An exhibition on the history of the transatlantic slave trade, organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood and held there from February 1979-February 1980. Curated by Louise Daniel Hutchinson. These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of the exhibition. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit scripts, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, floor plans, and catalogues.
Related Archival Materials note:
Audiovisual materials related to this exhibition located in Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist.
An exhibition on Anna J. Cooper, Washington D. C. educator and author. It was organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from February 1981 to September 1982. Louise Daniel Hutchinson served as curator. These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of the exhibition. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit scripts, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, and floor plans.
Related Archival Materials note:
Audiovisual materials related to this exhibition located in Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Topic:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
An exhibition on the North Brentwood neighborhood of Washington, DC. The show was created by the Anacostia Community Museum in collaboration with the North Brentwood Historical Society. It was exhibited at the museum from April 1996 to December 1996. These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of the exhibition. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit scripts, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, and floor plans.
Related Archival Materials note:
Audiovisual materials related to this exhibition located in Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
An exhibition on the history and art of the Harlem Renaissance. The exhibition, held at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, ran from September 1985-December 1986. These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of the exhibition. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit scripts, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, floor plans, and catalogues.
Related Archival Materials note:
Audiovisual materials related to this exhibition located in Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
The Ferargil Galleries records date from circa 1900-1963 and document the activities of this New York gallery that dealt primarily in American contemporary art from shortly after its 1915 founding by Frederic Newlin Price (1884-1963) to it's closure in 1955. 18.7 linear feet of records include incoming and outgoing correspondence with artists, dealers, schools and colleges, and museums and other art institutions; artist files; estate and legal records including papers relating to the Arthur B. Davies estate; gallery business and financial records; printed material; scrapbooks; scattered personal papers of Price; artwork; and photographs of artists, exhibitions and artwork.
Scope and Content Note:
The Ferargil Galleries records date from circa 1900-1963 and document the activities of this New York gallery that dealt primarily in American contemporary art from shortly after its 1915 founding by Frederic Newlin Price (1884-1963) to it's closure in 1955. 18.7 linear feet of records include incoming and outgoing correspondence with artists, dealers, schools and colleges, and museums and other art institutions; artist files; estate and legal records including papers relating to the Arthur B. Davies estate; gallery business and financial records; printed material; scrapbooks; scattered personal papers of Price; artwork; and photographs of artists, exhibitions and artwork.
Correspondence is both incoming and outgoing and documents the day-to-day activities of the galleries, primarily from the 1920s to the 1950s. Significant correspondence with, or relating to, many of the artists represented by Ferargil Galleries can be found here including correspondence with Bartlett Arkell, Thomas Hart Benton, Randall Davey, Hunt Diedrich, Ernest Lawson, Agnes Potter Lowrie, Luigi Lucioni, Barse Miller, Maxfield Parrish, John Pike, Paul Sample, Wells M. Sawyer, Theodore van Soelen and many others.
Artist files consist primarily of material compiled about artists represented by Ferargil Galleries, including biographical information, press releases for exhibitions, and scattered price lists and information about individual works of art.
Estate and legal records include estate inventories for the estates of Lizzie P. Bliss, Arthur B. Davies, and Dan Fellows Platt, and document several legal actions involving Ferargil Galleries. Of particular significance are the records documenting Price's involvement with the estate of Arthur B. Davies, including correspondence with Davies's wife, Virginia, and sales and inventory records for Davies's artwork at Ferargil Galleries and elsewhere.
Business and financial records date primarily from the 1920s and document inventories, sales, insurance, shipping, and taxes for the bulk of the gallery's operating years.
Printed material contains Ferargail Galleries exhibition catalogs and announcements from 1918 to the 1950s in addition to scattered printed material from other galleries and one folder relating to Arthur B. Davies.
Scrapbooks provide a more comprehensive and detailed history of the gallery's exhibitions, through multiple news clippings of press coverage, in addition to catalogs, announcements, and photographs. Of particular note is a circa 1908 photograph of Arthur B. Davies taken by Gertrude Kasëbier.
Scattered personal records of Frederic Newlin Price document Price's work with the Benjamin West Society at Swarthmore College and further reveal Price's interests through an inventory of his art collection and drafts and copies of his writings on artists such as Arthur B. Davies, and on changing trends and tastes in the art world.
A small series of artwork includes 6 pencil sketches, a print, 3 plans, and an Arthur B. Davies exhibition catalog mock-up with pencil sketches, all by unidentified artists.
Gallery photograph files include some photos of artists such as Emil Carlsen, Leon Dabo, Lloyd Parsons, Natalie Van Vleck and Lois Williams, in addition to 13 folders of photos relating to collections and exhibitions, and photographs of artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1920s-1963 (Boxes 1-15; 6.0 linear ft.)
Series 2: Artist Files, circa 1920s-1950s (Boxes 16-17; 0.7 linear ft.)
Series 3: Estate and Legal Records, circa 1925-circa 1939 (Boxes 17-18; 0.3 linear ft.)
Series 4: Business and Financial Records, 1919-1956 (Boxes 18-21; 1.2 linear ft.)
Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1900-1956 (Boxes 21-22; 0.7 linear ft.)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, circa 1920s-1950s (Boxes 23-34, 40, OV 41; 5.4 linear ft.)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1920s-circa 1950s (Box 34, OV 41; 2 folders)
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1920-1950s (Boxes 35-39, OV 40; 4.4. linear ft.)
Historical Note:
Frederic Newlin Price (1884-1963) opened Ferargil Galleries in 1915 at 24 East 49th Street and 607 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Art critic W. Frank Purdy (1865-1943)was the President of the Art Alliance of America in 1918 and director of the School of American Sculpture worked at the galleries as director of sculpture.
Named from a combination of "fer" (ferrous-iron) and "argil" (clay), Ferargil Galleries dealt in wrought iron, sculpture, paintings and prints, and focused on exhibitions of work by American artists such as George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Emil Carlsen, John Steuart Curry, Arthur B. Davies, W. Hunt Diederich, Thomas Eakins, Edward Hicks, Ernest Lawson, Albert P. Ryder and Grant Wood. Ferargil was also known for its representation of a group of contemporary watercolorists including Charles Dickinson, Phil Dike, Hardie Gramatky, Barse Miller, and Paul Sample.
In 1927 the business moved to 37 East 57th Street (later 63 East 57th Street) and housed a print room, a sculpture gallery with a fountain, and the main painting galleries.
In 1931 Price became the Director of the newly-formed Benjamin West Society at his alma mater, Swarthmore College. There, he promoted the arts at Swarthmore through annual lectures and exhibitions by contemporary artists and also acquired artwork for the college, primarily by Benjamin West. Price served as President of the American Art Dealers Association in the early 1930s and published a number of books and articles on artists including Arthur B. Davies, Walter Griffin, Eric Hudson, Ernest Lawson, Arthur P. Ryder and Horatio Walker.
Price closed Ferargil Galleries in 1955.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D321-D322, and N68-14-N68-15) including personal and business correspondence with artists and other records. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1958, Frederic Newlin Price donated circa 70 letters to the Archives of American Art and loaned material for microfilming on reels D321-D322. The remaining records were donated anonymously in 1968.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
Topic:
Art, American -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Bicentennial Banners to Grace Hirshhorn Museum Plaza - General Press Coverage, 3-8-1976 (HMSG0023A-B)
Container:
Box 1 of 5
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Original recordings are permanently restricted. Contact the Smithsonian Institution Libraries for access to reference copies, Transferring office; 7/7/2010 memorandum, Wright to Brooke; Contact reference staff for details.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 10-140, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Audiotapes
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Access of diaries and appointment books required written permission.
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:
André Emmerich Gallery records and André Emmerich papers, circa 1929-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Leon Levy 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 Edward S. Curtis papers and photographs, circa 1895-2001 (bulk 1898-1951) primarily relate to Curtis's work on his opus, the North American Indian (NAI), although other subjects are documented as well. The papers relate closely to the Edward S. Curtis papers at the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections (UW), as that collection was donated by Curtis's daughter Florence Graybill and appears to be part of the same body of materials that was maintained by Curtis, and after his death, by Florence. Occasionally a correspondence exchange or manuscript draft is divided between the National Anthropological Archives and UW. Also found in both collections are notes, mostly dated 1951, in Curtis's handwriting on slips of paper or the document itself that gives an explanation of the document.
The collection includes correspondence, research notes, NAI files and promotional material, writings and memoirs, a small amount of material relating to a complaint regarding his reporting in NAI of certain Pueblo ceremonies, and correspondence and other documents relating to his gold mining interests. Also included are papers of Florence Graybill, who published on Curtis after his death and maintained contacts with various individuals and entities involved in Curtis exhibits, publications, and sales.
The correspondence exchanges are almost exclusively NAI related and document the relationships Curtis had with various influential people, including Gifford Pinchot, Joseph Blethen, Jacob Riis, William Farabee, Smithsonian scholars Frederick Webb Hodge and Matilda Coxe Stevenson, and the immediate and extended family of Theodore Roosevelt. Included are letters of introduction for Curtis as he sought to promote his work.
The research notes consist of a small mixture of writings on field experiences as well as maps used during his fieldwork (the bulk of Curtis's fieldnotes and NAI manuscripts are at the Seaver Center in the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History). The NAI files chiefly contain material promoting the work, such as published reviews, articles, and ephemera, but there are a few North American Indian Inc. business records (the bulk of the business records are maintained at the Pierpont Morgan Library). Of note is a lengthy annual report for the North American Indian, Inc., in which Curtis explains difficulties encountered in the fieldwork and volume publication. Related to his NAI work are letters and other materials documenting a 1934 complaint from Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior on Curtis's reporting of certain Pueblo ceremonies, as well as Curtis's response.
The writings comprise manuscript drafts on various topics. Most are short, stand-alone stories relating to his NAI work, often relaying a story about his own experiences. Similar stories can be found in Florence Graybill's papers, as she published some of them after his death. Also part of the writings are drafts for several chapters of Curtis's unpublished memoir, "As it Was."
Curtis's interest in gold mining is represented in correspondence and other material dating from 1938-1950. Most of the letters are between Curtis and his son Harold. Curtis's invention of a concentrator for separating fine gold from placer tailings is also documented in photographs and drawings.
Florence Graybill's papers pertain to writings, talks, and projects relating to Curtis after his death. Included are publication files for Graybill's biography of Curtis written with Victor Boesen, Visions of a Vanishing Race, as well as other of her articles and book reviews. Graybill's correspondence reveals her commitment to assist scholars and others interested in researching and exhibiting Curtis material, as well as her communication with individuals having a commercial interest in Curtis. Also present are Graybill's lecture notes for talks given, and articles and newspaper features on Curtis written by others.
The photographs in this collection primarily relate to Curtis's NAI work (1898-1927) and are a mix of original and working copy negatives, prints, and transparencies. The original negatives are remarkable in that they reveal some of Curtis's working methods in crafting his images through pencil and other enhancements, as well as showing removal of unwanted items from the image. Also of note are two original logbooks used for recording negatives from approximately 1895-1916. The majority of the prints appear to be silver gelatin prints made for reference; however, there are a fair number of platinum prints as well as several blue-toned silver prints in the collection. There are only a few cyanotypes.
Among the photographs is a deerskin-bound photograph album containing Harriman Alaska Expedition and NAI photographs, representing some of Curtis's earliest Native American subjects. These include images of people from the Puget Sound area as well as from his 1900 trip to the Blackfoot reservation. There are no annotations in the album; however, tucked among the pages are a few small notes of identification in Curtis's handwriting.
Photographs documenting other subjects are also present to a lesser degree. Among these are photographs of Curtis's Seattle photography studio, a 1915 Grand Canyon trip, hop field workers in the Puget Sound area, and Curtis's illustrations for Marah Ryan's book Flute of the Gods. Additionally, the collection contains a number of photographs of Curtis, his children, and portraits of various individuals including Theodore Roosevelt and actor Anna May Wong.
Arrangement:
The Edward S. Curtis papers and photographs are arranged into the following 10 series:
Series 1: Biographical information, 1919-1952
Series 2: Correspondence, 1904-1951
Series 3: Research notes, 1900-1930, undated
Series 4: North American Indian, circa 1906-1920
Series 5: Writings, 1906, 1948, undated
Series 6: Complaint regarding Curtis's reporting of Pueblo ceremonies, 1924-1935
Series 7: Gold mining, 1938-1950
Series 8. Florence Curtis Graybill papers, 1948-2001
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1896-1927
Series 10: Duplicate material, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Sherriff Curtis (1868-1952) was an American photographer famous for his photographs of the indigenous peoples of North America. His work was highly influential in shaping a sympathetic yet romantic view of cultures that he and many others believed to be "vanishing." Over the course of 30 years, Curtis visited more than 80 Native American communities and published his photographs and ethnographies in the twenty-volume North American Indian (NAI) (1907-1930).
Curtis was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, to Ellen and Johnson Curtis in 1868. In about 1874, his family moved to a farm in Cordova, Minnesota. At a young age, Curtis built a camera, and it is possible that he may have worked in a Minneapolis photography studio for a time. In 1887, Curtis and his father moved West and settled on a plot near what is now Port Orchard, Washington, with the rest of the family joining them the following year. When Johnson Curtis died within a month of the family's arrival, 20-year-old Curtis became the head of the family.
In 1891, Curtis moved to Seattle and bought into a photo studio with Rasmus Rothi. Less than a year later, he and Thomas Guptill formed "Curtis and Guptill, Photographers and Photoengravers." The endeavor became a premier portrait studio for Seattle society and found success in photoengraving for many local publications. In 1892, Curtis married Clara Phillips (1874-1932) and in 1893 their son Harold was born (1893-1988), followed by Elizabeth (Beth) (1896-1973), Florence (1899-1987) and Katherine (Billy) (1909-?). Around 1895, Curtis made his first photographs of local Native people, including the daughter of Duwamish chief Seattle: Kickisomlo or "Princess Angeline." Curtis submitted a series of his Native American photographs to the National Photographic Convention, and received an award in the category of "genre studies" for Homeward (later published in volume 9 of the NAI). In 1896, the entire Curtis family moved to Seattle, which included Curtis's mother, his siblings Eva and Asahel, Clara's sisters Susie and Nellie Phillips, and their cousin William Phillips. Most of the household worked in Curtis's studio along with other employees. Curtis became sole proprietor of the studio in 1897, which remained a popular portrait studio but also sold his scenic landscapes and views of the Seattle Area. Curtis also sent his brother Asahel to Alaska and the Yukon to photograph the Klondike Gold Rush, and sold those views as well. Asahel went on to become a well-known photographer in his own right, primarily working in the American Northwest.
Curtis was an avid outdoorsman and joined the Mazamas Club after his first of many climbs of Mount Rainier. On a climb in 1898, Curtis evidently met a group of scientists, including C. Hart Merriam, George Bird Grinnell, and Gifford Pinchot, who had lost their way on the mountain, and led them to safety. This encounter led to an invitation from Merriam for Curtis to accompany a group of over 30 well-known scientists, naturalists, and artists as the official photographer on a maritime expedition to the Alaskan coast. Funded by railroad magnate Edward Harriman, the Harriman Alaska Expedition left Seattle in May of 1899, and returned at the end of July. Curtis made around 5000 photographs during the trip, including photographs of the indigenous peoples they met as well as views of mountains, glaciers, and other natural features. Many of the photographs appeared in the expedition's 14 published volumes of their findings.
In 1900, Curtis accompanied Grinnell to Montana for a Blackfoot Sundance. Here, Curtis made numerous photographs and became interested in the idea of a larger project to document the Native peoples of North America. Almost immediately upon returning from the Sundance, Curtis set off for the Southwest to photograph Puebloan communities. By 1904, Curtis had already held at least one exhibit of his "Indian pictures" and his project to "form a comprehensive and permanent record of all the important tribes of the United States and Alaska that still retain to a considerable degree their primitive customs and traditions" (General Introduction, the NAI) had taken shape and already received some press coverage. With his fieldwork now increasing his absences from home, Curtis hired Adolph Muhr, former assistant to Omaha photographer Frank Rinehart, to help manage the Seattle studio.
In 1904, Curtis was a winner in the Ladies Home Journal "Prettiest Children In America" portrait contest. His photograph of Marie Fischer was selected as one of 112 that would be published and Fischer was one of 12 children selected from the photographs who would have their portrait painted by Walter Russell. Russell and Curtis made an acquaintance while Russell was in Seattle to paint Fischer's portrait, and not long afterwards, Russell contacted Curtis to make photographic studies of Theodore Roosevelt's children for portraits he would paint. Curtis subsequently photographed the entire Roosevelt family, and developed a social connection with the President. Several important outcomes came of this new friendship, including Roosevelt eventually writing the foreword to the NAI, as well as making introductions to influential people.
Key among these introductions was one to wealthy financier John Pierpont Morgan, in 1906. After a brief meeting with Curtis during which he viewed several of Curtis's photographs of Native Americans, Morgan agreed to finance the fieldwork for the NAI project for five years, at $15,000.00 per year. It was up to Curtis to cover publishing and promotion costs, with the publication being sold as a subscription. In return, Morgan would receive 25 sets of the 20-volume publication. The ambitious publication plan outlined 20 volumes of ethnological text, each to be illustrated with 75 photogravure prints made from acid-etched copper plates. Each volume would be accompanied by a companion portfolio of 35 large photogravures. With high-quality papers and fine binding, a set would cost $3000.00. 500 sets were planned. Under Morgan, the North American Indian, Inc. formed as body to administer the monies. Also around this time, Frederick Webb Hodge, Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology, agreed to edit the publications.
Curtis then began more systematic fieldwork, accompanied by a team of research assistants and Native interpreters. In 1906, Curtis hired William E. Myers, a former journalist, as a field assistant and stenographer. Over the years, Myers became the lead researcher on the project, making enormous contributions in collecting data and possibly doing the bulk of the writing for the first 18 volumes. Upon meeting a new community, Curtis and his team would work on gathering data dealing with all aspects of the community's life, including language, social and political organization, religion, food ways, measures and values, and many other topics. (See box 2 folder 1 in this collection for Curtis's list of topics.) Curtis and his assistants, especially Myers, brought books and papers to the field relating to the tribes they were currently concerned with, and often wrote from the field to anthropologists at the Bureau of American Ethnology and other institutions for information or publications. In addition to fieldnotes and photographs, the team also employed sound recording equipment, making thousands of recordings on wax cylinders. Curtis also often brought a motion picture camera, although few of his films have survived.
The first volume of the NAI was published towards the end of 1907. Already, Curtis was encountering difficulty in finding subscribers to the publication despite great praise in the press and among those who could afford the volumes. Curtis spent progressively more of his time outside the field season promoting the project through lectures and in 1911, presenting his "Picture Musicale"—a lecture illustrated with lantern slides and accompanied by an original musical score—in major cities. After the initial five funded years, only eight of the twenty volumes had been completed. However, Morgan agreed to continue support for the fieldwork and publication continued.
Starting in 1910, Curtis and his team worked among the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation on Vancouver Island, and in 1913 began to develop a documentary film project featuring the community in Alert Bay. In 1914, Curtis produced the feature-length film, In the Land of the Headhunters. The film showcased an all-indigenous cast and included an original musical score. Screened in New York and Seattle, it received high praise. However after this initial success, it did not receive the attention Curtis had hoped for, and resulted in financial loss.
Meanwhile, Curtis's prolonged absences from home had taken a toll on his marriage and in 1919 Clara and Edward divorced. The Seattle studio was awarded to Clara, and Curtis moved to Los Angeles, opening a photography studio with his daughter Beth and her husband Manford "Mag" Magnuson. Daughters Florence and Katherine came to Los Angeles sometime later. Curtis continued with fieldwork and promotion of the project, and in 1922 volume 12 of the NAI was published. Also in 1922, Curtis was accompanied during the field season in California by his daughter Florence Curtis Graybill, the first time a family member had gone to the field with him since the Curtis children were very small.
Curtis continued to push the project and publications along, yet never without financial struggle and he picked up work in Hollywood as both a still and motion picture photographer. John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., continued to provide funding for the fieldwork in memory of his father, but with the various financial upsets of the 1910s and 1920s, Curtis had a difficult time getting subscribers on board. In 1926, Myers, feeling the strain, regretfully resigned after the completion of volume 18. Anthropologist Frank Speck recommended Stewart Eastwood, a recent graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, to replace Myers as ethnologist for the final two volumes.
In 1927, Curtis and his team, along with his daughter Beth Curtis Magnuson, headed north from Seattle to Alaska and Canada on a final field season. Harsh weather and a hip injury made the trip difficult for Curtis, but he was very satisfied with the season's work. The party returned to Seattle, and upon arrival Curtis was arrested for unpaid alimony. He returned exhausted to Los Angeles, and in 1930 the final two volumes of NAI were published without fanfare. Curtis spent the next two years recovering from physical and mental exhaustion. Beth and Mag continued to run the Curtis studio in LA, but for the most part, Curtis had set down his camera for good. With the NAI behind him and his health recovered, Curtis pursued various interests and employment; he continued to do some work in Hollywood, including working on The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper.
In 1933 Curtis was publicly criticized by John Collier, the Commissioner for Indian Affairs for some of the statements he had made on certain Pueblo ceremonies in the NAI volume 16, published in 1924. In September of 1934 Curtis received a letter from Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior regarding the claims published in volume 16, demanding a printed apology to be distributed among the text of the book as well as removal of the offending text from any undistributed copies of the publication. Curtis spent months writing and compiling supporting documentation in his defense, which he submitted to Ickes in January 1935. Also in 1935, the Morgan estate liquidated the North American Indian, Inc. and sold the remaining sets of the NAI volumes and unbound pages, photogravures, and copper printing plates along with the rights to the material to Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat for $1000.00.
Curtis's interest in gold prospecting took a front seat in the mid-1930s. While he scouted for potentially profitable mines in Northern California, his friend Ted Shell and possibly his son Harold sought investors. However, nothing ever fully panned out, though Curtis did design and build a concentrator for separating fine gold from placer tailings. He later sold the patent for ten dollars. Eventually, Curtis settled down on a farm outside Los Angeles, moving later to live with Beth and Mag, where he stayed until his death. In the mid to late 1940s Curtis began to write his memoirs. His daughter Florence visited him regularly and typed as Curtis dictated his recollections, and at some point he completed a draft of a memoir titled "As it Was." He also went through his papers and annotated or tucked notes among the correspondence and other material giving a brief explanation of the item or its context. Curtis died at home in 1952.
Prior to his death, Curtis had been out of the public eye for some years, and the NAI had slipped into relative obscurity. The Curtis studio in Los Angeles continued to sell Curtis's Native American photographs, and Florence gave occasional talks on her father, but it wasn't until the early 1970s that Curtis's work saw a renewed interest. This renaissance took place largely in the art photography market, but Curtis's biography and the NAI were also getting treatment in publications. Florence Curtis Graybill partnered with Victor Boesen to produce two narrative histories of Curtis and his work, and these were followed by many others. Florence continued to publish short works on her father for many years, and stayed in touch with numerous people involved in projects both scholarly and commercial that related to Curtis's work.
Sources Cited
Davis, Barbara. Edward S. Curtis: the life and times of a shadowcatcher. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1984.
Gidley, Mick. The North American Indian, Incorporated. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Chronology
1868 -- Curtis is born in Whitewater, Wisconsin
circa 1874 -- Curtis family moves to Cordova, Minnesota
1887 -- Moves with his father to Washington territory to be joined by his mother and siblings in 1888
1891 -- With Rasmus Rothi forms Rothi & Curtis photography studio in Seattle
1892 -- Marries Clara Phillips With Thomas Guptill forms Curtis & Guptill Photographers and Photoengravers in Seattle
circa 1895 -- Becomes interested in photographing the indigenous people of the area
1897 -- Guptill leaves, Curtis establishes himself as Edward S. Curtis, Photographer and Photoengraver
1898 -- Meets C. Hart Merriam, George Bird Grinnell, and Gifford Pinchot during climb on Mount Rainier Receives first place award from the National Photographic Convention in the "Genre Studies" for his photographs of Native Americans
1899 -- Joins Harriman Alaska Expedition as official photographer at request of C. Hart Merriam and George Bird Grinnell
1900 -- Accompanies George Bird Grinnell to Blackfoot reservation in Montana for Sundance Becomes interested in a major project to document Native American tribes Travels to Arizona to photograph Hopi communities
circa 1902 -- Travels again to the southwest to photograph Native communities
1903 -- Holds first formal exhibit of Native American photographs in his studio
1904 -- Publicly announces intention to produce major publication on Native Americans Portrait entered in the Ladies Home Journal "Prettiest Children in America" contest is selected for publication and as a result, Curtis is asked to photograph President Theodore Roosevelt's family
circa 1904-1906 -- Conducts fieldwork among Native communities of the southwest
1906 -- Meets with J. P. Morgan, who agrees to finance the fieldwork for Curtis's project Hires William E. Myers as researcher and writer for the project
1907 -- Volume 1 of NAI is published
1908 -- Volumes 2 and 3 of NAI are published
1909 -- Volumes 4 and 5 of NAI are published
1911 -- Volumes 6, 7, and 8 of NAI are published Presents and tours the "Picture Musicale"
1913 -- J. P. Morgan dies, but his son agrees to continue to provide support for NAI Volume 9 of NAI is published
1914 -- Releases film In the Land of the Headhunters
1915 -- Volume 10 of NAI is published
1916 -- Volume 11 of NAI is published
1919 -- Edward and Clara Curtis divorce and the Seattle studio is awarded to Clara Moves to Los Angeles and opens new studio with daughter Beth and her husband, Manford Magnuson
1922 -- Volume 12 of NAI is published Conducts fieldwork in California with daughter Florence Curtis Graybill
1924 -- Volumes 13 and 14 of NAI are published
1926 -- Volumes 15, 16, and 17 of NAI are published William E. Myers resigns as chief writer and ethnologist of NAI
1927 -- Conducts fieldwork in Alaska and Canada for final NAI volume with daughter Beth Curtis Magnuson
1928 -- Volume 18 of NAI is published
1930 -- Volumes 19 and 20 of NAI are published
circa 1930-1950 -- Applies himself to various interests, especially gold mining
1952 -- Dies in Los Angeles at the home of Beth and Manford Magnuson
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds additional Curtis papers and photographs in MS 2000-18, the Edward Curtis investigation of the battle of Little Bighorn and Photo Lot 59, the Library of Congress copyright prints collection.
The Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University holds Curtis's wax cylinder audio recordings from 1907-1913.
The Braun Research Library at the Autry Museum of the American West holds the Frederick Webb Hodge papers (1888-1931), which contain substantial correspondence from Curtis. The Braun also holds a small amount of Curtis papers and photographs, including some of Curtis's cyanotypes.
The Getty Research Institute holds the Edward S. Curtis papers (1900-1978), which include the original manuscript scores for the Curtis Picture Musicale and film In the Land of the Headhunters.
The Palace of the Governors at the New Mexico History Museum holds original Curtis negatives pertaining to the southwest.
The Pierpont Morgan Library holds the Edward S. Curtis papers (1906-1947), which contain the records of the North American Indian, Inc., as well as Curtis's correspondence to librarian, and later library director, Belle Da Costa Greene. The library also holds a large collection of Curtis's lantern slides, used in his Picture Musicale.
The Seattle Public Library holds correspondence of Curtis to Librarian Harriet Leitch (1948-1951), pertaining to his career.
The Seaver Center for Western History Research at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History holds collection GC 1143, which contains Curtis's field notes as well as manuscript drafts for the North American Indian.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian holds NMAI.AC.080, the Edward S. Curtis photogravure plates and proofs, as well as NMAI.AC.053, the Mary Harriman Rumsey collection of Harriman Alaska Expedition photographs.
The University of Washington Libraries Special Collections holds the Edward S. Curtis papers (1893-1983). Additionally, the Burke Museum holds papers and photographs of Edmund Schwinke, which relate to Curtis's work with the Kwakwaka'wakw community.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts collected by Curtis that were a part of this donation comprise Accession No. 2058745 in the collections of the Department of Anthropology in the National Museum of Natural History.
Provenance:
The papers and photographs were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Jim Graybill, grandson of Edward S. Curtis, in 2010 and 2011.
Restrictions:
Viewing of the photographic negatives and transparencies requires advance notice and the permission of the Photo Archivist.
Access to the Edward S. Curtis papers and photographs requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Sponsor:
Processing and digitization of parts of this collection was supported by funding from the Smithsonian Women's Committee and the Small Research Grants program of the National Museum of Natural History.
This collection documents the design, testing, production and promotion of the first zero-emission electric car produced by a major car company, the General Motors EV1. The materials include photographs, promotional booklets and marketing, press coverage, and publications, as well as design details and specifications, describing the process by which this ambitious and controversial vehicle was produced and released to the public in the mid- to late 1990s. This collection would be of interest to researchers in the areas of innovative design, automobile marketing, environmental initiatives, and the automotive industry.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains materials relating to General Motors's development, promotion, and production of the EV1, the first commercially-available zero-emission electric vehicle, between 1990 and 2005. Included are design diagrams, photographs, and internal communication, but the vast majority of items are publicity materials such as press releases, newspaper and magazine coverage, and promotional material for auto shows.
Due to the nature of the donation (twenty-three separate donors from the original EV1 design team) there is some duplication of materials throughout the collection, though efforts were made to keep duplicates to a minimum.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into six series.
Series 1: Design, Testing, and Production Materials, 1991-1997
Series 2: Event Photographs, 1993-1994, 2000
Series 3: Press Coverage Materials,1991-2005
Series 4: Product Promotion Materials, 1990-2002
Series 5: Publications,1994, 1996-1999
Series 6: Post-Production Materials, 1999, 2002, 2004-2005
Biographical / Historical:
The General Motors EV1 is considered one of the most technologically advanced vehicles produced in the twentieth century and was the most energy-efficient car in the world at the time of its premiere. Manufactured for the consumer market by GM in 1997, EV1 featured many engineering innovations in aerodynamics, electric drive systems, electronic controls, and hydraulic braking, and was propelled by a rechargeable lead-acid battery pack, producing zero emissions. It was issued twenty-three patents for its advanced features, as well as winning several awards and competitions, including the electric vehicle world land speed record in 1994.
In early 1990, partly based on a boast by departing president of GM Roger Smith that electric vehicle technology was a reality, the state of California mandated that the major auto makers produce two percent of their vehicles emissions-free by 1998. Between 1990, when the barely-functional prototype car Impact debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and 1994, when a fleet of fifty Impacts were premiered across the nation in the prEView Drive Program, a team of engineers worked on design, manufacture, and proof of concept vehicles that would eventually develop into the EV1: the first zero-emissions car to be released to consumers. The car's components were manufactured in several stages and locations: the assembly plant was in the Craft Centre in Lansing, Michigan; the motors were produced by Delco Remy in Anderson, Indiana; the battery pack, consisting of thirty-two 10-volt lead-acid batteries was produced by Delco Remy at their plant in Muncie, Indiana; and the power inverter and magnetic battery charger were constructed by Hughes Aircraft in Torrence, California.The finished car emitted zero pollutants, could accelerate from 0-60 mph in eight seconds, and had a range of eighty miles between charges. During 1995, the manufacturing process was refined, and the EV1 was announced in 1996 at both the Los Angeles and Detroit Auto Shows. The following year it became available to consumers through the Saturn division of GM marketing. However, due to concerns about parts and maintenance for the life of the car, GM only offered it on three-year lease programs, never for sale outright.
Though the EV1 did relatively well in the California and Arizona markets its first year, the 1999 EV1 Generation II showed a significant decline in consumer interest. The lease-only option was not appealing to many, and the limited range of the car, combined with a lack of publicly available charging stations, was a significant deterrent. Despite initial plans to expand the fleet of EVs by producing an S10 pickup truck with the new technology, and enthusiastic support from EV1's small but loyal customer base, GM stopped production on EVs altogether before the year 2000. When the last lease ran out in 2003, the fleet was recalled into storage, and except for a few that were donated to museums and universities for engineering programs and design study, the remaining EV1 vehicles were crushed and recycled in 2005.
The legacy of the EV1 remains in most of the hybrid fuel-electric vehicles and fuel-cell technology produced in the twenty-first century. It vaulted General Motors into the lead for development of advanced technology vehicles, beginning the long and ongoing effort to reduce US dependence on foreign oil as well as addressing the environmental issues caused by gasoline-powered engines.
Related Materials:
Related artifacts were donated to the Division of Work and Industry. See accession 2005.0061 and 2006.031-.034.
Provenance:
Collection donated in 2006 by Jill Banaszynski, General Motors Corporation; Patrick M. Bouchard, General Motors Corporation; Loran D. Brooks; Dan Brouns; Linda Ludek Brouns; Ray Buttacavoli; Laurel Castiglione, General Motors Corporation; Dennis H. Davis, General Motors Corporation; Robert E. DeGrandchamp; James N. Ellis; Hesham Ezzat, Marty M. Freedman, General Motors Corporation; Jamie Grover, Saturn Corporation; Steve M. Kunder, General Motors Corporation; Michael Kutcher, General Motors Corporation; Linda J. Lamar, General Motors Corporation; Kuen Leung, General Motors Corporation; Thomas M. Lobkovich; Joanne Mabrey, General Motors Corporation; Joseph F. Mercurio, General Motors Corporation; William L. Shepard, General Motors Corporation; Steven Tarnowsky; Lance Turner, General Motors Corporation.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
An exhibition on 187 years of civil rights activism in Washington, DC. The show was created by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and exhibited there from January 1992 to July 1992. These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of the exhibition. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit script, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, floor plans, and catalogues.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
To achieve these rights: the struggle for equality and self-determination in the District of Columbia, 1791–1978 exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution
United States. Work Projects Administration Search this
United States. Works Progress Administration Search this
Extent:
23.4 Linear feet
0.001 Gigabytes
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Gigabytes
Date:
1920-2009
Summary:
The papers of New York art historian Francis O'Connor measure 23.4 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from 1920-2009. Found within the papers are artist and exhibition files, questionnaires, transcripts, writings, project files, and printed and digital material that pertain to O'Connor's research and publications on the New Deal and the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York art historian Francis O'Connor measure 23.4 linear feet and date from 1920-2009. Found within the papers are artist and exhibition files, questionnaires, transcripts, writings, project files, and printed and digital material that pertain to O'Connor's research and publications on the New Deal and the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration.
The "NCFA Library" consists of research materials collected, created, and compiled during the course of O'Connor's research project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities for his books Federal Support for the Visual Arts (1969) and Art for the Millions (1973). Files contain administrative records, artists' files, and questionnaires and essays that document the administration of New Deal art projects. The files were collated by O'Connor into a set that remains intact.
The publications series consists of additional research and administrative materials specifically related to O'Connor's four publications on the WPA/FAP and New Deal artists: Federal Support for the Visual Arts: The New Deal and Now (1969), New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs (1972), Art for the Millions (1973), and Federal Art Patronage Notes (newsletter, 1974-1984).
New Deal research files are more general research materials collected by or sent to O'Connor in the course of his academic career. These include information on New Deal administrators and state specific WPA projects; photocopies of original WPA activity and reports; and New Deal scholarship, academic symposia, and conferences.
New Deal exhibitions include announcement and catalogs of contemporary New Deal art exhibitions in the U.S. from the 1960s to the 1990s. Project files are related to three publically and privately funded New Deal research projects O'Connor directed or participated in. Printed materials consists of press coverage of federal arts patronage in the United States dating from the 1960s to 2008.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series. There is some overlap in series reflecting O'Connor's original order.
Missing Title
Series 1: NCFA Library, 1920-1974 (6.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-7, OV 28)
Series 2: Publications, 1939-1985 (4.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-11, BV 25-26, OV 27)
Series 3: New Deal Research Files, 1930-2009 (5.6 linear feet; Boxes 11-16)
Series 4: New Deal Exhibitions, 1961-1997 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 17-18)
Series 5: Project Files, 1935-1999 (2 linear feet; Boxes 18-20, ER01; 0.001 GB)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1963-2008 (3.4 linear feet; Boxes 20-24)
Biographical / Historical:
New York art historian and poet Francis O'Connor (1937- ) is best known for his research and writings on the New Deal art programs of the Depression and the Roosevelt Administration. O'Connor received his Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1965 and taught contemporary European and American art history at the University of Maryland from 1964 to 1970. While at Maryland, he organized the country's first comprehensive exhibition of New Deal art programs since their ending in 1943. From 1967 to 1968, he also headed a research program for the National Endowment for the Arts to analyze the effectiveness of New Deal art patronage, which eventually led to the publication of Federal Support for the Visual Arts: The New Deal and Now (1969), New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs (1972), Art for the Millions (1973).
In addition to his work on New Deal art patronage, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, O'Connor continued to teach and lecture at universities, consulted on federally and privately funded research projects, and published critical essays for exhibition catalogs, anthologies and academic journals. He is a member of the College Art Association, International Association of Art Critics, and founded the Association of Independent Historians of Art in 1982.
Separated Materials:
Bound assemblies of periodicals were transferred to the Smithsonian Art Libraries in 2010, which retained relevant volumes and made final decisions regarding disposition of any remaining items.
Provenance:
The papers were donated by Francis O'Connor to the National Collection of Fine Arts, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which subsequently transferred the papers, with O'Connor's permission, to the Archives of American Art in 1974. In 2010, O'Connor donated an additional 15.8 linear feet of papers to the Archives.
Restrictions:
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 and born-digital records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
The Artists' Questionanaires require permission from each artist before publishing, quoting, or reproducing. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
Items created by Francis V. O'Connor: copyright held by Avis Berman. Artists' questionnaires: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from the individual artist. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
United States of America -- Florida -- Brevard County -- Cocoa
United States of America -- Florida -- Lake County -- Groveland
United States of America -- Florida -- Brevard County -- Mims
United States of America -- Florida -- Brevard County
United States of America -- Florida -- Brevard County -- Titusville
United States of America -- Florida -- Seminole County -- Sanford
Date:
bulk 1945-1949
Summary:
Harry T. Moore was a pioneering civil rights activist, educator, and civic leader. The collection was originally housed in a formerly "lost" briefcase that was found in 2006 by FBI investigators. The materials in this collection focus on his activities as a civil rights activist and community leader who sought to advocate for pay equity, voting rights, and justice reform for African American communities in Florida. Harry Moore and his wife Harriette were murdered for their work and they have been immortalized as the Civil Rights Movement's first martyrs.
Scope and Contents:
The Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Archival Collection chronicles Harry Moore's career in civil rights and education that ultimately led to his and his wife's murder. The materials in this collection were originally located in Harry T. Moore's briefcase and are dated from 1942 to 1949. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, business records, ephemera, and newspaper clippings. The bulk of the material reflects Moore's work as a community leader working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Progressive Voters League (PVL). The materials include original typed correspondence to and from Harry T. Moore as well as mimeographed letters that were saved for recordkeeping purposes.
The briefcase and Moore's wallet (part of the NMAAHC Collection) were found by Harriette Moore's brother, George Simms, after the firebombing of the Moore's home on Christmas night in 1951. Both were given to the local authorities for the investigation. The briefcase was lost during the initial 1951-1952 investigations. It was found in 2006 by FBI Investigators in a barn close to the Moore's former home. The investigation was closed the same year and the briefcase and its contents were returned to the family. J. Evangeline Moore served as the steward of the collection, lending out materials to various organizations, journalists, writers, and filmmakers over the years to educate the masses about her father's work and her parents' legacy. This work continued until her death in 2015. This collection and related Moore family heirlooms were donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2013 and 2018, respectively.
Arrangement:
This archival collection does not include all the materials originally located in the briefcase. Materials from this collection were used during investigations as well as historical displays, documentaries, and various educational presentations. Research revealed that various materials were misplaced or lost. The FBI investigators originally located the briefcase in 2006 and they organized and rehoused the materials for better preservation. According to the 2006 investigation report, the investigators organized the documents in alphabetical order but arranged them as they were discovered within Harry T. Moore's filing system. His filing system was based on keeping documents together in envelopes that pertain to the same subject.
The NMAAHC Archives Team kept the subject and proximal context of the materials together. To further preserve this original arrangement and sustain the collection, materials were separated by format and then by subject, keeping those with similar dates and subjects together.
Biographical / Historical:
Harry Tyson Moore was born on November 18, 1905 to Stephen John "Johnny" Moore and Rosalea "Rosa" Tyson Moore in Houston, Florida. After his father's death in 1914, Moore was sent to live with his maternal aunts in Daytona Beach, Florida. He attended Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial Institute, at the time a high school and junior college, where he graduated with a teaching degree in 1924. He immediately began his first teaching position at the segregated Monroe Elementary School in Cocoa, Florida.
Harriette Vyda Sims was born on June 19, 1902 in West Palm Beach, Florida to David and Annie Simms. Harriette was an insurance agent at Atlanta Life Insurance Company, a prominent Black-owned company, working out of Cocoa, Florida when she met Harry. Harry was also working at Atlanta Life to supplement his meager salary from teaching. Harry and Harriette married on Christmas Day in 1926. To establish themselves, the newlyweds moved in with Harriette's family in Mims, Florida. They had two daughters, Annie, born 1928, and Juanita (Evangeline), born 1930.
The couple enrolled together at the Daytona Normal Industrial Institute, later renamed the Bethune-Cookman College (BCC) after a merger of local African American schools. Harriette earned associate and bachelor's degrees in education in 1941 and 1950 respectively. Harry earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1936. Both Evangeline and Annie attended BCC as well. Annie served as an assistant to Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
From 1927-1936, Harry served as a teacher and eventual principal of Titusville Colored Junior High School. Harriette was a teacher and lunch lady at various elementary schools in the area. Troubled by the inequities and lack of educational resources available to African Americans, Harry started the Brevard County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1934. He established the organization with the help of the all-black Florida State Teacher's Association and the support of civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall.
In 1937, Moore was involved in a lawsuit regarding teacher pay equality. In Florida, White teachers received a monthly salary of $50 while African American teachers had a base salary of $20. This was the first civil rights case of its kind in the South. Moore's good friend John Gilbert, the principal of the junior high school, served as the plaintiff. The case, Gilbert v. Board of Public Instruction of Brevard County, was lost as many African American teachers were afraid to publicly endorse the case, fearing repercussions. This proved correct as Gilbert and Moore were both fired because of their activism. The Florida Supreme Court dismissed the petition stating that Brevard County was not legally required to change salary schedules based on pay because schools used individual contracts with the teachers. This case laid the foundation for several successful pay equality cases including McDaniel v. Board of Public Instruction in 1941 and County Teachers Association v. the Board of Public Instruction for the County of Marion and Broward in 1942.
Fighting for pay equity for teachers and educational civil rights took Harry and Harriette around the state, organizing and mobilizing community members. In 1936, the Moores took on new positions at the segregated Mims Elementary School and continued their involvement in organizing civil rights cases throughout Florida. In 1941, Harry was appointed the president of the Florida State Conference for the NAACP and later became the executive secretary for the Florida branch. In 1944, Smith v. Allwright ruled that it was unconstitutional for the Democratic Party to limit its membership to White people. This gave Harry the impetus to establish the Progressive Voters League (PVL), a partisan political action group in 1946. Harry believed that African Americans should have the power to vote for whomever is best for their community. Harry kept his work with the PVL separate from his work with the NAACP, despite his leadership role in both. Within a few years of PVL's establishment, there were 100,000 registered eligible African American voters in the state. For the first time in Florida's history, African American citizens were organized and poised to change the outcome of elections. In 1946, this work cost Harry and Harriette their positions at Mims Elementary School. Fortunately, the NAACP, grateful for all of Harry's years of voluntary service, named him the NAACP's first full-time paid executive secretary. Both daughters assisted in creating NAACP Youth Council for the chapter as well.
Harry fought against the gruesome lynching and rampant police brutality taking place in Florida. In 1937, he started investigating cases himself and took an active role in pursuing justice in several unsolved lynching cases around Florida. He regularly sent correspondence about voting rights and lynching to state legislators, the governor, congressmen and even the president. In
1949, Moore became very involved in the national case, State of Florida v. Samuel Shepherd, Walter L. Irvin, Charles Greenlee, and Ernest E. Thomas, commonly known as the Groveland Rape case. Four young African American men were accused of raping a white woman, Norma Padgett. The sheriff of the area, Willis V. McCall rallied a mob of 1,000 local men to locate the accused. Ernest Thomas was killed during pursuit after being shot 400 times by the mob. Shepherd, Irvin, and Greenlee were beaten and coerced into confessing to the crime, only Irvin refused. The trio were immediately convicted by an all-white jury. Shephard and Irvin were sentenced to death while Greenlee, a minor, was sentenced to life in prison. In 1951, Harry and the NAACP legal team appealed the case before the United States Supreme Court. The Court ruled the men were not given a fair trial and sent the case back for retrial at the lower court. In November of 1951, while transporting Shepherd and Irvin back to the county prison for the retrial, Sheriff McCall shot the handcuffed men, killing Shepherd and seriously injuring Irvin. Moore launched an aggressive campaign to have McCall removed from his position and indicted for his involvement in the deaths. He wrote letters to President Truman, the governor, congressmen and several state and county legislators about McCall and the case. Many historians believe Moore's involvement in this case led to his murder only six weeks later. In 2019, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued the Groveland Four a posthumous pardon.
On December 25, 1951, both Christmas and the Moore's 25th wedding anniversary, a bomb exploded under their home, directly below the Moore's bedroom. Harry died on the way to the hospital. His funeral took place on January 2, 1952 to a crowd of 3,500, according to Ebony magazine. The following day, January 3, Harriette died from the injuries she sustained in the bombing. Her funeral took place on January 8, where NAACP leader Roy Wilkins spoke eloquently about the Moores and how their work will not be forgotten. The Moores are often called the first martyrs of the 1950s Civil Rights Movement.
The world quickly took note of Harry and Harriet's murders. Newspapers around the world criticized the U.S. for its treatment of African American citizens. The murders were discussed on the floor of the United Nations and the halls of Congress. There were many investigations at the time of the bombing, but the perpetrators were not found. The case was reopened in 1978, but again no charges were filed. In 2004-2006, the investigation was again reopened and led to the conclusion that the murders were conducted by the Central Florida Klu Klux Klan. The men believed responsible were Earl J. Brooklyn, Tillman H. Belvin, Joseph N. Cox, and Edward L. Spivey. However, all the men had died by this time, therefore no one was ever charged for the Moores' murder.
Evangeline was extremely involved in the investigation and worked directly with the attorney general. By the mid-1990s, Evangeline began to take a public role in preserving the memory of her family's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. In 1995, she helped organize the Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. Moore Homesite Development Committee, a non-profit organization that raised money for an educational site dedicated to celebrating the life and work of the Moores. In 2004, Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park opened, featuring a museum, the original Moore homesite, and a 12-acre park. There are annual celebrations held in the second week of December in Mims, honoring the Moore family's sacrifices for human rights. In 2015, the Florida State Senate adopted resolution SR1638, "Remembering the outstanding contributions of pioneer leaders and martyrs Harriette Vyda Simms Moore and Harry T. Moore in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, etc." In October 2015, Evangeline passed away in New Carrolton, Maryland.
Historical Timeline
1902 -- Harriette V. Simms was born in West Palm Beach, Florida to David I. Simms and Annie Warren Simms.
1905 -- Harry Tyson Moore was born in Houston, Florida to Stephen John "Johnny" Moore and Rosa Tyson Moore.
1914-1916 -- Johnny Moore died. Rosa Moore sent Harry to Daytona Beach, Florida to stay with family because of financial difficulties. Harry and his maternal aunts moved to Jacksonville, Florida for better educational opportunities.
1919 -- Moore returned to Houston, Florida and began the high school program at Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial Institute. He graduated with a teaching degree in 1924.
1925 -- Harry earned his teaching certificate and immediately began teaching position at the segregated Monroe Elementary School in Cocoa, Florida.
1926 -- Harry and Harriette wed on Christmas.
1927 -- The Moore newlyweds moved in with Harriette's parents. Harry began teaching at the Titusville Colored Junior High School in Titusville, Florida.
1928 -- Annie Rosa Moore was born. In the fall, Harriette began working as a teacher at Mims Colored Elementary School in Mims, Florida.
1930 -- [Juanita] Evangeline Moore was born. Harry began taking correspondence courses at the University of Florida.
1931 -- Harry and his family move into their own home in Mims, Florida.
1934 -- Harry founded the Brevard County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
1936 -- Harry graduated from Bethune-Cookman College (BCC) with a normal degree in education. In the fall, Harry became a teacher and the principal of Mims Colored Elementary School.
1938 -- In March, Attorney S.D. McGill filed a lawsuit for pay equality with Cocoa Junior School principal John Gilbert as the plaintiff. The case was dismissed in June.
1939 -- The appeal case of Gilbert v. Board of Public Instruction of Brevard County was dismissed. The case was represented by NAACP Legal Counsel, Thurgood Marshall.
1941 -- Harry organized and served as president of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP. Harriette graduated from Bethune-Cookman College with a teaching degree.
1944 -- Harry founded the Progressive Voters League as a political partisan action group in opposition to the NAACP non-partisan stance.
1946 -- As a result of his civil rights work and activism, Harry and Harriette lost their teaching positions at Mims Elementary School.
1947 -- Evangeline enrolled in BCC. Harry became the NAACP's first fully paid executive secretary of the Brevard County chapter.
1948 -- Harriette began teaching at the Lake Park Colored School in Palm Beach County, Florida.
1950 -- Harriette graduated from BCC with a B.S. in science.
1951 -- Harry graduated with a B.A. from BCC in August. December 25: The Moore's home is firebombed. Harry passed away right before midnight.
1952 -- January 1: Funeral of Harry T. Moore. Jannuary 3: Harriette died from injuries sustained in bombing. January 8: Funeral of Harriette V. Moore. The NAACP awarded the Spingarn medal to Harry T. Moore; his mother Rosa accepted it on his behalf. Evangeline married Drapher Pagan, Sr. Drapher "Skip" Pagan, Jr. is born the following year.
1955 -- The FBI officially closed the Moore homicide investigation case.
1972 -- Annie R. Moore Hampton died suddenly and was buried in Ocala, Florida.
1978 -- The Moore case was reopened but no charges were filed.
1985 -- Creation of the Harry T. Moore Social Service Center in Titusville, Florida.
1991 -- Florida's Governor Lawton Chiles ordered the reopening of the Moores' homicide case; no charges were filed.
1993-1998 -- The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners purchased the Moore homesite to be used as a memorial to the slain couple and created The Harry T. Moore Homesite Development Committee. The Florida State Legislature awarded $700,000 for development of the 10-acre Harry T. Moore Memorial Homesite in Mims, Florida.
1999 -- Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Homesite Historical Marker is unveiled.
2002 -- Brevard County Court Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Justice Center opened.
2003-2004 -- An archeological survey of Moore family home led to an investigation. The Florida State Attorney General Charlie Crist reopened the Moore homicide investigation. The Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Cultural Complex is completed.
2006 -- Attorney General Crist concluded that the perpetrators were four men from the Central Florida Klu Klux Klan. They had all died by this time, so no charges were filed.
2012-2013 -- The post office in Cocoa, Florida was renamed was named in honor of Harry T. and Harriette Moore by an Act of Congress: Public Law 112-243. Harry and Harriette were inducted in the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.
2015 -- Evangeline Moore died in New Carrolton, Maryland.
2019 -- The Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park and Museum was added to U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
2021 -- Brevard County School Board passed a resolution acknowledging the Moore's unjust firings.
Provenance:
Acquired as a gift from Drapher "Skip" Pagan, Jr. in memory of Juanita Evangeline Moore.
The Museum acquired two personal watches, a locket, and 26 textual documents pertaining to Harry and Harriette Moore (2013.157) from Juanita Evangeline Moore in 2013. These materials are viewable via Smithsonian Collections Search. The Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Archival Collection was acquired through a donation from the Moores' grandson, Drapher "Skip" Pagan, Jr. in 2018.
Restrictions:
The NMAAHC Archives can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes.
Rights:
The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making reproductions of copyrighted material. Any reproductions of these materials are not to be used for any purpose other than research or educational use.
21.6 Cubic feet (consisting of 17 cartons, 2 oversized boxes.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts
Color slides
Exhibition records
Exhibit scripts
Contact sheets
Photographic prints
Correspondence
Place:
Washington Metropolitan Area
Date:
1942-1998
Summary:
These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of an exhibition exploring the immigration of people of African descent from Central and South America and the Caribbean to the Washington Metropolitan Area. The show was organized and hosted by the Anacostia Museum from August 21, 1994 through August 7, 1995. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit script, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, floor plans, and catalogues.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Black Mosaic exhibition presented by the Anacostia Community Museum measure 21.6 cubic feet and date from 1942 to 1998, with the bulk of material dating from 1990 to 1995. The records include administrative records, publications, research files, floor plans, exhibit text drafts, oral history transcripts, and project files for programs coordinated for or tangentially with the Black Mosaic Exhibit.
Administrative records include advisory board member lists, meeting minutes, agendas, grant proposals, project reports and assessments, correspondence, training material for museum volunteers and docents, and assorted notes. Publications within the series directly relate to the Black Mosaic Exhibit and the Anacostia Community Museum. Correspondence includes both internal correspondence and those with local community members.
Writings and notes were previously scattered throughout the collection have been collocated within the Administrative Records series, and a majority are undated. The notes cover topics ranging from administrative activities to exhibit and research planning. Included are printed documents, scrap paper, and spiral-bound notebooks.
The research files contain background information about numerous immigrant communities within Washington D.C. The community research files were originally organized by country, continent, or region of origin, and then later by subjects that coordinated with the exhibit's designated themes. This organization method has largely been maintained. Research files include scholarly articles, news clippings, event programs, compiled bibliographies, and material related to the study of museology.
The exhibit files include floor plan layouts, photocopies of images, interview transcripts, exhibit literature, and extensive exhibit text drafts. Drafts of the exhibit's text include notes throughout multiple editing stages. Additionally, copies of flip books for different thematic sections of the Black Mosaic exhibit are included and are organized alphabetically by title. Other exhibit literature present is primarily in English with one French copy present.
The project files include training material for collecting oral histories and documenting community folklife, conference records, event records, and records pertaining to related projects at the Anacostia Community Museum. Concurrent projects supporting the exhibit include the Black Mosaic community newsletter and an educational curriculum project. Additional project records that thematically overlap with the Black Mosaic exhibit but extend beyond the timeframe of the formal exhibit are present also.
Arrangement:
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. exhibition records are arranged in four series:
Series 1: Administrative Records
Series 2: Research Files
Series 3: Exhibit Files
Series 4: Project Files
Historical Note:
The exhibit Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. was curated by the Anacostia Community Museum's supervisory curator Portia James, and was open at the Anacostia Community Museum from August 1994 to August 1995. The exhibition explored the immigration of people of African descent from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean to the Washington Metropolitan Area.
Topics addressed in the exhibition include migration, situations faced by Black immigrants, the maintenance of relationships with places of origin, community events and cultural performances, public and private expressions of culture, commodification of culture for economic support, and the expression of multiple identities. Some intentions of the exhibit were to provide forums for discussing culture and identity, provide resources for people learning about communities in the Washington Metro area, and to be a model to other museums and cultural institutions for understanding and interpreting similar immigration and settlement patterns.
The exhibit was designed to be experienced with broader cultural concepts being introduced towards the external part of the exhibit, while personal stories could be experienced further in. Over 100 oral history interviews featured prominently in the exhibit where interviewed individuals explained their immigration experience and how they've adapted to life in the area. The exhibit also included mounted photographs, artifacts, music, and conversations. Artifacts included passport photos, tickets, family photographs, and letters. The exhibit's text displayed in three languages: English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. There were additional exhibition guides provided in Brazilian Portuguese, French, and the Ghanaian languages of Ga, Twi, Akan, and Ewe.
Coupled with the exhibit, the museum coordinated an extensive series of programs to engage various communities in the exploration of issues and traditions. These programs included creating newsletters and a photograph exhibit to keep the community up to date about the progression of the exhibit, working with performance groups, creating multi-institutional partnerships in order to develop more effective methods of collecting oral histories, and collaborating and modeling for the CFPCS African Immigrant Communities project.
Provenance:
Records of Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity Among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. Exhibition were created by the Anacostia Community Museum.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Immigrants -- United States -- Exhibitions Search this
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
The collection documents Louis S. Nixdorff's participation in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. He was a member of the University lacrosse team that represented the United States.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains an oversize scrapbook of newspaper clippings, loose clippings from a Baltimore newspaper Sunday supplements, a diary recorded by Nixdorff, and an album of photographs that Nixdorff took on the Amsterdam visit and several other trips.
The newspaper clippings in an oversize scrapbook follow the fortunes of the Johns Hopkins University lacrosse team, national champions for 1926 and 1927, through its 1928 season, a post-season series, the playoffs to represent the United States at the Olympic Games in the summer of 1928, and the Olympic lacrosse games in Amsterdam. Newspaper clippings years later reminisce about the 1928 lacrosse team at the Olympic games in Amsterdam.
The newspaper clippings recounting various games are seldom identified and most of the articles are not dated. Some are from the Baltimore Post, later taken over by the News and were written by Yale Merrill. Others are from the Sunpapers, morning and evening. Some carry an Associated Press identification. Many of the accounts of the 1928 intercollegiate season prior to the Olympic Games were written by W. Wilson Wingate. Some of the news clippings are incomplete.
The trip of the 268 Olympic athletes to Amsterdam on the S.S. President Roosevelt is described graphically by Louis S. Nixdorff in his diary. The diary transcript included later in this Register has been transcribed exactly as written by the author, regardless of omissions of obvious words or occasional misspellings. The diary entries relating to the voyage clearly depict the boredom of the long voyage for young athletes eager to get to Amsterdam and compete in the Olympics. Training was continued during the trip insofar as it was possible on shipboard. Training and meals represented welcome relief from the monotony of the journey.
The diary is written in a clear hand in a soft-cover, lined notebook. Nixdorff presumably purchased it specifically to put his thoughts and observations down on this exciting and, to him, historic trip. The diary covers the period from the departure of the lacrosse team from the Baltimore and Ohio railroad station in Baltimore for New York on July 10, 1928, to the departure from Cherbourg for home on August 15, 1928. It includes Mr. Nixdorff's accounts of shipboard life, the game against the Canadians that the Americans won and their loss to the English team on the following day. England's subsequent loss to Canada meant that each team had a win and a loss. No team was declared a victor. The diary also covers a one-week stay in Paris, including a trip to the nearby World War I battlefields.
The collection contains snapshots that Nixdorff took on the S.S. President Roosevelt en route to Amsterdam, and images of Olympic events and of sightseeing in and around Amsterdam and Paris. These photographs mounted in an album portray an individual's effort to document his travels in a meaningful way.
Other material in the collection includes copies of three reminiscent articles published in the Baltimore Sun magazine section on April 5, 1951, June 26, 1955, and April 23, 1978; photogravure pictures of a Hopkins University of Virginia game and a Hopkins-University of Maryland game without attribution or date; Mr. Nixdorff's visa for France; Gen. Douglas MacArthur's report on the ninth Olympiad to the president of the United States; the official program for August 5, 1928; the passenger list for the S.S. President Roosevelt's return to New York; a cloth Olympic blazer patch; and two cloth lacrosse numbers.
This collection represents a contribution to both sports history and the history of the Olympics. The collection complements several Archives Center photographic collections, emphasizing international travel and touring by an American between the two World Wars.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into five series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1926-1987
Series 2: Diary, 1928
Series 3: Photographs, 1928
Series 4: Newspaper clippings/Scrapbook, 1928, 1951, 1955, 1978
Series 5: Programs, Awards, Invitations, 1928
Biographical / Historical:
Louis S. Nixdorff (October 1, 1906-January 23, 1992), a native Baltimorean, spent his life there. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in 1924 and from the Johns Hopkins University in 1928 with a degree in business administration. While attending Johns Hopkins he was a member of the University lacrosse team that represented the United States at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. He later became a real estate executive and president of Properties Incorporated in Baltimore. Mr. Nixdorff continued to make real estate appraisals and to manage properties after retirement. He belonged to the Johns Hopkins Club, the Baltimore City Real Estate Brokers Round Table and the Maryland Historical Society. He also was an enthusiastic golfer.
The tremendous interest and excitement generated by lacrosse in Baltimore in 1928 is clear from the press coverage of intercollegiate lacrosse for that year. Stories on important games began at least a day before the event, continued during the day of the game in morning and evening papers and lasted for at least a day afterward.
The process that culminated in the selection of the Johns Hopkins University team to represent the United States in the Olympic games in Amsterdam was a formal one. The lacrosse ladder selected by the Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association to place before the Olympic Committee included ten teams. Of these, six were chosen by the Olympic Lacrosse Committee for national playoffs: the Mount Washington Club, Army, Navy, the University of Maryland, Rutgers and the Johns Hopkins University. In the playoffs the University of Maryland defeated Rutgers 7-2 and Navy 6-2. Hopkins defeated Mt. Washington 6-4 and Army 4-2. In ever-mounting excitement, Hopkins on June 23, 1928, overwhelmed Maryland 6-3. The executive committee of the American Olympics Commission formally ratified this selection of the Johns Hopkins University lacrosse team to represent the United States at the 1928 Olympics. Four members of that team are in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame: C. Gardner Mallonee, John Lang, Tom Biddison, and Bill Logan.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
George W. Sims Collection (AC0127)
Clyde W. Stauffer Photographic Album (AC0139)
Donald Sultner-Welles Collection (AC0145)
Separated Materials:
An Olympic blazer patch and two lacrosse numbers are in the Division of Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life).
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Mrs. Anne Byrd Nixdorff, January 1992.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
