This collection is open for research. Access to 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:
Mel Casas papers, 1963-1998. 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.
(letter to Dr. Guy Bensusan, Associate Professor, University of Arizona, 07/22/1972; Con Safo organizational information: list of needs, meeting notes, mission statement - Brown Paper Report; "General Comments" [by Felipe Reyes?]; clippings; exhibition announcements; catalogs; photographs of Con Safo members; material for TYF's course on Chicano Culture)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
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:
Tomás Ybarra-Frausto research material, 1965-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of California painter, printmaker, and art instructor Dorr Bothwell date from 1900-2006, and measure 10.6 linear feet and 1.72 GB. Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes and writings, five diaries, art work and 19 sketchbooks, three scrapbooks, printed material, and print and digital photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of California painter, printmaker, and art instructor Dorr Bothwell date from 1900-2006, and measure 10.6 linear feet and 1.72 GB. Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, notes and writings, five diaries, art work and 19 sketchbooks, three scrapbooks, printed material, and print and digital photographs.
Biographical material consists of biographical sketches, resumés, identity cards, award certificates, typescripts of autobiographical interviews, address books, and a file concerning UFOs, spirituality, and philosophy.
Correspondence consists of letters exchanged between Bothwell and her colleagues and friends discussing their art-related activities, travel, and birthday greetings. There are scattered letters from Ansel and Virginia Adams, Etel Adnan, Benjamin Chinn, Claire Falkenstein, and Emmy Lou Packard.
Personal business records include teaching contracts, contracts and royalty statements for the publication of Bothwell's book Notan, insurance records, income tax records, records concerning a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, estate records, card files, lists of art work, price lists, exhibition entry cards, receipts for the sale of art work, travel receipts, medical receipts, and consignment/sales records.
Notes and writings include three diaries, two travel journals, guest books, miscellaneous lists, schedules of classes for various organizations and art schools including the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, typescripts of lecture notes, and miscellaneous notes. There are also scattered writings by Bothwell and others.
Seventeen sketchbooks, including several completed during Bothwell's travels, and one dated 1942 illustrated with daily drawings of her activities while preparing for World War II, are found within the papers. There are also miscellaneous drawings, collages, a serigraph It's Time for a Change, an etching by Martha Jackson, and a drawing by Charles Howard.
Three scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, programs, and photographs of art work. Scrapbook 3 contains materials concerning spiritualism and mysticism. Additional printed material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, press releases, brochures for art classes, the sale of art work, travel, and camera equipment, reproductions of art work, picture postcards, programs, books, and miscellaneous commercial business cards.
Photographs are of Bothwell, her mother and brother, her studio/residences, miscellaneous friends and colleagues including her former husband, sculptor Donal Hord, miscellaneous events, and art classes conducted by Bothwell. There are also photographs of art work by Bothwell and others, as well as numerous photographs and slides of travel various forms in nature that Bothwell would incorporate into her art work.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1939-2001 (Box 1, 11, 13, 15; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1942-2002 (Box 1-3, 13; 2.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1925-2006 (Box 3-4; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Notes and Writings, 1949-1998 (Box 4, 11, 14, 15; 0.8 linear feet.)
Series 5: Art Work, 1920-1994 (Box 4-5, 11, 13, 16, 17; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1926-1979 (Box 5, 11, 12; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1923-2000 (Box 5-7, 12, 13; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1900-2001 (Box 7-9, 10; 2.4 linear feet, ER01-ER04; 1.72 GB)
Biographical Note:
Dorr Bothwell (1902-2000) worked primarily in California as a painter, printmaker, and art instructor.
Doris Bothwell was born on May 3, 1902 in San Francisco, and later changed her first name to Dorr in order to more easily enter the art business. Bothwell began her art studies in 1916 with her parents' friend Anna Valentien, a student of Rodin. Between 1921 and 1922, she studied at the California School of Fine Art, and continued her studies at the University of Oregon at Eugene. After attending the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in 1924, she established her own studio in San Francisco from 1924 to 1927. Also during this time Bothwell, with eight other artists opened the Modern Gallery on Montgomery Street, mounting her first solo exhibition there in 1927.
Between 1928 and 1929, Bothwell traveled to American Samoa, where she created paintings and drawings, and documented tapa (barkcloth) drawings for the Bishop Museum of Honolulu. She then spent a year of study in Europe, returning to San Diego, California in 1931 and marrying sculptor Donal Hord. Four years later, they divorced and she moved to Los Angeles where she worked for the pottery manufacturer Gladding McBean, joined the post-surrealist group around Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg and opened the Bothwell-Cooke Gallery.
Between 1936 and 1939, Bothwell worked in the mural division of the Federal Arts Project of Los Angeles, and learned the art of serigraph printing. She designed dioramas and mechanized exhibitions for the Los Angeles County Museum. In 1940 she also created murals in the Manning Coffee Restaurant in San Francisco.
After teaching color and design at the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco from 1944 to 1948, Bothwell was awarded the Abraham Rosenberg Traveling Scholarship that financed study in Paris from 1949 to the fall of 1951. In 1952 she taught textile design for mass production at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Returning to San Francisco, Bothwell taught again at the California School of Fine Art from 1953 to 1958, and at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1959 to 1960. From 1960 to 1961 she took a sabbatical in England and France, creating paintings for an exhibition. In 1962 she was asked to teach at the new Mendocino Art Center and she taught there until 1983. She was also asked by Ansel Adams to teach design and composition for photographers at his Yosemite Workshop summer sessions, which she did from 1964 to 1977.
From 1966 to 1967, Bothwell documented indigo dying techniques, strip weaving, and pottery in Western Nigeria and Tunisia. In 1968, she published her book, co-authored with Marlys Frey, NOTAN The Principle of Dark-Light Design. The book was reissued in 1991. Bothwell continued her travels from 1970 to 1971, when she studied 12th century enamels in England, France, and Holland, and conducted a symposium, "Notan Design," for the London Educational Authority. In 1974, she traveled to Bali, Java, and Sumatra, making a slide documentary on batik, woodcarving, and folk design.
In 1977 Bothwell moved to Joshua Tree, California, from Mendocino in Northern California, but moved back and forth between the two studio/residences until 1992 when she moved to her last residence on the desert at Apache Junction, Arizona. From 1979 to 1980, she taught composition at the Victor School of Photography in Colorado and a design course at the Women's Art Guild in Kauai, Hawaii. Following a tour of China with a watercolor artists' group in 1982, Bothwell conducted workshops at the Mendocino Art Center. In 1985, she traveled to Japan.
Dorr Bothwell died on September 24, 2000 in Fort Bragg, California.
Provenance:
The Dorr Bothwell papers were donated in 1978 by the artist, and in 2002, 2009, and 2012 by the Dorr Bothwell Trust.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access 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.
This collection is open for research. Access to 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:
Mel Casas papers, 1963-1998. 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.
REEL LA 2: A clipping, August 28, 1955, about Lewis; a book, Murals by American Painters and Photographers, Museum of Modern Art, 1932; a catalog, "The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art", vol. 4, July 1937; a newsletter, "Conferences on Inter-American Relations in the Fields of Art, Music, Education and Publications and Libraries, 1939-1940," March 1940.
UNMICROFILMED: Personal and business letters; Lewis' curriculum vitae; photographs of Lewis' WPA murals projects in New York and New Jersey and a renderings of a design proposal for a New Jersey WPA project; price lists of works; two travel diaries (1930-1931) from a trip to Europe; and a scrapbook, 1928-1947, containing newspaper articles, exhibition catalogs, and announcements.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, muralist, educator; Coronado, Calif. Died 1997. Born in Cardiff, Wales, Lewis studied at the Art Students League in New York and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1930, studying architecture and related art forms. His mural commissions include the Museum of Man Building for the 1939 New York World's Fair and for public schools in New Jersey. He moved to Coronado, Calif. in 1942 and founded the Coronado School of Fine Arts in 1945, serving as its director until 1990. At the time of its founding, it was the only school teaching the art of fresco. The school practiced a stylized method of instruction that was highly individualistic and informal, allowing instructors complete freedom in their teaching procedures.
Provenance:
Printed material on reel LA 2 lent by Monty Lewis, 1965. Unmicrofilmed material donated 1998 by Kathryn Lewis Crane, daughter of Monty Lewis.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
An interview of Arthur and Jean Goodwin Ames conducted 1965 June 9, by Betty Hoag McGlynn, for the Archives of American Art New Deal and the Arts Project. They speak of their participation in WPA projects at Newport Harbor Union High School, the San Diego County Courthouse, the Jon Lindbergh Junior High School, and the California Federal Building and Loan in Los Angeles; mural, mosaic and tapestry techniques and materials; Karl Drerup and the development of enameling in America; and the effect of the federal art programs on contemporary art. They also describe the work of Maxine Albro and Helen and Margaret Bruton.
Biographical / Historical:
Arthur Forbes (1906-1975) and Jean Goodwin Ames (1903-1986) were mural painters, mosaicists, and tapissiers from Claremont, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 12 minutes.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Tapissiers -- California -- Interviews Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Arthur and Jean Goodwin Ames, 1965 June 9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of David Avalos conducted 1988 June 16-July 5, by Margarita Nieto, for the Archives of American Art. Avalos speaks of his childhood, education at the University of California at San Diego; his involvement with the Centro Cultural de la Raza; the socio-political environment that produced the San Diego Chicano Muralist movement (specifically Chicano Park); the formation of the Border art Workshop (BAW/TAF); the collaboration between the Centro and the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art (presently the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art); art activity in San Diego; Chicano activity distinct from Los Angeles; his philosophy on conceptual art; and his art career.
Biographical / Historical:
David Avalos (1947-) is a painter and administrator from San Diego, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 44 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Painters -- California -- San Diego -- Interviews Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with David Avalos, 1988 June 16-July 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- California -- San Diego -- Interviews Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Lowell Houser, 1964 July 31. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.) Search this
Extent:
1 Sound tape reel (Sound recordings, 5 in.)
15 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound tape reels
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1964 June 25
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Monty Lewis conducted 1964 June 25, by Betty Hoag, for the Archives of American Art.
Interview conducted at Coronado School of Fine Arts in San Diego, Calif. Lewis discusses his art training at the Art Students' League in N.Y., his study of mural and easel painting in Europe, and his freelance mural work before his involvement with the Public Works of Art Project. He describes the developing presence of mural art in New York with Diego Rivera's mural at Rockefeller Center and the 1939 New York World's Fair. Lewis tells of the Artists, Painters, and Sculptors Collaborators, a collaborative group interested in developing community art projects, and discusses the use of murals in the 1939 New York World's Fair and the different techniques used for those and other public projects.
Biographical / Historical:
Monty Lewis (1907-1997) was a painter, designer, muralist in New York and California.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 49 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Painters -- California -- San Diego -- Interviews Search this
Muralists -- California -- San Diego -- Interviews Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.) Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Monty Lewis, 1964 June 25. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- California -- San Diego -- Interviews Search this
Muralists -- California -- San Diego -- Interviews Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The first week of the 1975 Regional America program focused on the people of the Northern Plains (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas), particularly on the occupational life-styles related to agriculture and livestock. This is the region that is called the "breadbasket" and the economy of the area is based on grain crops, feed crops, and livestock production. The Smithsonian represented the agriculture of the area by growing on the Festival site wheat (the principal grain crop), alfalfa (a principal feed crop), and some typical plains grasses as well as sorghum and sunflowers. Livestock grazed on the National Mall and were used in demonstrations of herding techniques. Visitors saw varieties of threshing from individual manual techniques to modern mechanical combines. A daily tractor pull contest demonstrated not only the skills of the farmers in operating equipment, but also the pride they take in the power of their own carefully maintained machinery.
Craft presentations included associated occupational and domestic crafts. For example, livestock-related crafts such as those involved with maintenance, auctioneering, leatherworking, blacksmithing, wagon making and repair, and metal working were highlighted, as well as key occupational skills related to livestock include horse handling, sheep shearing, and ropework. Functional but decorative domestic crafts were also demonstrated: piece quilts, braided and rag rugs, corn husk and rag dolls, toys carved from chips, noisemakers, whimmy diddles.
Festival visitors could see and participate in a variety of folk dancing by different ethnic groups who settled in the Plains: Germans, Scandinavians, Ukrainians and Czechs. Northern Plains music is characteristically performed on instruments practiced in isolation such as the fiddle.These are usually played solo, but at the Festival they were also performed in combination.
The character of the California Heartland region (second week of the Festival) is expressed by its flamboyant image, diverse landscape, and - of utmost importance - a 'Mediterranean' climate that makes outdoor living possible. It is also an area rich in ethnic communities, and many of these were featured at the 1975 Festival.
Mexican American muralists from East Los Angeles completed a mural depicting their contribution to the Festival. Paper flower making and piñata making were demonstrated and taught to visitors, as were masa grinding and tortilla and tamale making. Chinese Americans from the San Francisco area performed a shadow puppet play twice daily. Various crafts including kite-making and the construction of paper ribbon fish welcomed audience participation. Three traditional games (an early form of yoyo, shuttlecock and cat's cradle) were demonstrated and taught.
Portuguese American fisherfolk demonstrated boat building as well as net and lure making accompanied by traditional sea chanteys. A highlight of the Portuguese community is the "Festa da Espiritu Santu", a celebration involving a parade of decorated cows, ceremonial milking, a milk and bread feast and a traditional contest between solo singers who improvise verses, enacted on the Festival site from July 2 to 4.
Unique to San Francisco is the tradition of cable car bell ringing. Cable car gripmen announced each session at the main California stage and dance floor, and competed for the bell ringing championship. A Greek father and son demonstrated traditional woven straw beehive construction and discussed bee-keeping and the agricultural use of bees. California Armenians wove rugs and spun wool.
The joys of sociable dancing were shared by square dances, Portuguese chamaritas, Phillippine tinakling and an evening of waltzes. There were also examples of solo singing by Portuguese, Anglo, French, and black singers and group singing by Molokans, Anglos, Chicanos and blacks.
Administrator for the Regional America program was William K. McNeil, with Charles Camp as Research Coordinator; Rayna Green served as Consultant.
Fieldworkers:
Northern Plains Researchers
Metha Bercier, John Carter, Carey Cook, Larry Danielson, Sister Stephanie Dolyniuk, Karen Heinzman, Lynn Ireland, Constance Kane, Jens Lund, Janet McDonnell, Gina Newbold, Douglas Parks, Marjorie Sackett, Earl Sampson, Darrel Sawyer, Dorothy Shonsey, Scott Sorensen, Kenneth Stewart, Sherry Stoskopf, Robert Thompson, Robert Webb
California Research Staff
Coordinator: Bess Lomax Hawes; Assistant Coordinator: Barbara LaPan Rahm; Researchers: Justin Bishop, Joyce P. Bynum, Nicola Marguerite Deval, Nicholas Hawes, Michael Korn, Marilyn Salvador, Daniel Sheehy; Advisors: Stephen P. and Ethel Dunn (Molokan presentation), Elaine Miller (Mexican American presentation), Joanne B. Purcell (Portuguese presentation)
Participants:
Northern Plains
Margaret Anderson, 1900-2002, singer, cook, Scandia, Kansas
August Anheluk, 1917-2001, musician
Leslie Anheluk, dancer
James Baker, dancer
Emerson Baker, singer
Norman Baker, singer
Wade Baker, dancer
Donna Baranko, dancer
Ann Basaraba, singer
Roy Basaraba, singer
Lydia Bears Tail, bead worker, cook & dancer
Saunders Bears Tail, 1934-1998, dancer
Linnea B. Briggs, 1893-1990, bobbin lace maker, Windom, Kansas
Connie Burian, dancer
Laudie Burian, 1915-2001, musician
Lewis Calwell, 1895-1978, horse trainer, Belle Fourche, South Dakota
Alvin Campbell, 1921-, fiddler, Omaha, Nebraska
Marlys Ciscar, singer
George Crow Flies High, agricultural implement maker, dancer
Dan Dasovich, musician, Omaha, Nebraska
Danny Dasovich, musician, Omaha, Nebraska
George Dasovich, 1942-, musician, Omaha, Nebraska
Peter Drakulich, 1926-1998, musician
Frances Driver, Jr., dancer
Harold C. Edwards, 1927-1992, sheep shearer, Edgemont, South Dakota
Jeanette Evoniuk, 1923-2005, dancer
Johnnie Evoniuk, dancer
Laurence Evoniuk, singer
Matt Evoniuk, dancer
Matt Evoniuk, Jr., dancer
Pearl Evoniuk, dancer
Celia Fliginger, 1907-2003, cook, Freeman, South Dakota
Jarle Foss, 1894-1992, fiddler, Scotland, South Dakota
Robert Ernest Lee Jeffery, 1915-1976, blues pianist, San Diego, California
Kate Kalpakoff, Molokan singer
Craig Ernest Kodros, bee hive maker
George Harry Kodros, bee hive maker
Anna Koh, northern Chinese cook
David Koh, assistant northern Chinese cook
Jim A. Korneff, 1916-1994, singer
Julia Lazar, baker, spinner
Robert Lazar, dancer
Calvin E. Long, tinker, San Diego, California
Pauline Loo, Chinese craft assistant
Francisco Macias, charro
Eddie Martinez, muralist, Hacienda Heights, California
Heli Medeiros, 1921-2003, singer
Nellie Melosardoff, 1913-2007, Molokan singer
Anna Mendrin, Molokan singer
John Mendrin, 1923-1989, Molokan singer
Jonnie Kay Neavill, fiddler
David Page, uilleann bagpiper
Sara J. Patapoff, 1924-1993, Molokan singer
Jack Pavloff, 1919-2000, Molokan singers' director
Mary J. Pavloff, Molokan singer
Dolores Pequeño, singer
George M. Prohroff, 1937-2001, Molokan singer
Pamella Ramsing, shadow player
Rigoberto Rincon, charro, president of La Alteña
Victor Romero, -- guitarrista -- , -- vihuelo
Juanita Saludado, singer, Earlimart, California
Paul Saludado, singer, guitarist, Earlimart, California
Roy J. Samarin, 1920-1994, Molokan singer
Don Jesus Sanchez, 1910-1983, violinist, Los Angeles, California
Surma D'Mar Shimun, 1883-1975, dancer
Joel Silva, -- festa -- coordinator, dairyman
Jose V. Silva, tuna boat designer
Manuel Silva, -- guitarrista
Mary Silva, cook, flower maker
Julia Silveira, -- guitarrista
Rafael Furtado Simas, 1916-2006, violinist
Rosa Maria Simas, dancer, baker
João Soares, singer
Shirley Sun, presenter
Araks Talbert, baker, spinner
Anna Tarnoff, Molokan singer
Smith Tester, banjo player
Eugene Ung, assistant southern Chinese cook
Maizie Ung, kite making, paper folding, ribbon fish demonstration
Agostinho Valim, 1917-2000, singer
Laurindo Valim, dancer
Manuel Vasquez, 1935-, -- requintero
Moses A. Volkoff, 1892-1989, Molokan composer
Ossie White, guitarist, Lakewood, California
Roscoe White, 1923-2009, fiddler, Lakewood, California
Margaret L. Wong, southern Chinese cook
Judy Woo, assistant shadow player
Jesse Wright, singer
Jimmy Wright, singer, Fresno, California
Walter Wright, singer, Fresno, California
William Wright, 1914-1982, singer, Selma, California
Annie Zolnekoff, 1924-2010, Molokan singer
Paul Zolnekoff, 1919-2005, Molokan singer
Collection 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.
Collection 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 Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
Based on research in the rich and dynamic living culture of the border, the Borderlands Festival program of 1993 was designed to provide a glimpse of the border - its histories, its diverse communities, local and regional identities, and its music, arts, crafts, healing practices, foodways, and narrative. The program was about community-based culture. It presented cultural practices found on the border and cultural expressions about the border, and it explored cultural patterns that were created by the border. It also addressed the cultural heritage, adaptability, and creativity of Native Americans and of the Mexican, Hispanic American, Anglo, and other immigrant communities that have played a part in creating the life that surrounds the Mexico-U.S. border - those who maintain it, those who cross it, those who are left behind, and those who dwell in the border region. The program explored the processes through which such groups create, adapt, and preserve culture to meet the challenges of life on the border. It sought to present and understand community codes of behavior that evolved on the border including confrontation, evasion, violence, and romance, especially as these have been transformed into narrative and other forms of artistic expression.
Music performances at the Festival included emergent forms such as the conjunto, which grew out of the interaction between different cultural communities; older forms, such as the corrido, which has been used to preserve a historical vision in the defense of disputed territory; and adapted forms such as the string band music now incorporated into the traditional repertoire of the Tohono O'odham Native American communities. Also featured in the program were five muralists, whose work reflects the traditions of Mexican cholo and United States Chicano muralism. Murals continue to be touchstones of common historical experiences, archaeologies of sociocultural movements, and powerful statements of identity, ethical principles, and community aspirations. The unique fusion of border aesthetics and handcrafted technology was embodied for Festival visitors in lowriders - distinctively customized automobiles. These lowslung, hopping cars complemented the iconography of murals as statements of cultural identity.
Vaqueros of south Texas demonstrated their skills, crafts, and foodways associated with their cowboy tradition, which dates back to the Spanish colonial era. A fisherman from the port of Brownsville demonstrated shrimping techniques. A Laredo blacksmith forged stirrups, belt buckles, and other implements of vaquero life, along with a number of traditional and contemporary decorative objects. A ropemaker demonstrated the use of the local fiber called lechuguilla (a fibrous plant of the agave family). While fine craft traditions like guitar- and furniture-making are not specific to the border, craftspeople have incorporated motifs and instruments native to the region, like the bajo sexto guitar. Other occupational groups characteristic of the border environment included federal Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents who regulate movement across the border; coyotes and polleros, who help migrants evade immigration regulations; and workers in maquiladora assembly line industried. Narrative sessions focused on the culture of craft and occupation in the context of the border.
Artisans also demonstrated crafts used in the home and for special celebrations, including quilt-making, flower- and piñata-making, candlemaking, and reverse-painted glass. Participants prepared regional specialties, traditional foods served for fiestas, and offered a sampling of typical vaquero outdoor cooking. Finally, the Festival presented members of the Mixteco Indian community in Tijuana, a recent migrant group, which preserves its cultural identity and contributes to the economy at the border by maintaining ties with other Mixteco communities in Oaxaca and California.
The United States-Mexico border has had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people. The then-pending NAFTA free trade agreement was only the latest in a long line of international socioeconomic arrangements with wide ranging local impacts. Critical attention in Mexico and the U.S. had increasingly focused on the historical consciousness created in this borderland and on its expression in traditional and other forms of art. Recognition of the vitality and value of borderland culture was growing in 1993 at the margins, among borderland populations, as well as in the centers of power and opinion in both countries. Scholars and political leaders increasingly realized that the cultural encounters, syntheses, and resistances characteristic of border life signaled similar cultural developments in the larger societies. This intensifying concern and scrutiny centered on the margin, but could it reduce the marginality in human rights, social dignity, and economic opportunity at the border? Festival organizers hoped that listening to community voices of the border from the Mexican and United States sides could better inform our thinking and decision-making.
Olivia Cadaval served as Program Curator, with Peter Seitel as Research Advisor; Héctor Antonío Corporán was Program Coordinator and Betty Belanus was Presentation Coordinator.
Collaborating institutions included Centro de Información de Historia Regional, Universid Autónoma de Nuevo León; Consejo Nacional para las Culturas y las Artes – El Programa Cultural de las Fronteras; El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF); El Paso-Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Embajada de México en Washington, D.C.; John E. Conner Museum, Texas A & I University; Institute of Texan Cultures; Instituto Cultural de México; Instituto de Bellaas Artes del Estado de Baja California; Instituto Nacional Indigenista; Instituto Mexicano de Cultura, San Antonio; Laredo State University; Mexican Cultural Institute; Museo Regional de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California en Mexicali; National Museum of the American Indian; New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico; Pimería Alta Historical Society, Arizona; Texas A & I University; Texas Folklife Resources; Tumacácori National Historical Park, Arizona; University of Arizona Library's Southwest Folklore Center; University of Arizona – Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; University of Texas – Brownsville; University of Texas, Center for Mexican-American Studies; University of Texas – Pan American; and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
United States-Mexico Borderlands was made possible with the support and collaboration of the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes - El Programa Cultural de las Fronteras, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Texas Commission on the Arts, Cerveza Tecate - Imported Beer, Texas Folklife Resources, University of Arizona Library's Western Folklore Center, Tumacácori National Historical Park, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Léon - Centro de Información de Historia Regional, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Gubierno de Nuevo Léon, Mexican Cultural Institute, and the recording industries Music Performance Trust Funds.
Fieldworkers:
María Eugenia de la O, Enrique Madrid, Angel Norzagaray Norzagaray, Manuel Peña, Kathy Raglan, Michael James Ritchie, Suzie Reyes, Irene Vásquez Valle, Kathy Vargas, Felipe de Jesús Valenzuela
Presenters and fieldworkers:
Enrique Avilés, Norma Cantú, Jessica Chapin, Andrew Connors, Maricela González Felix, Mary Lou Gortárez, Everardo Garduño, James S. Griffith, Celso Garza Guajardo, Ian F. Hancock, Pat Jasper, Enrique Lamadrid, Laura Larco, Francisco Javier Moreno, Daniel Sheehy, Emily Socolov, Michael C. Stone; José Manuel Valenzuela Arce, Meynardo Vásquez, Laura Velasco Ortíz, Thomas Vennum, Jr., Cynthia Vidaurri
Participants:
Tijuana, Baja California
Olga Lidia Cortés, Mixteca, hat and basket maker, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
José Luis Lee Sandoval, furniture maker, Tecate, Baja California, Mexico
Mexicali, Baja California
Taller Universitario de Teatro -- Taller Universitario de TeatroAngel Norzagaray Norzagaray, 1961-, Mexicali, Baja California, MexicoHeriberto B. Norzagaray Norzagaray, 1959-, Mexicali, Baja California, MexicoLoreto Ramón Tamayo Rosas, Mexicali, Baja California, MexicoAlejandra Rioseco de la Pena, Mexicali, Baja California, MexicoAndrés García Moreno, Mexicali, Baja California, MexicoPedro Gabriel González Castro, Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
San Simon Village, Arizona
Tohono O'odham String Band -- Tohono O'odham String BandBlaine W. Juan, 1936-, violin, dancer, San Simon Village, ArizonaJoseph Alonzo García, 1924-, violin, dancer, San Simon Village, ArizonaFrank N. Pedro, 1928-, guitar, San Simon Village, ArizonaVictor Augustine García, 1922-, violin, San Simon Village, ArizonaNacho J. Feleys, 1909-1994, snare drum, San Simon Village, ArizonaMike L. Francisco, 1926-, bass drum, dancer, San Simon Village, Arizona
Lupe Lopez, 1927-, Tohono O'odham basket maker, San Simon Village, Arizona
Marie Leon, 1930-, Tohono O'odham basket maker, San Simon Village, Arizona
Nogales, Sonora
Maria Gloria Moroyoqui de Roques, 1930-, Yaqui cook, piñata and flower maker, herbalist, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
Imuris, Sonora
Anastasio Léon, birdcage and frame maker, Imuris, Sonora, Mexico
Francisco Silva, birdcage and frame maker, Imuris, Sonora, Mexico
Magdalena, Sonora
Felipe de Jesús Valenzuela, regional historian, Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico
Tumacácori, Arizona
María Rodríguez, 1912-2001, tortilla maker, flower maker, cook, Tumacácori, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Reynaldo B. Hernandez, INS border patrol, storyteller, Tucson, Arizona
Los Hermanos Cuatro, Yaqui Norteño Band -- Los Hermanos Cuatro, Yaqui Norteño BandJesús Juan Yucupicio, 1965-, electric bass, Tucson, ArizonaAlbert M. Yucupicio, 1954-, accordion, Tucson, ArizonaAngel M. Yucupicio, 1966-, drums, Tucson, ArizonaPeter S. Yucupicio, 1957-, bajo sexto, Tucson, Arizona
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Brigada por La Paz -- Brigada por La PazAlonso Encina Herrera, 1968-, muralist, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, MexicoJesús Alberto "Pee Wee" Rodriguez Medina, muralist, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, MexicoGustavo "Sleepy" Grado Tiscareño, 1973-, muralist, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, MexicoMiguel Angel "El Tandy" Sandoval Lira, 1971-, muralist, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Oscar Ramírez, 1944-, guitar maker, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Los Alegres del Norte, norteño band -- Los Alegres del Norte, norteño bandJosé Flores Cordova, accordion, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, MexicoDiego Hidalgo Alvarez, 1944-, bajo sexto, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, MexicoEmilio Chaírez Muñoz, tololoche, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
El Paso, Texas
Agustín Castillo, 1950-, woodcarver, furniture maker, El Paso, Texas
Carlos Callejo, Chicano muralist, El Paso, Texas
Romulo Frías, lowrider, El Paso, Texas
El Divisidero, Chihuahua
Guadalupe Carrasco Leyva, 1923-, quilter, cook, El Divisidero, Chihuahua, Mexico
Ethel I. Warrior, 1919-, oral historian, cook, Del Rio, Texas
William F. Warrior, 1927-, oral historian, storyteller, Del Rio, Texas
Laredo, Texas
Armando Flores, 1953-, blacksmith, Laredo, Texas
María Paredes de Solís, 1923-, quilter, Laredo, Texas
Monterrey, Mexico
El Palomo y el Gorrión, Norteño Band -- El Palomo y el Gorrión, Norteño BandMiguel "El Gorrión" Luna Franco, 1948-, drums, composer, vocals, Monterrey, MexicoMoisés García, guitar, Monterrey, Mexico
Joe O. Mendietta, 1961-, vaquero, horsehair braider, Kingsville, Texas
San Diego, Texas
Canuto Soliz, 1924-2006, vaquero, leatherworker, storyteller, guitarist, San Diego, Texas
Elsa, Texas
Los Hermanos Layton, Conjunto Band -- Los Hermanos Layton, Conjunto BandAntonio V. Layton, 1946-, guitar, vocals, Elsa, TexasRené Layton, drums, Elsa, TexasNorfilia Layton González, vocals, Elsa, TexasGilbert González, bass guitar, Elsa, TexasBenigno Layton, 1950-, accordion, vocals, Elsa, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Julius Collins, 1928-, shrimper, net maker, cook, Brownsville, Texas
Collection 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.
Collection 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 Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1993 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
