The collection comprises Edward S. Curtis original and copy negatives, prints, and photogravures relating to the Harriman Alaska Expedition and Curtis's 20 volume publication, the North American Indian (NAI), as well as ephemera and one gold-tone of Fort Lapawi.
Scope and Contents:
The Christopher Cardozo collection of Edward S. Curtis papers and photographs primarily relate to Curtis's opus, the North American Indian, and also the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition. Papers in the collection include promotional ephemera for the NAI as well as articles by Curtis and others. Photographic material includes original and copy negatives, prints, two Harriman Alaska Expedition souvenir albums, and one gold-tone of Fort Lapawi.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in two series: 1. Papers; and 2. Photographs and photogravures.
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, eventually, settling down on a farm outside Los Angeles. he later moved in with Beth and Mag. Curtis died at home in 1952.
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.
Christopher Cardozo (1948-2021) was a major collector and dealer in Edward S. Curtis photography.
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds additional Curtis papers and photographs in the Edward S. Curtis papers and photographs, "MS 2000-18, the Edward Curtis investigation of the battle of Little Bighorn"
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.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Julie Cardozo in 2022.
Restrictions:
Viewing of the photographic negatives requires advance notice and the permission of the Photo Archivist.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Portfolios
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Songs sung by Philip Sanchez, translated by Wilbert Hunt, and recorded by Anthony Wilding for M. W. Stirling, Washington, D. C., October, 1928. Songs numbered 1A-24A. Three copies of list, as follows: original, in handwriting of M. W. Stirling, Anthony Wilding, and ; typescript, annotated by Leslie A. White; typescript carbon, edited in writing of M. W. Stirling.
Photographs made as part of Joseph C. Farber's project to document modern NAtive American everyday life. Represented tribes include the Acoma, Apache, Blackfoot, Chehalis, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cocopa, Dakota, Eskimo, Haida, Kiowa, Kutenai, Lummi, Mohave, Mohawk, Navaho, Northern Athabascan, Onandaga, Pima, Pueblo, Quinalt, Seminole, Taos, Tlingit, and Zuni. Subject coverage is broad and varies from tribe to tribe. Included are portraits, as well as totem poles, carving, weaving, pottery, painitng, landscapes, boats and canoes, ceremonial regalia, camps, classes and vocational training, homes and traditional dwellings, construction projects, rodeos and powwows, dances, industries (including lumber), herding and ranching, agriculture, stores and storefronts, cliff dwellings, parades, crab cleaning, fishing, games, health care, legal processes, music, office work, sewing, vending, and a funeral. There are also photographs of R. C. Gorman (and a letter from Gorman to Farber) and Fritz Shoulder (some in color).
Farber's travels included Alaska (Point Barrow, Dead Horse, Glacier Bay, Haines, Hoona, Hydaberg, Ketchikan, Mount McKinley, Prudhoe Bay, Saxman, and Sitka); Alberta (Blackfeet Reservation); Arizona (Canyon de Chelly, Cocopa Reservation, Flagstaff, Kayenta, Monument Valley, Pima Reservation, Quechan Reservation, Mojave Reservation, and Yuma); California (Alcatraz, Oakland, and San Francisco); Florida (Big Cypress Reservation; Miccosukee Reservation); Minnesota (Minneapolis and Nett Lake); Montana (Northern Cheyenne Reservation); New Mexico (Acoma, Gallup, Navajo Forest, Picuris, Puye, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Santa Fe, Taos, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, and Tesuque); New York (New York City and Onandaga Reservation); North Carolina (Cherokee Reservation); Oklahoma (Anadarko, Apache, Lawton, Stilwell, and Tahlequah); South Dakota (Rosebud and Wounded Knee); and Washington (Lummi Reservation, Nisqually River, Puyallup River, and Quinalt Reservation).
Biographical/Historical note:
Joseph C. Farber (1903-1994) was a successful New York businessman and professional photographer. He studied with Edward Steichen at the New York Camera Club in the 1920s. The prints in this collection resulted from a five-year project that involved travelling to Native communities throughout the United States to document modern Native American life. The project resulted in a book, Native Americans: 500 Years After (1975), as well as exhibits, including one in the National Museum of Natural History in 1976-1977.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 78-1, NAA ACC 95-3
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Farber's photographs, previously located in Photo Lot 95-3 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 78-1. These photographs were also made by Joseph C. Farber and form part of this collection.
The National Museum of American History Archives Center holds the Joseph Farber Papers and Photographs, circa 1962-1990.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Photographs published in Farber's books still under copyright. Reproduction permission from artist's estate.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1967 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Fieldwork
Series 3: Photographs
Series 4: Audio
Series 5: Video
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 1967 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
In 1966, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley engaged James R. Morris to serve as Director of Museum Services, soon to become a new Division of Performing Arts. Ripley charged Morris to develop a full program of performances on the National Mall - sound and light show, readings and concerts, films, live demonstrations, and special exhibitions. Morris, who had previously organized the American Folk Festival in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1963, proposed that the Smithsonian host a folk festival as the centerpiece of the outdoors activities. Through the Asheville festival, Morris had come into contact with key people involved in the Newport Folk Festival, among them Alan Lomax. It was Lomax who suggested that the Smithsonian hire Newport's then-director of field programs, Ralph C. Rinzler, to help plan a Smithsonian festival. The term "folklife", drawn from Scandinavian usage, was chosen over "folk" as the name of the new Festival.
The first Festival of American Folklife was held July 1-4, 1967 in two tents - one for crafts and one for sales - a music stage, and a performance area on the terrace of the Museum of History and Technology (later, the National Museum of American History). Fifty-eight traditional craftspeople and thirty-two musical and dance groups from throughout the United States demonstrated and performed at the first open-air event. Mountain banjo-pickers and ballad singers, Chinese lion dancers, Indian sand painters, basket and rug weavers, New Orleans jazz bands and a Bohemian hammer dulcimer band from east Texas combined with the host of participants from many rural and urban areas of the U.S. The entire event was free to the public, the expense of the production having been borne by the Smithsonian aided by numerous civic and cultural organizations, business enterprises and State Arts Councils.
The 1967 Festival drew a huge crowd - estimated at more than 400,000 - and strong interest from the press, Members of Congress, and Smithsonian leadership. In the Smithsonian's annual report for 1967, Ripley reflected on the success of the Festival:
Within - in the Museum - the tools, the products of craft work, the musical instruments hang suspended in cases, caught in beautifully petrified isolation. Without, for the space of a few hours they came alive in the hands of specialists from all over America.... It was a moving spectacle and one that underscored the principle that a museum, to be a museum in the best sense of the word, must live and breathe both within and without.
The 1967 Festival marked the inception of a fresh attempt at the evaluation, documentation and celebration of a hitherto unrecognized area of vigorous American expression. Concurrent with the first Festival, an American Folklife Conference was organized (with assistance from Henry Glassie) to address topics of American and international folklife studies, the relationship between folklife and history, applied folklife, and folklife in schools, museums, communities, and government agencies.
The Festival was organized by the Division of Performing Arts, under the direction of James R. Morris. Ralph Rinzler was the Applied Folklore Consultant and Festival Artistic Director, and Marian A. Hope was Project Assistant. No program book or schedule was published, but news articles, congressional remarks, letters from the public, and a list of participants were later compiled in lieu of a program book. That document can be viewed in Series 1.
Participants:
Crafts
Harry Belone, 1912-1986, Navajo sand painter, Arizona
Herman Benton, 1914-1994, scoop maker, New York
Mary Bowers, 1922-2002, Seminole patchwork, needlework, Florida
Marie Z. Chino, 1907-1982, Acoma pottery, New Mexico
Mildred Cleghorn, 1910-1997, Indian cloth dolls, Oklahoma
Maisy Coburn, apple face and corncob dolls, Arkansas
Margaret Coochwytewa, 1923-1995, Hopi, coil and yucca leaves basket maker, Arizona
Victor Coochwytewa, 1922-2011, Hopi silversmith, Arizona
Freedom Quilting Bee, Alabama
Taft Greer, 1908-1986, weaver, Tennessee
Joseph Grismayer, 1888-1970, willow basket maker, Pennsylvania
Dewey Harmon, 1900-1972, whittler, North Carolina
Bea Hensley, 1919-2013, blacksmith, North Carolina
Louise Jones, 1910-1973, coil basket making, South Carolina
Robert Keith, chair maker, North Carolina
Mrs. Robert Keith, chair maker, North Carolina
Norman Kennedy, 1934-, carder, spinner, weaver, Massachusetts
Clifford Lucas, Indian dolls, New Mexico
Lila Suzanne Marshall, 1908-1994, corn shuck dolls, North Carolina
Charles Mayac, 1906-1971, ivory carver, Alaska
Leo J. Meyer, scrimshaw carver, Maryland
Alice Merryman, 1906-2007, corn shuck dolls, Arkansas
Norman Miller, 1905-1972, southern pottery, Alabama
Mrs. Norman Miller, southern pottery, Alabama
Hazel Miracle, 1915-2001, apple face, corn shuck dolls, Kentucky
Homer Miracle, 1910-1980, hand-hewn bowls, carver, Kentucky
Ann Mitchell, corn shuck dolls, Maryland
Golda Porter, spinner, North Carolina
Edd Presnell, 1916-1994, dulcimer maker, North Carolina
Wade Ward (1892-1971) and the Buck Mountain Band, mountain string band, Virginia
Yomo Toro Band, Puerto Rican music, New York
Ed Young (1910-1972), G.D. Young and Lonnie Young (1903-1976), African American fife and drum group, Mississippi
Young People's Chorus from the Scripture of Church of Christ, gospel, Virginia
Dance
Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers, cloggers, North Carolina
Chinese Lion Group, Washington, D.C.
Maurice Flowers, square dance caller, Maryland
Los Gallegos d'Espana, Galician dance, New York
Glinka Dancers, Russian dance group, New Jersey
Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
Mrs. Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
McNeff Dancers, Irish dancing with Ceilidh band, New York
Henry Paterick, square dance caller, Virginia
St. Andrews Society Group, Scottish dancing, Washington, D.C.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1967 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
The Farber collection documents images of celebrated American buildings by photographer Joseph C. Farber.
Scope and Contents note:
The Farber collection is filled with well-crafted and often very beautiful images of celebrated American buildings. Many of the images, which for the most part take the form of 11" x 14" black-and-white photoprints, explore the European Renaissance origins of American architecture. The collection is also very rich in color transparencies. Nearly all the images are directly related to published projects, specifically photo-essays in the shape of articles , many of which appeared in the magazine Antiques or newspapers. Farber probably would have wished for all of his photographs to have been published. Many were shown in exhibitions, as evidenced by the large proportion of the photoprints that are mounted and also the existence of correspondence files relating to such matters. There are also files related to the processes of conceiving, executing, and publishing his photographic work.
The images for the books are nearly all black-and-white, whereas magazine work, especially the commissions from Antiques, generated the most transparencies. In addition to the images in print and transparency form, and the associated proof sheets and negatives, there is also a great quantity of slides related to travel in the collection, which predate Farber's second career as a professional photographer. A tiny sampling of earlier photographs, mostly with artistic or family-and-personal themes, is also included.
Black-and-white negatives, black-and-white prints, and color transparencies, mostly created for specific book projects, articles in Antiques magazine, etc. Generally, color was used for magazine articles, while black-and-white images were intended for books. Collection also includes photographs of personal or family significance, and some early artistic efforts. Non-pictorial portion consists primarily of material related to Farber's publications: correspondence, galley proofs, reviews, etc.
Photographs include projects related to Thomas Jefferson (e.g., Monticello), classical architecture, Essex, Connecticut, etc. Buildings photographed include Raleigh's Tavern, Williamsburg, Va.; Independence Hall, Philadelphia; Maison Carree, Nimes, France; St. Paul's Chapel, Boston, Mass.; White House, Washington; New York City landmarks; sites in Springfield and New Salem, Ill., associated with Abraham Lincoln; historic buildings in Boston and Cambridge,Mass.; Hannibal, Mo.; Deerfield, Mass.; New England churches and meetinghouses; and buildings and objects from ancient Greece, which were published with excerpts from Herodotus' History of the Pelopponesian Wars (Farber called this group of images "Herodotus"); and Italian villas designed by Andrea Palladio, such as the Villa Rotunda. Some pictures relating to themes of democracy were inspired by the U.S. Bicentennial celebration.
Arrangement:
Divided into five series.
Series 1: Photographs
Series 2: Photonegatives and Contact Sheets
Series 3: Textual Materials
Series 4: Color Slides and Transparencies
Series 5: Books
Biographical/Historical note:
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1902, Joseph C. Farber he attended the New York Military Academy, and later Columbia College, where his formal studies included chemistry and art composition. While these were excellent preparation for subsequent employment in the family business, Friedman Blau Farber, Manufacturers of Knitted Outerwear, at Columbia he discovered the true love of his life, the art and craft of photography. He became involved in the New York Camera Club. For the rest of his life he would consider himself a protégé of the Club's resident guru, famed photographer Edward Steichen. Farber's work was first shown in the Fifth Annual Exhibition of Work by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen at the Cleveland Museum of Art in late spring 1923, and he taught photography to summer campers. Later, throughout 39 years of employment in the garment business, he continued to enjoy and practice photography, especially in making portraits of good friends. He married Caroline Feiss, also a Cleveland native and a promising watercolor artist. In 1939 the Farber's moved to New York.
According to his daughter, Dr. Joan Farber, her father purchased a large format Linhof field camera during a 1958 visit with his son Thomas in Germany. The Linhof camera front can be shifted to provide corrections for architectural photography which are not possible with smaller cameras. After Joan headed to college the Farbers had time for increased travel. They were accompanied by their daughter on a trip to Greece in summer 1960 which included photographs of herself, an attractive, sophisticated college coed, stylishly dressed and coifed for the occasion, posed on the steps of the Parthenon. A trip to Spain the following year resulted in many dozens of 35mm color images, part of a large group of travel slides.
This was also the period in Farber's life that a whirlwind round-the-world trip was undertaken, with visits to Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, and California. By the end of the next year, the Farbers were renting as a vacation home a converted button factory in Essex, Connecticut, a former shipbuilding town on the Connecticut River, as a vacation home. Within months Farber had retired from his design and executive responsibilities at the Campus Sweater and Sportswear Company in Manhattan to live for a year in Essex. There were also trips more abroad, particularly to Greece and Egypt, while the Farbers continued to maintain an apartment in New York. Climbing a mountain in Greece in summer 1967, Farber suffered a heart attack, from which he fully recovered.
In 1969 his new career was launched by the publication of Portrait of Essex by Barre Publishers. Local historian Marie Moore supplied the text to accompany Farber's evocative photographs of the ships, shops, shores, streets, and historic structures of this seafaring town. His brother-in-law Carl Feiss, F.A.I.A., furnished the Introduction.
In 1971, Farber and Wendell Garrett published his first Jefferson book, The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson followed by their second, Thomas Jefferson Redivivus Garrett, who edited the Adams Papers wrote the text, with the help of excerpts from the writings of Jefferson himself. The following summer one of Farber's Monticello views was featured on the cover of Antiques. In 1973 Farber was credited with three covers and a frontispiece for the magazine, as well as three photographic essays. The subjects ranged from Sculpture at the Boston Atheneum to The Villas of Andrea Palladio to The Architecture of Lavius Fillmore Garrett introduced Farber to Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer who hired Farber as photographer to help illustrate his Prints of Abraham Lincoln, which appeared in the annual presidents' birthday number of Antiques the next year, February 1974. Some Contemporary Paintings of Abraham Lincoln appeared twelve months later. Three more Lincoln-themed articles appeared in February issues of Antiques in 1978, 1979, and 1980: Sculptures of Abraham Lincoln From Life, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and Here Lincoln Lived: New Salem and Springfield, Illinois.
Two more books of Farber's photographs were published in 1975. Democracy's First Struggle was an account of the Peloponnesian Wars in the words of Herodotus, as edited from the Aubrey de Selincourt with translation by Farber. The photographic images dated back to the family trips to Greece in the early 1960s. Native Americans: 500 Years After was published by Thomas J. Crowell in 1975 with text by Michael Dorris. Following Native Americans came a series of exhibitions of photographs from the book including shows at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), Dartmouth College, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History .
Also in the mid -1970s a cover story in Antiques entitled "The Architectural Heritage of New York City" led to an exhibition at the Abigail Adams Smith House. In the late '70s two more exhibitions were staged, featuring scenes of local color at the dedication of the East Haddam (Connecticut) Historical Society in the summer of 1979 and showing buildings by Palladio at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (New York City.)
In 1980 Farber's interior view of a basilica, Palladio's Redentore church in Venice, was featured on the cover of Antiques. The photographs became the subject of a book, Palladio's Architecture and Its Influence authored by architectural historian, Henry Hope Reed.
Harold Holzer organized many joint photographic trips revolving around Holzer's career in the public relations department of Channel 13, New York's public television station. Each summer for four years in succession they set off to diverse spots to make publicity shoots for upcoming special programming. First was Missouri to photograph Mark Twain sites for a dramatization of "Life Along the Mississippi". The next summer they headed to the Berkshires to document The Mount, the home of Edith Wharton in Lenox, Massachusetts, around whose life and work a mini-series in three parts was planned. The summer trip of 1982 was a return visit to Massachusetts to photograph The Street, Deerfield's historic thoroughfare, combined with a side trip across the border to the Robert Todd Lincoln home, Hildene, in Manchester, Vermont.
In 1982 Farber was commissioned by Architectural Digest magazine to photograph the Mark Twain residence in Hartford. Farber and Holzer succeeded in the early to mid-1980s in getting Farber's out-takes from their Channel 13 trips published together with his carefully worded scripts in such periodicals as American History Illustrated and in Antiques & The Arts Weekly. Many of Farber's pictures were printed in articles in Antique Trader, to which Holzer was a regular contributor. In 1983, when Farber turned 80, his color images of the interior spaces of the Metropolitan Club of New York were published in a book by the same name, written by Paul Porzelt. In his travels in the last decade of his life he was often accompanied by family friend Ethel Phillips, including a tour of Great Britain in the summer of 1987. With Mrs. Phillips he at one time had contemplated publishing a book on the historic mansions of the Hudson River. Two other unrealized projects, upon his death in 1994 at the age of 91, were books on the classical architecture of New York City and on the history and daily lives of Hispanic Americans in the United States.
Biographical Time Line:
Biographical Time Line for Joseph C. Farber
Biographical Time Line
1903 -- Born Cleveland, Ohio
1910s -- At New York Military Academy
1920s -- At Columbia College, studying chemistry, art composition; studies photography with Edward Steichen in Camera Club; teaches photography as camp counselor
1923 -- Participates in Fifth Annual Exhibition of Work by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen at Cleveland Museum of Art (May 1-June 3)
1926 -- Takes job as "salesman and experimental worker" at Friedman Blau Farber, Mfg. Knitted Outerwear," Cleveland; Marriage to Caroline Feiss, Cleveland native and watercolor artist
1933 -- Son Thomas Feiss born at Cleveland
1936 -- Daughter Joan born
1930s -- Family moves to New York
1958 -- Visit to son in Germany; purchase of Linhof camera; daughter off to college
1960 -- Trip to Greece, daughter along
1961 -- To Spain
1963 -- Death of son in mountaineering accident; to Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, California
1964 -- Rents former button factory in Essex, Connecticut as vacation home
1965 -- Retirement from Campus Sweater & Sportswear Company; Living in Essex
1966 -- To Greece
1967 -- To Egypt and Greece; heart attack ; Essex (summer?)
1969 -- Portrait of Essex published, text by Marie Moore; into by Carl Feiss, AIA (Barre)
1970 -- Trip to Bermuda
1971 -- Thomas Jefferson Redivus published, text by Wendell Garrett, Editor of The Magazine Antiques (Barre); Farber introduced to "Jefferson circle"; Vacations in Essex and Florida
1972 -- Monticello images published in Antiques
1973 -- Photographs of sculpture at the Boston Atheneum, the Maison Carree at Nimes (France): the villas of Andrea Palladio in Vicenza and environs (Italy) and the architecture of Lavius Fillmore (Connecticut and Vermont) published in Antiques
1974 -- Images of Abraham Lincoln prints published in Antiques: accompanying article is by Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer; beginning of ten-year collaboration
1975 -- Photographs of Lincoln portraits in Antiques, Holzer text Democracy's First Struggle published, based on Herodotus' Histories of Greece (Crown); Native Americans: 500 Years Afterpublished (Thomas Crowell)
1976 -- Exhibitions of photographs of Native Americans at National Museum of Natural History, Dartmouth College, and Cleveland Museum of Natural History; Images of historic New York City buildings in Antiques, text by Elizabeth Donaghty Garrett; Exhibition of photographs of New York City landmarks at Abigail Adams House, New York City.
1978 -- Photographs of Lincoln sculptures, with Holzer, in Antiques
1979 -- Images of Lincoln and George Washington, sculpture of John Rogers, and sculpture of U.S. Capitol published in Antiques, with Holzer; Exhibition of photographs at East Haddam Historical Society; Exhibition of Palladio photographs at Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York City.
1980 -- Palladio's Architecture and Its Influence published, with Henry Hope Reed (Dover) ; Venice image (church interior) published on Antiques cover; Death of wife; "Caroline Fund" established at Cooper Union; Teaches photography in local high school; To Missouri with Holzer to photograph Mark Twain sites for Channel 13
1981 -- Images of Lincoln sites published in black and white in Antiques with Holzer (should have been in color); Summer trip to Berkshires with Holzer to photograph Edith Wharton home
1982 -- Commissioned to photograph Mark Twain house in Hartford for Architectural Digest; Images of The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox, Mass., published in American History Illustrated with Holzer; Summer trip to Massachusetts and Vermont with Holzer to photograph "The Street," Deerfield (Channel 13) and Hildene, Robert Todd Lincoln home in Manchester
1983 -- Images of Mark Twain sites in Hannibal, Missouri published in American History Illustrated with Holzer; Summer trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with Holzer (Channel 13); Harper's Ferry images published in Antique Trader with Holzer Deerfield, Massachusetts images published in Antiques & The Arts Weekly with Holzer; The Metropolitan Club of New York published, with Paul Porzelt (Rizzoli)
1984 -- Images of Hildene published in Antique Traderwith Holzer
1985 -- Images of Rebecca Nurse Homestead, Old Salem, Massachusetts published in Antique Traderwith Holzer
1987 -- Tour of Great Britain with Ethel Phillips (summer?)
1994 -- Died, New York City, New York
Related Archival Materials:
Other Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Joseph C. Farber photographs of American Indian life, circa 1970-1975
Photographs made as part of Joseph C. Farber's project to document modern American Indian everyday life. Represented tribes include the Acoma, Apache, Blackfoot, Chehalis, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cocopa, Dakota, Eskimo, Haida, Kiowa, Kutenai, Lummi, Mohave, Mohawk, Navaho, Northern Athabascan, Onandaga, Pima, Pueblo, Quinalt, Seminole, Taos, Tlingit, and Zuni. Subject coverage is broad and varies from tribe to tribe. Included are portraits, as well as totem poles, carving, weaving, pottery, painitng, landscapes, boats and canoes, ceremonial regalia, camps, classes and vocational training, homes and traditional dwellings, construction projects, rodeos and powwows, dances, industries (including lumber), herding and ranching, agriculture, stores and storefronts, cliff dwellings, parades, crab cleaning, fishing, games, health care, legal processes, music, office work, sewing, vending, and a funeral. There are also photographs of R. C. Gorman (and a letter from Gorman to Farber) and Fritz Shoulder (some in color).
Provenance:
Collection donated by Dr. Joan Farber, 1994.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Photographs published in Joseph C. Farber's books are still under copyright. Reproduction permission from the Joseph C. Farber's estate is required. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 5 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
Series 2: Bermuda Connections
Series 3: Masters of the Building Arts
Series 4: New York City at the Smithsonian
Series 5: Special Events
Historical note:
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
More so than monuments, buildings, museum-quality artifacts, historical facts, or even valued performances, the Festival celebrates the people who make them, hold them in esteem, and debate their meaning. The Festival represents a wonderful range and diversity of voices and human experiences. The 2001 Festival featured programs on the building arts, New York City, and Bermuda.
The Masters of the Building Arts program brought together expert craftspeople in the building trades, including many who use traditional arts to restore our monuments and historic sites. Among them visitors could find many of the artisans who have worked on the Washington Monument, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Acoma Pueblo, historic Charleston, and Native Hawaiian sites - all important monuments protected by the National Park Service, the Smithsonian's partner in the Festival since 1973.
The New York City program highlighted the way in which that city has become the global village. Broadway, the fashion industry, the Apollo Theater, and Wall Street were all featured. So too was the vital cultural creativity that has come about as people from the world over have settled in New York. The Festival provided a contemporary look at immigration and its importance to our culture. The fact that so many people from every corner of the earth have come to our shores through New York in order to build their lives and our nation has inspired generations, and the Festival offered the opportunity to encounter those communities and experience their cultural heritage.
Bermuda, though separated from the United States by hundreds of miles of ocean, has long played a role in our history. Bermuda was settled by colonists on their way to Jamestown, Virginia, where they rescued starving survivors of that colony. ln the last century, Bermuda, always entrepreneurial and self-reliant, has developed tourism and financial industries in a symbiotic relationship with the United States. Bermudians foster strong community connections within their own island society, as well as those of commerce, culture, and cooperation with the people of nations whose shores touch the Atlantic Ocean. Festival visitors could transport themselves to a tiny island of Bermuda within the Festival site on the National Mall, experiencing its cultural traditions through interaction with Bermudian participants.
The Festival always depends on solid research. Several dozen Bermudian scholars, educators, and artists working with Smithsonian curator Diana Baird N'Diaye interviewed hundreds of tradition-bearers, documenting everything from gardening to house-building to music-making. That documentary archive of tapes, photographs, field notes, and videos constitutes a snapshot of Bermudian culture and provided the basis for the Festival program, as well as a resource for the future. A similar effort took place New York City, where folklorist Nancy Groce directed the curatorial work - selecting the traditions to feature at the Festival and the people to present them - aided by cultural organizations in the city, among them the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, City Lore, and the Museum of American Financial History, a Smithsonian affiliate. Masters of the Building Arts grew from the vision of the Smithsonian's Marjorie Hunt, guided by her own long-term research on the stone carvers of the National Cathedral.
The 2001 Festival took place during two five-day weeks (June 27-July 1 and July 4-8) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 9th Street and 13th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). It featured three programs, with several special events including the Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert.
The 2001 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; keynote essays provided background on the Festival and on each of the programs.
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Richard Kurin, Director; Richard Kennedy, Deputy Director; Diana Parker, Festival Director; Daniel Sheehy, Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordngs; James Early, Director, Cultural Heritage Policy; Olivia Cadaval, Chair, Research & Education; Jon Kertzer, Project Director, GlobalSound Network; D.A. Sonneborn, Assistant Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist Emeritus; Betty J. Belanus, Nancy Groce, Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Peter Seitel, Cynthia Vidaurri, Curators, Folklorists, Education and Cultural Specialists; Frank Proschan, Project Director, Save Our Sounds; Carla M. Borden, Program/Publications Manager; John W. Franklin, Program Manager; Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Stephanie Smith, Assistant Archivist; Arlene L. Reiniger, Program Specialist; Charlie Weber, Media Specialist; Frank Bechter, Roland Freeman, Ivan Karp, Alan Lomax, Worth Long, Rene Lopez, Jemima Pierre, Kate Rinzler, Ana Patricia Rodriguez, Fellows & Research Associates
Folklife Advisory Council
Jane Beck, Kurt Dewhurst, Anthony Gittens, Pat Jasper, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Judy Mitoma, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Gilbert Sprauve, Jack Tchen, Ricardo Trimillos
Folkways Advisory Board
Michael Asch, Phyllis Barney, Don DeVito, Ella Jenkins,
National Park Service
Denis P. Galvin, Acting Director; Jack Schamp, Director, National Capital Region
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
This finding aid is intended as a historical document of the event, July 1-4, 1967 and the participants in this festival. Not all of the individuals listed below were recorded or photographed. The documentation of this festival was minimal so there is not a wealth of material still existing or accessible from this event for study. What exists is listed later in this document. Contains parts of several boxes of paper records. 7 reel to reel audiotapes, photographs.
Scope and Content note:
The collection includes the paper records that resulted from the production of the program. The collection includes audiovisual documentation during the festival itself including audio recordings and photographs. For specific information about the materials in each series, please refer to the series description. For additional information about the 1967 Festival of American Folklife, one should consult the central Smithsonian Institution Archives and the papers of the Division of Performing Arts.
Historical note:
In 1967, the Smithsonian held its first ever Festival of American Folklife. Then Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley was interested in getting the museum out to the people. He assigned the task of creating a festival to James Morris, head of what was then the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts. Ralph Rinzler was hired as the folklore consultant. Rinzler had been one of the chief talent scouts for the Newport Folk festival and had done extensive fieldwork on American folk traditions. Rinzler had also been involved in the creation of the "festival workshop" concept which incorporates narratives and audience interaction with musical performance. He also felt strongly that craft and food traditions were equally important and also a major part of the folklife of a traditional community.
This four day event set the pattern for what became a yearly event. It featured craft traditions as well as musical performances by some of the well known traditional musicians of the 20th century, many of whom had previously appeared at the Newport Folk Festival.
List of Festival Participants:
Crafts
Louise Jones, Coil basket making, South Carolina
Margaret Coochwytewa, Coil and Yucca leaves, Hopi basket maker, Arizona
Joseph Grismayer, Willow, basket maker, Pennsylvania
Bea Hensley, blacksmith, North Carolina
Homer Miracle, Hand-hewn bowls, carver, Kentucky
Charles Mayac, Ivory carver, Alaska
Leo J. Meyer, scrimshaw carver, Maryland
Edd Presnell, Dulcimer maker, North Carolina
Willard Watson, Toy maker, North Carolina
Dewey Harmon, Whittler, North Carolina
Herman Benton, Scoop maker, New York
Robert Keith, Chair maker, North Carolina
Mrs. Robert Keith, Chair maker, North Carolina
Clifford Lucas, Indian dolls, New Mexico
Hazel Miracle, Apple face, corn shuck dolls, Kentucky
Mildred Cleghorn, Indian cloth dolls, Oklahoma
Alice Merryman, Corn shuck dolls, Arkansas
Lila Marshall, Corn shuck dolls, North Carolina
Ann Mitchell, Corn shuck dolls, Maryland
Maisy Coburn, Apple face and Corncob dolls, Arkansas
Mary Bowers, Seminole patchwork, needlework, Florida
Wade Ward and the Buck Mountain Band, mountain sting band, Virginia
Ed Young and family, African American fife and drum group, Mississippi
Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, shouts, jubilees, spirituals, and ring games, Georgia
The Moving Star Hall Singers, shouts, jubilees, spirituals, and ring games, South Carolina
Yomo Toro Band, Puerto Rican music, New York
Billie and De De Pierce and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Orleans jazz, Louisiana
Jimmie Driftwood, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas
John Papakee, Mesquakie Indian music, Iowa
Grace Papakee, Mesquakie Indian music, Iowa
Almeda Riddle, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas
Vinice Lejeune Group, Cajun band, Louisiana
John Jackson, Songster and blues singer, Virginia
Libba Cotten, Country guitarist, North Carolina, Washington, D.C.
The Baca Family Band, Czech-American polka music, Texas
Norman Kennedy, Scots ballad singer, Massachusetts
The McGee Brothers with Sid Harkreader, String band, Tennessee
Glenn Ohrlin, Cowboy singer, Arkansas
Young People's Chorus from the Scripture of Church of Christ, gospel, Virginia
Dance
Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers, cloggers, North Carolina
St. Andrews Society Group, Scottish dancing, Washington, D.C.
Glinka Dancers, Russian dance group, New Jersey
McNeff Dancers, Irish dancing with Ceilidh band, New York
Chinese Lion Group, Washington, D.C.
Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
Mrs. Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
Los Gallegos d'Espana, Galician dance, New York
Henry Paterick, square dance caller, Virginia
Maurice Flowers, square dance caller, Maryland
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Related Publications:
The following publications exist in the archive library and can be studied on-site.
Eaton, Allen H., Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1937
Jones, Bessie and Bess Lomax Hawes, Step it Down: Games, Plays, Songs, and Stories from the Afro-American Heritage, New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Kirlin, Katherine S., and Thomas M. Kirlin, Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1991
Kurin, Richard, Reflections of a Culture Broker: A View from the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1997
Kurin, Richard, Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Culture Of, By, and For the People, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies, 1998
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Documentation Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archive and Collection, Smithsonian Institution.
1 Film reel (35 minutes, black-and-white color silent; 965 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
circa 1926-1932
Scope and Contents:
Footage shot of the annual ceremonial held in Gallup, New Mexico. Included are shots of Navajo, Pueblo, Apache, and Tewa parading through Gallup and around the fairgrounds on foot, on horseback and in wagons; American Indian band; dance performances at the fairgrounds including the Pueblo Eagle dance, Hopi Buffalo dance, Hopis performing the "Apache dance," an Evening Circle dance, and masked clowns; and rodeo activities such as foot and horse races, tug-o-war, and bow and arrow contests. Also included are shots of a Navajo encampment and herding goats, canyons, Mesa Verde, and Acoma.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Parade ; Dance ; Musical instruments ; Rodeos ; Horse racing ; Ceremony "indian ceremonial" Gallup, New Mexico
Local Number:
HSFA 1991.14.1
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
William Wrather films of the Southwest, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Biographical / Historical:
Frances Theresa Densmore (1867-1957) was born in Red Wing, Minnesota to Benjamin and Sarah Densmore. Densmore began piano lessons at an early age and became exposed to American Indian music when quite young, living close to Lakota people. Densmore attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she studied the organ and harmony, in addition to the piano. After Oberlin, Densmore became a church organist and taught music. Around 1890, she move to Boston to continue her studies in music. There, she learnt about Alice Cunningham Fletcher's work among the Omaha Indians. Densmore wrote to Fletcher and Fletcher quickly became Densmore's mentor.
Densmore's first field work was among the Chippewa of Grande Portage, in 1905. In 1908 the Bureau of American Ethnology provided Densmore with a graphophone. Densmore's association with the BAE lasted fifty years. Densmore worked among the Cocopah, Makah, Winnebago, Lakota, Mandan and Hidatsa, Northern Ute, Nootka and Quileute, Ojibwa, Onondaga, Omaha, Apache and Navajo, Santo Domingo, Cheyenne and Arapaho, Maidu, Choctaw, Pawnee, Papago, Menominee, Chippewa, Yuma, Yaqui, Seminole, Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, Zuni, Chitimacha and Alibamu Indian peoples. She also worked with the Tule Indians of Panama. Densmore served as a founding Officer and second Vice-President of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 1956. She recorded over 2,400 American Indian songs. She died at the age of 90.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
J. Michael Bear (J. Bear/James Michael Byrnes/Jimmy Byrnes/Kyash Petrach/Hofyee), Acoma Pueblo/Laguna Pueblo/Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux), 1933-1998 Search this
Previous owner:
Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Department of the Interior (IACB), 1935- Search this
