Patterson, Frederick D. (Frederick Douglass), 1901-1988 Search this
Patterson, Wilhelmina Bessie, 1888-1962 Search this
Extent:
6 Linear feet (9 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Programs
Clippings
Correspondence
Ephemera
Postcards
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
1866 - 1990.
Summary:
The Dale-Patterson family papers, which date from 1866 to 2010 and measure 6 linear feet, document the personal and professional lives of the Dale-Patterson family who came to live in Hillsdale, Anacostia, area of Washington, D.C., in 1892.
Scope and Contents note:
The Dale-Patterson family papers, which date from 1866 to 1990 and measure 6 linear feet, document the personal and professional lives of the Dale-Patterson family who came to live in Hillsdale, Anacostia, area of Washington, D.C., in 1892. The collection is comprised of correspondence, photographs, clippings, and ephemera.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged in four series:
Series 1: Dale-Patterson Family papers
Series 2: Charles Qualls papers
Series 3: Community Organizations
Series 4: Subject Files
Biographical/Historical note:
The Dale family came to Washington, DC in 1886 when John Henry Dale, Sr., a gifted self-taught man, obtained a position as clerk in the newly contracted Pension Bureau building at 5th and G Streets, NW. First they lived near 13th Street and Florida Avenue, NW, then moved to Howard Road in Anacostia. Dale built a house at 2619 Nichols Avenue, now Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, drawing the plans and supervising the construction. The Dales and only one other family lived in this solidly built house for 100 years before it was sold to a church group and demolished.
General Note:
Finding Aid Note: This finding aid is associated with a MARC collection-level record.361883
Provenance:
The Dale-Patterson Family collection was donated to the Anacostia Community Museum on April 07, 2013.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Rights:
The Dale-Patterson Family collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
This collection includes the original documentary film "Guahiboland: Indian Life in the Orinoco Plains of Colombia," produced and directed by Felix V. DiGiovanni in 1941. Also included are 100 photographic prints, shot by DiGiovanni and his cameraman Paul Beer, that document the daily life of Guahibo community members in the Vichada and Orinoco regions of Colombia between 1935-1941. Other indigenous communities photographed include the Piapoco (Piapoko), Baniwa, and Tukano (Tucano).
Scope and Contents:
Series 1: "Guahiboland: Indian Life in the Orinoco Plains of Colombia" film, 1941, includes the original 16mm film produced and directed by Felix V. DiGiovanni. Paul Beer served as the cameraman. The original film (approximately 1200 feet) came in two parts, a metal can with black and white film and a small, metal can with Kodachrome film. The NMAI film and video center made several viewing copies on VHS tapes. There are also three video recordings on U-Matic tapes which include the original black and white, original color, a first generation copy and a second generation copy.
Series 2: Photographs from the Colombian Plains, 1935-1941, includes 100 mounted black and white photographic prints (13 ½ x 10 ½) made by Felix DiGiovanni and Paul Beer. The majority of the photographs were shot during the making of DiGiovanni's documentary film and highlight the daily life and activities of Guahibo community members in the Orinoco and Vichada regions of Colombia. A smaller amount of photographs include other indigenous communities in the region including the Piapoco (Piapoko), Baniwa, and Tukano (Tucano). The captions and descriptions of the photographs were provided by the DiGiovanni family in 1992.
Catalog numbers: P25101-P25200.
Series 3: The Call of the Curassow and the Land of the Guahibo Indians, includes a copy of the manuscript written by Felix V.D. Giovanni and published posthumously by his wife Pauline in 1994. This was formerly in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records in Box 422, Folder 13.
Arrangement:
Arranged into series by format, the photographs are arranged by catalog number.
Biographical / Historical:
Felix V. DiGiovanni (ca. 1913-1990) was an American engineer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker. He was raised in the Bronx and graduated with an engineering degree from The City College of New York in 1933. As a young man, he traveled throughout Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, and later became interested in documenting the eastern plains of Colombia, known as Los Llanos, as well as its inhabitants. In the late 1930s, he returned to Colombia to film a documentary on the indigenous people of the Vaupés region.
DiGiovanni's partner in the expedition was Paul Beer. Beer (1904-1979) was a German photographer active in Bogota, Colombia, in the late 1920s.
By 1941, DiGiovanni's documentary film about the Guahibo, "Guahiboland" was completed. In 1944 he returned to Colombia to work with the U.S. Cinchona Mission, which comprised a team of scientists travelling to the Andes region to find cinchona trees, whose bark produces the alkaloid quinine, used for treating malaria.
DiGiovanni met Tom Bellis during this time. Bellis (1907-1993) was an officer with the Food and Drug Administration. From October 1942 until December 1945, he worked for the Board of Economic Warfare in Bogota, Colombia at the Instituto Nacional de Higiene Samper-Martinez. Here, he directed a laboratory which analyzed cinchona bark. In November 1945, Bellis purchased this set of photographs, along with 28 Guahibo artifacts, from DiGiovanni.
Felix DiGiovanni returned to New York in 1946 and became a mechanical engineer with a major oil company. In 1960, he completed a draft of a manuscript about his experiences with the Guahibo, titled The Call of the Curassow and the Land of the Guahibo Indians. He intended to publish it and also produce a Spanish translation, but he died December 31, 1990, before it could be finished. In 1994, Pauline DiGiovanni, DiGiovanni's widow, published 40 copies of the manuscript in English.
After the expedition with DiGiovanni, Paul Beer's photography focused primarily on architectural and industrial themes. He lived in Bogota until his death in 1979.
The National Anthropological Archives (NAA) holds a collection of Felix DiGiovanni and Paul Beer photographs of the Guahibo and other indigenous tribes of eastern Colombia, Photo lot 1995-41.
https://sova.si.edu/record/NAA.PhotoLot.1995-41
Separated Materials:
A collection of Guahibo ethnographic materials were also donated to the National Museum of the American Indian object collections with catalog numbers 25/4002-25/4047. See the Smithsonian Collections Search Center.
Provenance:
Gift of Felix V. and Pauline G. DiGiovanni, 1992.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Rights retrictions apply. Contact the NMAI Archives center (nmaiphotos@si.edu) for more information.
Genre/Form:
Documentary films
Photographic prints
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Felix V. DiGiovanni collection from Colombia, image #, NMAI.AC.300, National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
The Henry P. Whitehead collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
Collection Citation:
Henry P. Whitehead collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Michael A. Watkins.
