Ivan Karp (1943-2011) was a curator of African Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) from 1984 to 1993. He was also a professor at Emory University from 1993 to 2011. He conducted fieldwork among the Iteso (Teso) of Kenya and made significant contributions to the areas of African systems of thought, social theory, museum studies, and public scholarship. His collection contains his research on the Iteso of Kenya; his work at Emory University and the Smithsonian Institution; his reviews of manuscripts and books; recommendations that he wrote for his colleagues and students; his published articles and papers presented at conferences; and his project files on various topics including museum studies, African philosophy, public scholarship, agency and personhood, and the history of social anthropology.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the professional papers of Ivan Karp, documenting his work as an anthropologist, professor, and museum curator. The materials include his research on the Iteso of Kenya; his work at Emory University and the Smithsonian Institution; his reviews of manuscripts and books; recommendations that he wrote for his colleagues and students; his published articles and papers presented at conferences; and his project files on various topics including museum studies, African philosophy, public scholarship, agency and personhood, and the history of social anthropology.
Karp's Iteso research files span from the late 1960s to the 1990s. These materials consist of his field notes, in both paper and digital form; household surveys; photographs; sound recordings; maps; grant proposals; bibliographic research; correspondence; notes and drafts of his dissertation; and his other writings. A great deal of the field materials was collected by his field assistants, particularly Steven Omuse. Some field materials were also collected by Karp's first wife, Patricia.
His Smithsonian files are electronic and contain little documentation regarding his administrative work. There are, however, some materials relating to the planning of exhibits at NMNH and a proposal to establish a program focusing on the African continent and the African Diaspora. There is also a memo with Karp's response to questions from a House Subcommittee regarding the National African American Museum and complaints about the NMNH Africa Hall. Other associated materials include his research and papers on museums and exhibits. While there are no files pertaining to the first two museum conferences he organized, a folder titled "Bellagio" contains documentation for the conference and associated workshops on museums and globalization that he organized while at Emory.
Karp's files from Emory are also in digital form and more substantive than his Smithsonian materials. They document his work on the different committees he chaired and programs he directed and founded, including the Center for the Study of Public Scholarship. His Emory files also include his comments on students' dissertations, papers, and proposals.
The digital files also document Karp's other areas of interests, particularly African philosophy; concepts of identity, personhood, and agency; and the relationships between international development and personhood. His work on African philosophy largely consists of files from a number of collaborative projects with Kenyan philosopher Dismas Masolo, including the 1993 conference in Nairobi they organized and the associated volume they edited, African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry (2000). There are a few files of research on the Luo people. His research on development and personhood focuses on Africa, particularly on Kenya, and includes his papers, notes, and reference sources, which also exist in paper form. There are also files of obituaries and memorials of Karp from numerous publications and events.
Other materials in Karp's collection include his doctorate diploma, his Master's thesis, family photos, and a wedding album from his first marriage.
Arrangement:
This collection is organized into 6 series: 1) Iteso Research; 2) Development Discourse; 3) Personal; 4) Photographs; 5) Sound Recordings; 6) Born Digital Files.
Biographical / Historical:
Ivan Karp (1943-2011) was a curator of African Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) from 1984 to 1993. He conducted fieldwork among the Iteso (Teso) of Kenya and made significant contributions to the areas of African systems of thought, museum studies, and public scholarship.
Karp was born on August 27, 1943 in Stamford, Connecticut. He attended the University of Vermont as an undergraduate, majoring in Sociology and Anthropology (1961-1965), and pursued graduate studies in Social Anthroplogy at the University of Rochester (1967-1969). Karp received his M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. (1974) from University of Virginia. As a doctoral student he conducted research among the Iteso from 1969 to 1971. His dissertation, titled Fields of Change Among the Iteso of Kenya, was published in 1978. Karp continued his research on the Iteso into the 1990s and published various papers including "Beer Drinking and Social Experience in African Society" (1980) and "Laughter at Marriage: Subversion in Performance" (1987).
Before his employment at the Smithsonian, Karp held a teaching appointment at Colgate University from 1972 to 1975 and was a professor at Indiana University from 1976 to 1984. At Indiana University, he coedited with Charles S. Bird Explorations in African Systems of Thought (1980), the first of a 34-volume series published under his editorship.
He left Indiana University in 1984 to become the Curator of African Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History. While at the Smithsonian, he served as Chair of the Ethnology Division and established with William Merrill the Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry. It was also during this period that Karp began to critically examine museum practice, concepts of identity and agency, and systems of representation in relation to museum exhibits. He and Steven Lavine organized two major conferences on museums and co-edited the resulting conference proceedings: Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display (1991) and Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture (1992).
In 1993, Karp left the Smithsonian to direct the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts (1993-1996) at Emory University. He also served as director of the university's Institute of African Studies (1996-1999) and the Emory Center for International Studies (1996-1999). In addition, he cofounded and codirected with Corinne Kratz, his second wife, the Center for the Study of Public Scholarship (CSPS) from 1994 to 2009 and the Grant Writing Program from 1992 to 2011. Through the CSPS, he and Kratz also established and codirected the Institutions of Public Culture program, a collaboration with South African colleagues that brought together scholars of public culture from universities, museums, NGOs, political and arts organizations and related institutions (2000-2008). Karp also continued to facilitate discussions on museums, working with Kratz and his colleagues at the Rockefeller Foundation to organize a series of international workshops and a conference in 2002 on museums and globalization. He coedited Museum Frictions: Public Cultures/Global Transformations (2006), a collection of papers presented at the conference.
Karp retired from teaching at Emory University in May 2011 but planned to continue working with the Laney Graduate School's Grant Writing Program until full retirement in August 2013. Not long after finishing his last graduate seminar, Ivan Karp died at the age of 68 on September 17, 2011 in New Mexico.
1943 -- Born on August 27 in Stamford, Connecticut.
1961-1965 -- Undergraduate studies at University of Vermont with major in Sociology and Anthropology.
1965-1967 -- Graduate studies in Social Anthropology at the University of Rochester.
1969 -- Earns M.A. from University of Virginia. Begins conducting fieldwork among the Southern Iteso in Busia District, Kenya.
1972-1975 -- Instructor and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Colgate University.
1974 -- Earns Ph.D. from University of Virginia.
1976-1984 -- Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University.
1984-1993 -- Curator of African Ethnology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Insitution.
1987 -- Organizes conference on "The Poetics and Politics of Exhibiting Other Cultures."
1988 -- Organizes conference on "Museums and their Communities."
1993-1996 -- Director of Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts, Emory University.
1994-2009 -- Director of Center for the Study of Public Scholarship, Emory University.
1996-1999 -- Director of Emory Center for International Studies, Emory University. Director of Institute of African Studies, Emory University
2000-2008 -- Director of Institutions of Public Culture program through CSPS.
2002 -- Organizes conference on " Museums and Global Public Spheres" held in Italy at Bellagio Conference Center of the Rockefeller Foundation.
2009 -- Moves to Santa Fe, NM where he had bought a home in 2003.
2011 -- Retires from teaching at Emory University. Dies on September 17 at the age of 68.
Related Materials:
Artifacts collected by Ivan Karp can be found in the National Museum of Natural History's Department of Anthropology Collections (Accession #390893 and 416181). Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music holds some of Karp's original Iteso sound recordings.
Separated Materials:
Four DVDs and a videotape were separated from the collection and transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives. One of the recordings is an interview with Karp that Robert Lavenda and Emily Schultz conducted in 1989 to accompany their introductory anthropology textbook, Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition. The rest of the recordings are of Karp giving presentations.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Corinne Kratz in 2014.
Restrictions:
Recommendations that Karp wrote for his colleagues and students are restricted until 2061.
Access to the Ivan Karp papers requires an appointment.
This folder seems to consist of a paper presented at a conference in March 1990 (IDENTITY.LEC) and a series of notes related to the paper's themes, but with file dates that post-date the lecture file. The conference seems to have been at the Smithsonian, based on internal references. It's highly possible that this was part of Karp's presentation at the Museums and Communities conference, which took place in March 1990 at the Smithsonian. The notes are partial outlines or short segments of text or copied sections of articles that Karp planned to use or quote. Some of these notes files are duplicative, but not identical. The file called IVAN is a compilation of many of the notes.
The general themes of the paper and the notes include concepts of identity and personhood, processes of identity formation, and the ways that systems of representation and politics and power entwine. They also engage debates around multiculturalism that were prominent at the time. The paper (IDENTITY.LEC) was not published, but some material from that and the notes were eventually worked into several publications: his two essays in Museums and Communities and "Reflections on the Fate of Tippoo's Tiger" (Karp and Kratz). Some illustrations and stories in the paper vary from the ones Karp used in published work.
This folder may be titled ACLS because Karp gave a lecture for ACLS around that time. From 1988-92, he was Chair of the SSRC/ACLS Joint Committee on Africa-Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship Program for Research and Training for Social Scientists in the Natural Sciences. In this capacity he would have been in regular contact with people from all three foundations (ACLS, SSRC, Rockefeller).
Collection Restrictions:
Recommendations that Karp wrote for his colleagues and students are restricted until 2061.
Access to the Ivan Karp papers requires an appointment.
Collection Citation:
Ivan Karp papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with the support of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Corinne Kratz.
This folder has files related to some of Karp's work on and in museums/exhibitions while he was at the Smithsonian and the first few years at Emory. It includes abstracts for talks (given at CAA meetings, in New Zealand, etc.); comments/memos on a range of topics, including controversy over the Enola Gay exhibit, his consultancy work for LA Festival, some meetings about exhibits, and methods for visitor research; brief fieldnote descriptions (e.g. Worker's Museum in Denmark); reviews of manuscripts and proposals concerning museums and exhibitions; and a draft plan for an African exhibition at the Smithsonian. There are also files for the Exhibiting Cultures and Museums and Communities volumes (also present in folder "PAPERS").
Subfolder "Bushmen" contains some research that Karp commissioned from Caroline Jeannerat in 1992 (she was a student working with Carolyn Hamilton at Wits.). The four files are explained in the letter at the end of the file "INFONOTE." Karp asked her to find out what kind of coverage and responses there had been to reports of 1979 killings of Bushmen by S African soldiers, which had been reported as "hunting" in some cases. Karp was looking into this both in relation to his research with Kratz on representations of cultural difference and in relation to the Bushman diorama at NMNH.
Subfolder "KarpKratzProjects" holds files related to joint research and writing projects that Karp and Kratz developed in the early 1990s. They developed several research proposals, submitted to NSF and to at least two internal Smithsonian funds (at least one was successful). Files relate to different versions and sections of these applications, as well as letters and comments on their Disney World paper. The subfolder "Tippoo" has various versions, draft sections, colleague's comments and other information for what became their 2000 publication "Reflections on the fate of Tippoo's Tiger," which first began as a public lecture that Karp presented at the Getty Research Center in 1991. There are other Tippoo-related files in the folder "PAPERS."
Subfolder "Tapes" are transcriptions from tape recordings that Kratz and Karp made during their research as they visited museums and exhibits – the Field Museum, the Geffrye Museum, Victoria & Albert and Museum of Mankind in London, and the "African Reflections" exhibition about Mangbetu and Azande at the American Museum of Natural History. Some are excerpts from the full transcription (e.g. "AFRICA.FLD" AND "TRAVPAC.FLD" and both part of the overall transcription "FIELD.WP"). The Mangbetu transcription ends with an interview with an unidentified woman, likely Enid Schildkrout, the exhibition's curator. Karp wrote a review of the exhibit (see "PAPERS" folder). Some of these transcriptions were done by Robert Leopold, who worked for Karp at the Smithsonian, and reviewed by Kratz.
Collection Restrictions:
Recommendations that Karp wrote for his colleagues and students are restricted until 2061.
Access to the Ivan Karp papers requires an appointment.
Collection Citation:
Ivan Karp papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with the support of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Corinne Kratz.
This subseries contains some of the files and folders from Karp's tenure at the National Museum of Natural History. Copies of many of these files and folders are present elsewhere in this series. The main subfolder is "Af Cul Div". It also includes two other files, Spencer and Kenyatta. The former is a draft letter from 1992 that Karp and Kratz were developing to interest the Spencer Foundation in supporting their project. "Kenyatta" was text and background for planning of the new African Voices exhibit. There is also an internal memo Karp wrote concerning matters that were in process in relation to collections when he went to Kenya to do research in 1984 ("PROCLAB.MSS" – perhaps misnamed?). N.B. that other projects that Karp worked on during his Smithsonian years are contained in other folders, where he had placed them. This includes the folder "MUSEUMS", which has files from some of Karp and Kratz's joint projects, from the Exhibiting Cultures and Museums and Communities conference/book projects and some exhibit/museum related memos and notes. The folders "Af Phil" and "LUO" also contain files for joint projects Karp did with or planned with Dismas Masolo. The "Fieldnotes" folder contains files from his work in Kenya while at the Smithsonian and from some of his and Kratz's joint projects.
Subfolder "Af Cul Div": During 1992 Karp was working on a congressional appropriation to create a research program to be called variously Cultural Identity and Diversity in Africa or Cultural Diversity and Identity in Africa and Its Diaspora. In various versions it was for an initial two years or an initial three years, but planned to get up to full speed in five years and to be permanent and ongoing. These files are different versions of that proposal – a full version, the short 4-paragraph version required for Congressional submission, a version for the Congressional Black Caucus, program relevance and budget justifications etc. Some file names are based on the forms they addressed (e.g. F-2A) It was to be a collaborative project involving African, American, and African Diaspora scholars and was to produce an exhibit, publications, annual workshops and more. It was to work across Smithsonian museums, including the National African American Museum which was barely started then. The principal SI staff were Karp, Mary Jo Arnoldi and Fath Ruffins.
The proposals and memos about this program date to the early part of 1992. In the summer a House Subcommittee called the Secretary of SI to testify about the National African American Museum and complaints about the NMNH Africa Hall were
raised that eventually led to its closure late in 1992. This folder also includes Karp's memo providing information in response to questions from the Clay Subcommittee, with the proposed program as evidence of new activity and changes.
Collection Restrictions:
Recommendations that Karp wrote for his colleagues and students are restricted until 2061.
Access to the Ivan Karp papers requires an appointment.
Collection Citation:
Ivan Karp papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with the support of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Corinne Kratz.
Jane Glaser was interviewed by Maggie Bertin on June 28, 1996. Born in Indiana in 1923, Glaser began her career in museum work at a children's museum in Charleston, West Virginia. She worked there for 12 years before coming to the Smithsonian in 1975 a...
During the workshop, students created three-dimensional models of original inventions or innovations after a guided tour of the museum's exhibition on African American inventors titled 'The Real McCoy: Afro-American Invention and Innovation 1619-1930.' Workshop was recommended for third and fourth grade students. The workshop was held at the Anacostia Museum on February 5, 1990.
Workshop. Related to exhibition 'The Real McCoy: Afro-American Invention and Innovation 1619-1930.' AV002113 and AV002116: dated 19900205. AV002058: undated.
Biographical / Historical:
The exhibition - The Real McCoy: African-American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930 - focused on outstanding black inventors, as well as anonymous innovators, who, as slaves, craftsmen and workers, made important contributions to the United States. Included are actual inventions, such an Jan Matzelieger's "shoe-lasting" machine, which revolutionized shoe production, and Garrett Morgan's safety hood and automatic traffic signal, forerunners of the modern gas mask and traffic stop light. The exhibition examines such topics as African influences on Colonial technology and how the slave system stymied technological innovation. Individual inventors such as Lewis Temple, Elijah McCoy, James Forten, and Norbert Rillieux are profiled. Also featured are artifacts from some of the expositions of the late 19th-century, which celebrated this new surge of black inventiveness. The exhibition was curated by Portia James and organized by the Anacostia Museum. It was held at the museum from May 1989 - May 1990.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV002116
ACMA AV002058
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset and calendar of events for Jan/Feb 1990.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
To a group of children, Lorenzo Calender, professional storyteller and Griot, spoke of the African origin of the language of Swahili, agriculture, navigation, monotheism, and algebra. He led the children through a portion of the exhibition 'The Real McCoy: Afro-American Invention and Innovation 1619-1930,' and told stories.
Event. Related to exhibition 'The Real McCoy: Afro-American Invention and Innovation 1619-1930.' Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
The exhibition - The Real McCoy: African-American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930 - focused on outstanding black inventors, as well as anonymous innovators, who, as slaves, craftsmen and workers, made important contributions to the United States. Included are actual inventions, such an Jan Matzelieger's "shoe-lasting" machine, which revolutionized shoe production, and Garrett Morgan's safety hood and automatic traffic signal, forerunners of the modern gas mask and traffic stop light. The exhibition examines such topics as African influences on Colonial technology and how the slave system stymied technological innovation. Individual inventors such as Lewis Temple, Elijah McCoy, James Forten, and Norbert Rillieux are profiled. Also featured are artifacts from some of the expositions of the late 19th-century, which celebrated this new surge of black inventiveness. The exhibition was curated by Portia James and organized by the Anacostia Museum. It was held at the museum from May 1989 - May 1990.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
To a group of children, a woman told stories about inventors, including Benjamin Banneker, Norbert Rillieux, Elijah McCoy, Lewis Latimer, and Madame CJ Walker.
Event. Related to exhibition 'The Real McCoy: Afro-American Invention and Innovation 1619-1930.' Transcribed from physical asset: 'Eraka.' Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
The exhibition - The Real McCoy: African-American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930 - focused on outstanding black inventors, as well as anonymous innovators, who, as slaves, craftsmen and workers, made important contributions to the United States. Included are actual inventions, such an Jan Matzelieger's "shoe-lasting" machine, which revolutionized shoe production, and Garrett Morgan's safety hood and automatic traffic signal, forerunners of the modern gas mask and traffic stop light. The exhibition examines such topics as African influences on Colonial technology and how the slave system stymied technological innovation. Individual inventors such as Lewis Temple, Elijah McCoy, James Forten, and Norbert Rillieux are profiled. Also featured are artifacts from some of the expositions of the late 19th-century, which celebrated this new surge of black inventiveness. The exhibition was curated by Portia James and organized by the Anacostia Museum. It was held at the museum from May 1989 - May 1990.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Container:
Box 17, Folder 20
Type:
Archival materials
Text
Date:
1995
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
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).
After reading a story about a little girl in Africa who was enslaved and taken to America, Robert Hall led a group of students on a tour of the exhibition 'Before Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South." Participating students attended Stanton Elementary School, 6th Grade; Af. Ctrd School, 3rd Grade; and Beginning Elementary School, 5th-6th Grade.
Exhibition tour. Related to exhibition 'Before Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South.' Dated 19931213.
Biographical / Historical:
'Before Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South' explored the world of African Americans, their families, and communities in the antebellum South. The exhibition was developed for circulation by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) with the assistance of the Anacostia Museum and the National Museum of American History. It was adapted from an exhibition organized by the Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. The exhibition was held at the Anacostia Museum from December 12, 1993 - March 1, 1994.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Museum educator Joanna Banks discussed the meaning of prejudice and marching for justice with Brookland Elementary School students. The students visited the museum to view the exhibition 'To Achieve These Rights: The Struggle for Equality and Self Determination in D.C., 1791-1978'
Discussion. Related to exhibition 'To Achieve These Rights: The Struggle for Equality and Self Determination in D.C., 1791-1978.' Dated 19920410.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection 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
Instructions to be used for the pretest and the post-test given to student groups regarding the exhibition 'Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South.'
Instructions. Sound only. Part of Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South Audiovisual Records. Dated 19820416.
Biographical / Historical:
The collection, Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South Audiovisual Records, contains sound and video recordings of exhibit tours, gallery talks, and lectures associated with an exhibition, Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South. The exhibition - Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South - presented the life and times of Washington, D.C. black educator and author Anna Julia Haywood Cooper through historical documents, photographs, memorabilia, and re-creations of her home and classroom settings. It was organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from February 1981 to September 1982; Louise Daniel Hutchinson served as curator. The exhibition was based on an unpublished manuscript by the late Dr. Leona Gable, Smith College; and titled after Cooper's written work, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Introductory narration for museum exhibit, Evolution of a Community, draws parallel between the greed and ignorance of Europeans enslaving and dehumanizing Africans beginning in 1442, and the racism and inequality of African Americans 500 years later. The museum exhibit examines the social ills - unemployment, feeble health care, starving bodies, poor housing, and deadly drugs - that daily plaque the community of Anacostia.
Narration. Part of Evolution of a Community Audiovisual Records. Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Evolution of a Community, an exhibit at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from January 1972 though December 1972, presented the history of Anacostia from post-World War II to the present through photos, text, drawings, video tape programs, and a slide/tape show. Evolution of a Community Part II, also known as Anacostia Today, was on display at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from March 1973 though July 1973. The exhibitions developed as a result oral histories collected from Anacostia residents.
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection 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.
Prologue to Evolution of a Community Part II, Exhibition Records AV03-040, 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 Smithsonian Institution president, Anacostia residents, and city politicians provide remarks for the official opening of the exhibition Evolution of a Community at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. Their speeches cover the history, purpose, and growth of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum; an introduction to the exhibit; the role of museums, particularly the role of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum within in the community of Anacostia and the city of Washington, D.C.; a short history of the people of Anacostia, including the establishment of Anacostia and Barry Farms; the importance of recording history for the people of a community; the present state of Anacostia; and what Anacostia will be for future generations. Recording also includes footage of exhibit displays, museums visitors, and exterior of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum; and a musical performance by Blackstone Rangers Band.
Exhibition opening. Part of Evolution of a Community Audiovisual Records. AV003208: part 1. AV003182: part 2. AV003208: glitches/skips in video recording. Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Evolution of a Community, an exhibit at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from January 1972 though December 1972, presented the history of Anacostia from post-World War II to the present through photos, text, drawings, video tape programs, and a slide/tape show. Evolution of a Community Part II, also known as Anacostia Today, was on display at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from March 1973 though July 1973. The exhibitions developed as a result oral histories collected from Anacostia residents.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003208
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection 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.
Opening: Evolution of a Community Pt. 1, Exhibition Records AV03-040, 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).
Older residents of Anacostia share their experiences and memories growing up and living in the once tight knit community, Anacostia, to provide evidence of Anacostia's history with goal of understanding the history of the community for present and future generations and with the theory that if man does not know where he came from, he/she cannot know here he/she is, and has no direction for the future. Martha Ellis reminiscences about her work at the public schools, particularly Birney School. Ruth Duckett, Ellis' daughter, talks about her work with the youth group at the Southeast House; when it was safe to sit outside and walk down the street; the portrayal of Anacostia in the newspapers and media; successful people who grew up in Anacostia and moved to other parts of the city and country; the baseball club Anacostia ACs; and ministers and movement of churches in the area. Churches mentioned by Duckett and other residents include Macedonia Baptist Church, St. Teresa's Catholic Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, and Campbell A.M.E. Church. Residents speak about Anacostia's rich heritage of people doing things - the craftsmen, construction workers, business people, and entrepreneurs - including sign painter, automobile painter, and artist Walter McKenzie; the fish man Mr. Chapman; the Greenwood family and their family business, Greenwood Transfer Moving and Storage Company; and the Taylor family, specifically Blakely Taylor, who were brick layers. They reminiscence about how everyone knew everyone, how everyone helped each other and the community thrive, when mothers stayed home and took care of children, when children participated in programs at the recreation center, when police had closer tie to community; and when it is so quiet, residents could hear cars go across the 11th street bridge. Residents also talk about the present: movement of people from different communities into Anacostia, younger Anacostians forced away because of zoning and no housing besides apartments, dirty streets, and violence. Overall, residents do not feel as if everything is bad in Anacostia; they just wish something would be done to fix the problems before they become worse.
Community Program. Filmed during exhibit Evolution of a Community with introduction by John Kinard (transcribed from physical asset AV003581) and moderated by Almore Dale. AV003581: Part 1. AV003088: Part 2. AV003550: Part 3, poor image quality. Part of Evolution of a Community Audiovisual Records. Dated 19720524. AV003383-3 and AV003383-4: sound only, content overlaps with video recordings, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Evolution of a Community, an exhibit at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from January 1972 though December 1972, presented the history of Anacostia from post-World War II to the present through photos, text, drawings, video tape programs, and a slide/tape show. Evolution of a Community Part II, also known as Anacostia Today, was on display at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum from March 1973 though July 1973. The exhibitions developed as a result oral histories collected from Anacostia residents.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003088
ACMA AV003550
ACMA AV003383-3
ACMA AV003383-4
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection 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.
Down Memory Lane, Exhibition Records AV03-040, 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).
