), Northeastern State (Yankari Game Preserve, Gombe, Tula, Yola), Northwest Stateb (Bida), East Central State (Owerri), and Kano.
Scope and Contents:
Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003-4 and is comprised of 3,617 slides, 3,625 negatives, 4 negative books, contact prints, an audio cassette, 25 Super 8 film reels, and 23,425 digital images. The 1971-2004 collection includes photographs made between 1971-1974, 1979, and (mostly born digital) 2002-2004.
The materials from 1971-1974 include research-oriented images taken at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, as well as field photographs in Edo North. Initially a survey of material culture was carried out in Etsako Local Government Area of the then Bendel, now Edo, State. This included visiting some 43 villages across 9 ethnic groups (Auchi, Avianwu, Ekperi, North Ibie/Ivie, South Ibie/Ivie, Okpella/Ukpila, Okhu, Uzairue, Weppa-Wano [Uwepa-Uwao], and Uneme/Ineme in Akoko-Edo LGA) as well as Otuo and Ikao in Owan LGA. The Etsako communities included Auchi, Avianwu's Afashio, Fugar, and Iraokhor; Ekperi's Azukhala, Okpenada, Osomegbe, Ugbekpe, Udaba Weppa-Wano's Agenebode, Aigyere, Amugbe, and Edegbe; North Ibie included Itsukwi and Okpekpe; South Ibie; Eastern Okpella made up of Afokpella including numerous quarters (Iyeluwa, Imiomoka, Imiamune, Kalaba, Imigbai, Imioko), Ogiriga, and Iddo I (old Iddo) and Iddo II (new Iddo); and western Okpella made up of Awuyemi, Imiegiele, Ogute, Imiaguese, Imiekuri, Ilewi, Ithurogbe, Ogute, and the affiliated Okhu I and Okhu II; Weppa Wano's Agenebode, Aigyere, Amugbe, Edegbe, Iviabua, Iviukhua, Emokhueme, and Iviukhwe; and Uzairue's Ogbido, Iluoke, Afowa, Ayogiri, Apana, Ikabigbo, Iyora, and Jattu.
ShapeMuch of the collection depicts festivals, masquerades, and ceremonies, including Okpella's Olimi Festival, Ekperi's Otsa Festival, Weppa Wano's Ake festival, the Aimhi or Okakagbe masquerade, Otuo and Ikao's Igugu or Eliminia Festival, a Gelede masquerade performance, Okpella's Aminague masquerade, and many individually named masquerades in Edo North. There are also images of title-taking ceremonies, paraphernalia, and shrines, including the Okpella men's Atsogwa title ceremony Oghalo and a comparable one for an Ogbidegua, a titled woman; Avianwu's Aziza, Ekperi's Okailopokai shrine, the Yoruba Oshun shrine at Oshogbo, and Okpella's Okula, a forest shrine associated with Olimi Festival. The most intensive photography is associated with Okpella, Ekperi, Weppa-Wano, Otuo and Ikao masquerades.
The 1979 photographs comprise portraits of individuals responding to a survey on Aesthetic Preference carried out in the Eastern Okpella communities of Ogiriga, Afokpella (Iyeluwa, Kalaba, Imioko, Imiomoka, Imiamune, Imigbai). Iddo I and II, and in Western Okpella the communities of Imiakiu, Imiokewa, Imiedemi, Imiomoh, Udiegwa, Okhu Afokha, Okhu Owu, Imienegwe, and Imiekuri. Olimi Festival research was conducted in Afokpella, Ogiriga, Iddo II, and Ogute.
The 2002-2004 digital images were taken during a panel study based on 1979 Survey on Aesthetic Preference. Portraits of respondents from the communities of Ogiriga, Afokpella, Iyeluwa, Imigbai, Imiamune, Kalaba, Ogute Oke, Imiakiu, Imikhese, Imionoh, Imiokewa, Udiegwa, Imiediemi, Imiagbese, Imiekuri, Awuyemi, Imiegiele, Iddo I, and Iddo II.
Arrangement:
Arranged into 4 series by format. Series 1, 2 and 4 are arranged chronologically and Series 3 is arranged alphabetically.
Series 1: Field Slides, 1971-2003
Series 2: Negatives, 1971-circa 1979
Series 3: Audio and Film Reels, circa 1970s-1982
Series 4: Digital Files, circa 1971-2015
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian and photographer Jean Borgatti's research focuses on cross cultural concepts of art and aesthetics, masquerades and festivals, portraiture, the Black Atlantic, and the continuities and discontinuities in African, African Diaspora, Oceanic and Native American art. An active photographer since at least 1971, she has worked primarily in Benin City, Nigeria and areas in northern Edo State, photographing the Okpella people and other Edo North groups.
Borgatti received her B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College (1966) and both her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Art History from UCLA. Since then, she has received fellowships, grants, and awards for research including a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities (1979-1980), a Sainsbury Institute Fellowship at the University of East Anglia (2005), and two Fulbright fellowships (2002-2004, 2014-2016) for lecturing and conducting research in Nigeria. She was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (2014) for her contributions to the field. She taught African and Native American Art History at Clark University for twenty years and has continued her affiliation with Clark as a visiting scholar and research fellow. Additionally, Borgatti has been a visiting scholar of art history and African studies at Boston University (2010-2016).
Borgatti has curated a number of exhibitions, including From the Hands of Lawrence Ajanaku (Museum of Cultural History Gallery UCLA and the African American Institute New York, 1979); Likeness and Beyond: Portraits in Africa and the World (with Richard Brilliant and Alan Wardwell), Center for African Art, New York, and the Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, 1990); Global Africa: Creativity, Continuity and Change in African Art, 2014-2017, and several museum shows in which African works were placed "in conversation" or "face to face" with works from Asia, Europe, and America throughout the Fitchburg Art Museum (2011-2012). Borgatti has published more than twenty articles on African art with such varied topics as masquerades in Edo North (Nigeria), portraiture in world art, the art market, and individual African artists.
Dr. Borgatti is a consulting curator on African and Oceanic Art at the Fitchburg Art Museum (Massachusetts, 2010-present) and a Professor of Art History, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin (Nigeria, 2013-2017).
Provenance:
Donated by Jean Borgatti in 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.
Kaslov, Steve, ca. 1888-1949 (King of the Red Bandanna Romany Gypsies ) Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet (4 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Oral history
Interviews
Audio cassettes
Place:
Virgin Islands -- 1930-1940
New York (N.Y.) -- 1930-1940
Bowery (New York, N.Y.) -- 1930-1940
Chinatown (New York, N.Y.) -- 1930-1940
St. Thomas (Virgin Islands) -- 1930-1940
Date:
1985 - 1986
1930 - 1943
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 273 silver gelatin photoprints (Series 1), most of which apparently were made during the 1930s and early 1940s, contemporaneously with the original negatives. All are 8" x 10" or slightly smaller, unmounted except for flush mounted linen on the backs of some prints. The photographs were made primarily in two locations, New York City and the Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands pictures were made as part of a special documentary project in 1939, as described above, whereas the New York photographs stem from Mr. Alland's largely self assigned documentation of various ethnic and religious groups in New York from approximately 1932 to 1943. The projects include photographs of the "Red Bandanna" Romany Gypsy group in the Bowery, a black Jewish congregation, Mohawk Indians in Brooklyn, and other groups, which required extensive exploration, research, and photographing over periods of many days or weeks. A variety of miscellaneous ethnic and religious groups are covered in the general "Other Religions" and "Nationalities" folders. The contents of the "Judaism" folder include primarily New York sites and people, but there are also additional views of a synagogue from the Virgin Islands project.
Series 2 of the collection contains four cassette tape recordings of two interviews with Mr. Alland, three made by Richard Ahlborn (with Eugene Ostroff and Matt Salo) in 1985, and one by David Haberstich and Richard Ahlborn, June 2-3, 1986 (at which time the photographs were donated). The tapes include readings from his autobiography, personal reminiscences on his experiences as an immigrant and a photographer, and commentary on the photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1: Photoprints, 1930-1943
Series 2: Audiotape Cassettes, 1985-1986
The photographs are arranged topically and by nationality.
Biographical / Historical:
Alexander Alland, Sr., was born in Sevastopol, Crimea (formerly in the Soviet Union) on 6 August 1902. His last name originally was Landschaft, but he legally changed it to Alland following the birth of his son. Alland's interest in photography began at the age of twelve, when he helped a local photographer with darkroom work. He constructed his own camera from cardboard with a simple meniscus lens and exposed glass plate negatives with the device.
Toward the end of the Civil War in Russia in 1920, Alland relocated in Constantinople, Turkey, where he was hired as an apprentice by a graduate of the Vienna Academy of Photography. When the Union Nationale des Combatants Francais went on a pilgrimage to Gallipoli, a former battle zone on the Dardanelles, he was asked to accompany them in order to document events. After having his request for a pay increase refused, he left his employer two years later and opened his own portrait studio, "Photo d'Art Russe." When civil unrest threatened Constantinople in 1923, he decided to emigrate to the United States.
During his first years in the United States he worked in photo finishing businesses while engaged in home portraiture independently. He married in 1929 and a son, Alexander, Jr., was born. In the 1930s he became one of the best known photographers portraying the life of immigrants and various ethnic groups in New York. (1) In 1936 he was appointed supervisor of the Photo Mural section of the W.P.A. Federal Art Project, and worked as a free lance photographer for magazines and periodicals featuring the activities of various ethnic groups living in New York City. He specialized in making photomurals with montage techniques. (2)
In 1937 Alland became photography instructor at the American Artists' School and joined the American Artists Congress. In 1939, his first book, Portrait of New York, was published and he became president of the "Exploration Photo Syndicate" and went to the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of a project to produce a pictorial record of the West Indian Islands. His photographs appeared in publications and were exhibited at the New School for Social Research and at the Schomberg Collection. In 1942 he joined the staff of Common Ground magazine as photography editor and was appointed by the National Youth Administration to supervise their photography workshop. His book American Counterpoint appeared in 1943 and was selected as "One of the Fifty Best Books of the Year." The original prints from that book were exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York, which also exhibited a portfolio of his work on American Gypsies. In 1944 he became director of an agency, "Pictures for Democracy," and in 1945 his book The Springfield Plan was proclaimed another "One of the Fifty Best Books of the Year."
During World War II Alland did technical photography for the War Department, receiving a commendation for this work. After another book My Dog Rinty was published, he left New York City to establish a school of photography, combined with a school of dance directed by his wife, Alexandra, a professional dancer and choreographer. (3) He then began to exhibit his own photographs and to collect glass plate negatives and vintage prints by significant photographers. He is perhaps best known for locating a collection of Jacob Riis negatives and making them available. In 1974 Aperture published his biography, Jacob A. Riis: Photographer and Citizen4. Because of his efforts in providing the Riis negatives to the Museum of the City of New York, that institution awarded a special commemorative medal to him in 1973. The Riis book was followed by two more studies of photographers, Jessie Tarbox Beals, First Woman News Photographer (5) and Heinrich Tonnies, Cartes de Visite Photographer Extraordinaire. (6)
Retrospective exhibitions of Alland's work were held in two major Danish museums in summer 1979 and he was honored for contributions to the cultural history of Denmark. In 1991 studies for his photomural work were included in an historical survey exhibition of American photomontage at the University of Maryland at College Park. (7).
Sources
1. My text is based upon the biographical information recorded on my taped interviews with Mr. Alland in this collection, but see also Bonnie Yochelson, The Committed Eye: Alexander Alland's Photography. New York: The Museum of the City of New York, Inc., 1991.
2. Merry A. Foresta, "Art and Document: Photography of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project," in Official Images: New Deal Photography (essays by Foresta, Pete Daniel, Maren Stange, and Sally Stein), Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987, p. 153, based on an interview with Alland, January 1987.
3. Photographic historian Anne Peterson, contractor for three Archives Center photographic collection projects between 1986 and 1982, reports that she studied ballet as a child with Mrs. Alland.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid
7. See catalog by Cynthia Wayne, Dreams, Lies, and Exaggeration: Photomontage in America. The Art Gallery, University of Maryland at College Park, 1991 (exhibition at the gallery Oct. 21 Dec. 20, 1991).
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Carlos de Wendler Funaro Gypsy Research Collection (AC0161)
Contains additional Alland photographs. De Wendler Funaro also photographed Steve Kaslov, his family, and his Bowery coppersmith workshop.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Alexander Alland, June 3, 1986.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Copyrighted material: photographs may not be reproduced without written permission from the Estate of Alexander Alland, Sr.
Topic:
Synagogues -- Photographs -- 1930-1940 -- New York, N.Y. Search this
Newspapers -- Photographs -- 1930-1940 -- New York N.Y. Search this
Muslims -- Photographs -- 1930-1940 -- New York N.Y. Search this
Minorities -- Housing -- 1930-1940 -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Minorities -- Housing -- 1930-1940 -- Virgin Islands Search this
World fairs and the global moulding of national identities international exhibitions as cultural platforms, 1851-1958 edited by Joep Leerssen, Eric Storm
Editor:
Leerssen, Joseph Th (Joseph Theodoor) 1955- Search this
