Taken for the book jacket of Victory Deferred, 1999. Photograph taken in Middleburg, Virginia by Strom (Eric Malstrom), September 1999.
Local Numbers:
AC1128-0000009.tif (AC Scan No.)
Exhibitions Note:
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Archiving the History of an Epdemic: HIV and AIDS, 1985-2009," June 3, 2011-October 3, 2011. Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., curator.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Researchers must use reference copies of audiovisual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow. Viewing film portion of collection requires special aarrangement with Archives Center staff. Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection Rights:
Copyright held by donor. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply. All duplication requests must be reviewed and approved by Archives Center staff.
The Cover Girl Make-Up Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project, 1923-1991, is the result of a year-long study in 1990, which examined the advertising created for Noxell Corporation's Cover Girl make-up products from 1959 to 1990. The objective of the project was to document, in print and electronic media, the history of Cover Girl make-up advertising since its inception in 1959.
Scope and Contents:
Twenty-two oral history interviews (conducted by Dr. Scott Ellsworth for the Archives Center) and a variety of print and television advertisements, photographs, scrapbooks, personal papers, business records and related materials were gathered by the Center for Advertising History staff. The objective was to create a collection that provides documentation, in print and electronic media, of the history and development of advertising for Cover Girl make-up since its inception in 1959.
Collection also includes earlier material related to other Noxell products, including Noxzema, with no direct connection to the Cover Girl campaign.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight series.
Series 1: Research Files
Series 2: Interviewee Files
Series 3: Oral History Interviews
Series 4: Television Advertising Materials
Series 5: Print Advertising Materials
Series 6: Company Publications and Promotional Literature
Series 7: Photographs
Series 8: Scrapbooks
Biographical / Historical:
George Avery Bunting founded the Noxzema Chemical Company in Baltimore, Maryland in 1917. In the 1890s, he left behind a teaching job on Maryland's Eastern shore to move to Baltimore, where he hoped to pursue a career as a pharmacist. He landed a job as errand boy and soda jerk at a local drugstore, where he worked while attending classes at the University Of Maryland College of Pharmacy. Valedictorian of the Class of 1899, Bunting was promoted to manager of the drugstore, which he purchased. Bunting began to experiment with the formulation of medicated pastes and compounds, which he marketed to his customers. In 1909, he began refining a medicated vanishing cream, which he introduced in 1914. "Dr. Bunting's Sunburn Remedy," an aromatic skin cream containing clove oil, eucalyptus oil, lime water, menthol and camphor, was mixed by hand at his pharmacy. Marketed locally as a greaseless, medicated cream for the treatment of a variety of skin conditions, including sunburn, eczema, and acne, the product was renamed "Noxzema" for its reputed ability to "knock eczema." By 1917, the Noxzema Chemical Company was formed. During the 1920s, distribution of the product was expanded to include New York, Chicago, and the Midwest and, by 1926, the first Noxzema manufactory was built in northwest Baltimore to accommodate the demand for nearly a million jars a year.
Having achieved a national market by 1938, Noxzema Chemical Company executives pursued product diversification as a means to maintain the corporate growth of the early years. In the 1930s and 1940s, line extensions included shaving cream, suntan lotion and cold cream, all with the distinctive "medicated" Noxzema aroma.
In the late 1950s, Bill Hunt, director of product development at Noxzema, suggested a line extension into medicated make-up. Creatives at Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles, Incorporated (SSC&B), Noxzema's advertising agency since 1946, suggested that the advertising for the new product focus on beauty and glamour with some reference to the medicated claims made for other Noxzema products. In contrast to other cosmetics, which were sold at specialized department store counters, Noxzema's medicated make-up would be marketed alongside other Noxzema products in grocery stores and other mass distribution outlets. After experimenting with names that suggested both glamour and the medicated claims (including Thera-Blem and Blema-Glow), Bill Grathwohl, Noxell's advertising director, selected Carolyn Oelbaum's "Cover Girl," which conveyed the product's usefulness as a blemish cover-up, while invoking the glamorous image of fashion models. These three elements of the advertising, wholesome glamour, mass marketing, and medicated make-up, remain central to Cover Girl advertising nearly a half-century later.
Beginning with the national launch in 1961, American and international fashion models were featured in the ads. The target audience was identified as women between eighteen and fifty-four and, initially, the "glamour" ads were targeted at women's magazines, while the "medicated" claims were reserved for teen magazines. Television ads featured both elements. Cover Girl advertising always featured beautiful women -- especially Caucasian women, but the Cover Girl image has evolved over time to conform to changing notions of beauty. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Cover Girl was refined and aloof, a fashion conscious sophisticate. By the 1970s, a new social emphasis on looking and dressing "naturally" and the introduction of the "Clean Make-up" campaign created a new advertising focus on the wholesome glamour of the "girl next door," a blue-eyed, blonde all-American image. In the 1980s, the Cover Girl look was updated to include African-American, Hispanic and working women.
In January 1970, SSC&B bought 49% of the Lintas Worldwide advertising network. After SSC&B was acquired by the Interpublic Group of Companies in 1979, the entire Lintas operation was consolidated under the name SSC&B/Lintas in 1981. With the Procter & Gamble buy-out of the Noxell Corporation in September 1989, the cosmetics account was moved to long-time P&G agency Grey Advertising, in order to circumvent a possible conflict of interest between P&G competitor Unilever, another Lintas account. In 1989 SSC&B/Lintas, Cover Girl's agency since its launch in 1961, lost the account it helped to create and define, but the brand continues to dominate mass-marketed cosmetics.
This project is the result of a year-long study of advertising created for the Noxell Corporation's Cover Girl make-up products, 1959-1990. The effort was supported in part by a grant from the Noxell Corporation. The target audience was identified as women 18-54, and initially, the "glamour" ads were targeted at women's magazines, while the "medicated" claims were reserved for teen magazines. Television ads featured both elements. Cover Girl advertising has always featured beautiful women (especially Caucasian women), but the Cover Girl image evolved over time to conform with changing notions of beauty. In the late 1950s-1960s, the Cover Girl was refined and aloof, a fashion conscious sophisticate. By the 1970s, a new social emphasis on looking and dressing "naturally" and the introduction of the "Clean Make-up" campaign created a new advertising focus on the wholesome glamour of the "girl next door," a blue-eyed, blonde all-American image. Through the 1980s, the Cover Girl look was updated to include African-American and Hispanic models and images of women at work.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060)
N W Ayer Advertising Agency Records (AC0059)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Home and Community Life, Costume Collection holds eighty-six cosmetic items and one computer that were also donated by the Noxell Corporation in 1990 in conjunction with the oral history project. These artifacts include lipstick, manicure sets, brushes, make-up, eye shadow, blush, powder puffs, eyelash curler, nail polish, and mascara. See accession number 1990.0193.
Provenance:
Most of the materials in the collection were donated to the Center for Advertising History by the Noxell Corporation, 1990. All storyboards and videoscripts, and a large collection of business records and proofsheets were donated by George Poris in June 1990. All mechanicals were donated by Art Weithas in June 1990. (These contributions are noted in the finding aid).
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Computers, Information and Society, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Former owner:
Computers, Information and Society, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Extent:
145 Cubic feet (341 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Videotapes
Software
Questionnaires
Photographs
Interviews
Essays
Date:
1989-2000
Summary:
Collection documents an awards program established in 1989 as a partnership between Computerworld Magazine and the Smithsonian Institution. The Computer World Smithsonian Awards (CWSA) brought together the Chairmen of Chief Executive Officers of the world's foremost information technology companies with the world's leading universities, libraries and research institutions to document a revolution in progress—the global information technology revolution. The program identified men, women, organizations and institutions leading the technology revolution and asked them to contribute case studies. Collection consists of case studies which include questionnaires, essays, oral histories, conference proceedings, publications, video tapes, photographs, slides, software, and product samples about each project.
Scope and Contents:
An important part of the award process was that nominees actively created the permanent record of their work, for inclusion in the permanent CWSA archives at the Smithsonian. Strict guidelines were set up to ensure that a complete record was created. Each nomination had to be in the form of a packet of primary source materials about the project. Nominees were instructed on the types of materials to include and were required to answer a standard questionnaire and write an essay about the significance of the project. As a result, each case study includes a wealth of information about the project, including oral histories, conference proceedings, publications, video tapes, photographs and slides, software, examples of the product generated, and other records, as well as the standardized information required by the program. The collection is arranged into thirteen series chronologically.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into thirteen series.
Series 1, General
Series 2, 1989
Series, 3, 1990
Series 4, 1991
Series 5, 1992
Series 6, 1993
Series 7, 1994
Series 8, 1995
Series 9, 1996
Series 10, 1997
Series 11, 1998
Series 12, 1999
Series 13, 2000
Biographical / Historical:
Established in 1989 as a partnership between Computerworld Magazine and the Smithsonian Institution, the Computer World Smithsonian Awards (CWSA) Program brought together the Chairmen or Chief Executive Officers of the world's foremost information technology companies with the world's leading universities, libraries and research institutions to document a revolution in progress: the global information technology revolution.
The awards program was dedicated to identifying the men and women, organizations and institutions, that were leading this revolution and to recording the impact of their achievements on society. The first awards were presented in 1991 during a ceremony at NMAH. According to that year's press release, the CWSA awards were created to "recognize heroes of technological innovation, to demystify public perceptions of technology and to clearly identify the benefits technology brings to the lives of the general public."
Over the course of each year, members of the Chairmen's Committee would identify those organizations whose use of information technology had been especially noteworthy for the originality of its conception, the breadth of its vision, and the significance of its benefit to society. Those organizations were asked to contribute a case study regarding their project to the CWSA collection, which was to be housed at the Smithsonian's NMAH. Nominated projects were sorted into ten categories and winners were selected by a panel of distinguished representatives in each specialty. The first year's categories were: business and related services; education and academia; environment, education and agriculture; finance, insurance and real estate; government and non-profit organizations; manufacturing; media, arts and entertainment; medicine and health care; and transportation. The categories changed slightly over the years as the process was refined.
In 2001, the Smithsonian decided to sever its affiliation with the CWSA program. The program continued under the sole auspices of Computerworld magazine, without any Smithsonian connection. New case studies now "become part of the broader, worldwide collection, archived on the world wide web and also presented, in a variety of formats, to archives, museums, universities and libraries in each of the more than 40 countries on six continents represented by the award winners," according to their website (http://www.cwheroes.org/home.asp).
Related Materials:
The Division Information, Technology and Society holds significant artifacts included with the nomination packets.
Provenance:
Division of the History of Technology
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Rights:
Copyright held by donor and/or heirs. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use.] .
Nathaniel Mathis Collection of Barbering and Beauty Culture
Creator:
Mathis, Nathaniel, 1946- (barber, motivational speaker) Search this
Extent:
5.5 Cubic feet (18 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Correspondence
Awards
Interviews
Certificates
Oral history
Videotapes
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Date:
1946-2004
bulk 1970-2004
Summary:
Nathaniel Mathis is a Washington, D.C., hairstylist, inventor, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. His papers document his business life and community involvement.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the work of a hairstylist, inventor, entrepreneur, and public figure whose career reflects significant changes in the African American community in the later 20th century. It is rich in visual imagery created by and for this community. Business papers, correspondence, publicity, photographs, awards and certificates documenting Mathis's work as a highly regarded barber and hairstylist in Washington, D.C., and as member of the D.C. Board of Barbering and Cosmetology are included. Business papers offer insight into the workings of a small privately-owned business. Numerous publicity items and photographs offer evidence of African American style and fashion in New York and Washington, D.C., from the late 1960s through today. Additional material documents Mathis's activities as a community activist, motivational speaker and distance runner. The collection also includes photographs, oral history interviews, and audio-visual materials.
Series 1, Biographical Information and Activities, 1946-2001, undated
This series includes all biographical statements, Mathis's autobiography, high school and college diplomas (including his GED), and other school and religious papers. Also included are advertising and programs for his various community events and motivational speaking engagements. Mathis participated in and sponsored many athletic, religious, community and children's events, which are documented here. Of note is his autobiography, Portrait of a professional: The Nat the Bush Doctor story as told to Jim Link, published in 1986.
Series 2, Beauty Business Documents and Advertising, 1969-2002, undated
Included in this series are papers related to Mathis's hair salon and clinic, his patent (United States Design Patent No. 237,022) for a Barber's Apron, associated marketing materials, and Bush Doctor advertising. Many of the materials are self-produced; both promotional items for customers and advertisements placed in publications such as phone books and newspapers. Documents for his School of Beauty, which ran from 1980 to 1992, include course material, the salon philosophy and the curriculum. His appointment books show the day-to-day life of the Bush Doctor. Also included are events where he appeared as the Bush Doctor.
Series 3, Publicity, 1963-2002
Clippings from newspapers and magazines, as well as entire magazines and newspapers where Mathis was mentioned on the front page. Several magazine covers and fashion spreads were collected because he was responsible for doing the hair of one or more of the models in the photo shoot. He also appeared at many education, trade, fashion, and hair shows, both as a competitor and as a speaker or panel member. Many of the newspapers showcase his inclusion in the Smithsonian collections in 1999 and from his graduation from Prince George's Community College, Maryland, 2001.
Series 4, Washington, D.C. Barbering and Cosmetology Boards, 1966-1997, undated
Mathis was appointed to the Examiner's Board as the chairperson in 1987 by Mayor Marion Barry of Washington, D.C., and to the Barbering and Cosmetology Board in 1994, after delivering a personal statement as to why he should be selected. The Board was significant because it was the first to license hair braiders in the country.
Series 5, Correspondence, 1967-2002, undated
Mathis maintained correspondence from many areas of his life. Topics covered include personal and professional matters, motivational speaking, and applications to appear in hair and trade shows as a competitor and panelist. Correspondents include the International Guest Artist Men's Hairstylist Association, the Red Cross, the Girl Scout Council, Shoptalk Trade publication, children at the Young School, and many beauty supply companies. He also promoted Soft Sheen beauty products and was a spokesperson for them at various events.
Series 6, Awards and Certificates, 1969-2001, undated
Mathis also received many awards, not only for his barbering skills, but for athletic events and for mentoring and providing support to various community organizations. Included are diplomas and certificates of completion for classes that he took related to barbering. He received medals at competitions such as the Coupe de la Paix in Egypt and the Coupe de l'Europe de le Coiffure in Paris, among others.
Series 7, Photographs, 1966-1989, undated
Photographs are comprised of modern color prints and gelatin developing-out paper (modern black and whites). The photographs document both Mathis's public and private life, from family snapshots to publicity photographs for his book and his television appearances. Of note are photographs with celebrities, including Muhammed Ali, Danny Glover, Robin Williams, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, George Foreman, Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, and Don King.
Series 8, Video materials, 1983-2002, undated
Video materials include ½" VHS, DVD and Minidisc formats and document Mathis's motivational speaking, athletic events, and barber training tapes. He made a promotional tape about his life entitled "From Hair to the Throne," which is undated but in DVD format. Much of his motivational speaking took place at high schools and colleges in the Washington, D.C. area. There are also interviews by local television stations. Included are notes about the tapes taken by Fath Davis Ruffins, a curator at the National Museum of American History.
Series 9, Audio Tapes, 1998-2004, undated
Fath Davis Ruffins, a curator at the National Museum of American History, recorded several oral history interviews with Mathis around the time the collection was acquired in 1998. These make up the bulk of the audio tape series and range from 1998 to 2004. Also included are tapes from radio appearances, as well as a motivational business tape which showcases Mathis's vocal talents.
Series 10, Memorabilia, 1992-1998, undated
Included in this collection is the Game of Life (playing pieces, cards, dice) and bags with the Bush Doctor logo on them. Mathis gave gift bags at the 2002 Black History Month convention, which included information about him and his salon, as well as a pick and a hair comb. He also collected political pins and kept many of his name badges and pins from shows and events he attended.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into 10 series:
Series 1, Biographical Information and Activities, 1946-2001, undated
Series 2, Beauty Business Documents and Advertising, 1969-2002, undated
Series 3, Publicity, 1963-2002
Series 4, Washington, D.C. Barbering and Cosmetology Boards, 1966-1997, undated
Series 5, Correspondence, 1967-2002, undated
Series 6, Awards and Certificates, 1969-2001, undated
Series 7, Photographs, 1966-1989, undated
Series 8, Video materials, 1983-2002, undated
Series 9, Audio Tapes, 1998-2004, undated
Series 10, Memorabilia, 1992-1998, undated
Biographical / Historical:
"Nat Mathis (b. 1946) is a native Washingtonian. He is a man of many talents and measures his success in many ways: innovative hairstylist, entrepreneur, inventor, community activist, motivational speaker and distance runner. Mathis opened his first barber shop in 1969. He is the winner of many national and international hairstyling awards and competitions and was the first African American to win the International Hair Styling competition in Cairo, Egypt in 1981. Mathis was among the first African American hairstylists to embrace and popularize the Afro and, later, cornrows -- hairstyles which many view as expressions of black empowerment. Mathis himself seldom expresses a political ideology of hair, but by 1970, Nat was known among his many satisfied clients and peers as "the Bush Doctor" for his expertise in Afro style and maintenance. He has styled hair for many celebrities; made numerous television appearances; and has been a stylist for several productions at the Kennedy Center, and for two major motion pictures, including Nixon, for which he re-created period hairstyles. He is active in community affairs, gives motivational speeches throughout the Washington, D.C., area, and is particularly interested in mentoring young people. He currently operates a barber shop adjacent to his home in Capitol Heights, Maryland."
*Biographical information provided by Nat Mathis's Official Website, "A Man of Many Talents." http://www.natmathis.com (accessed 02 August, 2006).
Separated Materials:
Mr. Mathis donated three of his patented barbering vests (See Accession # 1998.0114) to the Division of Home and Community Life.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by Nathaniel Mathis on April 9, 1998. An additional .3 cubic feet was donated to the Archives Center in 2004; 3 audio cassettes, 1 DVD and 2 mini discs added in 2006.
Restrictions:
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Technical Access: Series 8, Video materials and Series 9, Audiotapes may not be used by researchers unless reference and viewing copies are made available.
Rights:
Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use. The Archives Center does not own rights to the patent, trademark or any related interest in the artifacts.
This collection documents the District Curators Jazz Arts Festivals held in Washington, D.C. between 1993 and 1998 and the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams' Women in Jazz Series, 1996-2000. The subjects of the District Curators Festivals include the Steve and Iqua Colson Sextet, Sonny Sharrock Band, Don Bryon Quartet, David Sanchez, David Murray, Danilo Perez Trio, Reggie Workman, Andrew White, Wayne Shorter, Roy Hargrove, Sonny Sumter, and the Roy Haynes Quartet. Subjects of the Kennedy Center's Series include Jerri Allen, Dorothy Donogan, Dottie Dodgion, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Shirley Scott, Ann Patterson and the all-women band "Maiden Voyage," Roberta Piket, Vanessa Reuben, Jamie Baum, Chris Connor, Claire Dale, Sherrie Maricle and "Diva," and Marian McPartland.
The collection is organized into four series: Series One, District Curators Jazz Arts Festival Contact Sheets (1993-1998); Series Two, District Curators Jazz Arts Festival Prints (1993-1998), and Series Three, Kennedy Center's Women in Jazz Series (1996-2000).
Series 1, Contact Sheets (1993-1998), is comprised of seventy-one 11x14-inch black-and-white contact sheets of 10 photo shoots of the District Curators Jazz Arts Festivals, 1993-1998. The contact sheets provide an overall context for the shoots. Each contact sheet has been numbered by the photographer, indicating its place among the contact sheets for the shoot, e.g., 1/7, 2/7, etc. The contact sheets are arranged chronologically by event date. N.B.: The photographer has numbered the contact sheets for the "Jazz Arts, July 1997" shoot 1/17 through 16/17. The contact sheets for the "Trane was Spiritual, September 1997" shoot are numbered 1/8 through 7/8.
Series 2, Prints (1993-1998, undated), is comprised of fifty-one 5x7-inch black-and-white images printed on 8x10-inch paper. The prints in Series Two are largely of frames from the contact sheets in Series One. A small number of prints in this series are not taken from the contact sheets and are undated. Each print in the series has been numbered by the photographer. For each print, the container list gives the photographer's number in brackets as well as the contact sheet from which the image is taken. The series is arranged chronologically.
Series 3, Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams' Women in Jazz Series Contact Sheets (1996-2000), contain fifty-six 8x10-inch black-and-white contact sheets of photo shoots of the Women in Jazz series. The photographs focus on female performers both on and off stage. All contact sheets are arranged chronologically by year.
Arrangement:
Collection arranged into four series.
Series 1:District Curators Jazz Arts Festivals Contact Sheets, 1993-1998
Series 2: District Curators Jazz Arts Festivals Prints, 1993-1998, undated
Series 3: Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams "Women in Jazz" Contact Sheets, 1996-2000
Series 4: Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams "Women in Jazz" Exhibition Prints, 1994-2001
Series 5: Kennedy Center Jazz Programming, 1996-2000
Biographical / Historical:
Jeffrey Kliman was born in Everett, Massachusetts, March 5, 1942, son of Harry Kliman, one half of the Herschel & Lewis tap-dancing, roller skating team that worked on Broadway and the "Metro Circuit" between 1930 and 1937. Jeffrey Kliman's mother was Janette "Netty" Harris. Reared in middle-class Massachusetts, Jeffrey encountered an eclectic range of music that included opera -- his grandfather sang in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera in the 1920s—the "race music" of Wolfman Jack, and the Symphony Syd Turin gospel radio show where he first heard the music of Dizzy Gillespie. In 1956 he took a job in the record department of Boston's Lechmere Department Store and listened to the music of Count Basie, Gerry Mulligan, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton.
Between 1959 and 1963 Kliman attended the University of Massachusetts as a pre-veterinary major. In 1960 he hosted a two-hour jazz radio show for WMUA, the university's radio station. Failing grades forced him to withdraw from the veterinary program. Eventually Kliman completed a degree as a film and TV major. He left for New York City in February, 1964, to begin a career in television advertising. In 1965 he borrowed a 35mm camera and began taking photographs of various musicians who played at the Fillmore. Kliman did free-lance work by night as a photographer for Rolling Stone, Family Circus, and Zigot while he continued to work by day as a producer for Dolphin Productions.
Kliman worked predominantly in advertising until 1986, when he relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, to start a new career as photographer of jazz musicians. "Anytime I saw jazz I would go and shoot -- Left Bank, DC Jazz Curators, street events." Currently he works as a free-lance photographer for Jazz Times and Down Beat. His primary interest is photographing up-and-coming jazz musicians performing in the Baltimore/Washington region.
Provenance:
The first portion of this collection was donated to the Archives Center by Jeffrey Kliman on December 22, 1997.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with cotton gloves.
Rights:
Jeffrey Kliman retains copyright. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Jazz musicians -- American -- 1990-2000 Search this
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (8" X 10".)
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Copy prints
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Scope and Contents:
Copy print: twenty men in two rows, combining image with two typed labels (title at top and identifying caption list at bottom).
Arrangement:
In box 1.1.A2.
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Series Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.) Search this
Extent:
0.15 Cubic feet (1 box, 16" x 20" x 1")
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- 1990-2000
Date:
1990-1996
Summary:
Black and white photoprints by photographer Craig Sterling, made in the 1990s as part of an ongoing series depicting familiar buildings, monuments, and other sites in Washington, D.C., including the U.S. Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Arboretum.
Scope and Contents:
The photographs in this collection were made in the 1990s by Craig Sterling as part of an ongoing series depicting familiar buildings, monuments, and other sites in Washington, D.C. These prints are silver gelatin. Nine of them, unmated and unmounted, were made on 16" x 20" with wide margins (actual image sizes are shown below). The other three prints are in window mats, 16" x 16".
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Craig Sterling is an American art photographer who studied at the Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, California. He cites the photography of Ansel Adams, Arnold Newman, and Eugene Atget as having had the greatest influence on his work. Sterling, who works exclusively in black-and-white, using a wide range of equipment, makes his own silver gelatin and pigment prints. He often prefers the square format of Hasselblad cameras. He has maintained a studio at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia since 2001.
His photographs, which display a largely pictorialist style, are in the collections of other institutions, such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Oakland Museum. His work has appeared in group exhibitions at the Art League Gallery (Alexandria Virginia), the University of Maine Museum of Art (Bangor, Maine), the Baldwin Photographic Gallery (Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tenn.), the Oakland Museum (Oakland, California), the Philip Weiss Gallery (London), among many others, especially in the Washington and Virginia areas.
His other photographic activities have included teaching at the Art League, Alexandria, Va.; PhotoWorks at Glen Echo Park, Bethesda, Md.; and the Smithsonian Institution Resident Associate Program. He also served as curator for an exhibition, "The Photographs of Alexander Gardner," at the Washington Center for Photography. He has a Web site at http://www.craigsterling.com/.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Craig Sterling
Rights:
Contact photographer, Craig Sterling, for reproduction permission. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection consists of photographic images of the Vitone family in Akron, Ohio and other locations, as part of an ongoing photographic document called "Family Records." This is an ongoing portrait project which for the past 20 years has used large-format negatives to document families living around the Rust Belt City of Akron, Ohio, former home to the country's major rubber and tire producers. These portraits offer personal yet unsentimental views of the subjects finding purpose and evolving family structures in these largely blue-collar communities that at times wrestle with job insecurity and problems accompanying alcohol and opioid use.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists primarily of 37 photographic prints, portraits of Vitone's extended family in the Akron, Ohio, area, plus other locations, forms part of an ongoing photographic document called "Family Records"; also two CD-Roms containing images and text.
Most of the images are posed environmental portraits showing the subjects' homes or other personal contexts. The original negatives are large-format; 4" x 5". The collection is arranged into two series. Series one is the photoprints and series two contains other materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1: Photoprints
Series 2: Other Materials
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph Vitone holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts degree in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is Professor of Photocommunications at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. In 1998, he began a photographic document project called "Family Records" using for the most part, immediate and extended families of both Vitone and his wife. The Vitones grew up in north-eastern Ohio. While the series also includes photographs taken in other states of farther flung family, the majority of the portrait subjects live in or near Akron, former home to the country's major rubber and tire producers including Goodyear, Goodrich, and Firestone. Norton and Barberton and other more rural communities neighboring Akron, serve as locations for many of these images along with Akron proper. He is the father of photographer Dylan Vitone.
Provenance:
These photographs were printed by Mr. Joseph Vitone in 2004 from the original negatives, especially as a gift to the Archives Center.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright. Copyright retained by Joseph Vitone.
Photographs taken under a grant from the Graham Foundation to document disappearing family farms in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. This project shows the urbanization of this mostly rural county in central Wisconsin located between Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison. Welsh men and women came to Waukesha County in the 1840s and became part of America's dairy history. After five or six generations, many of these farms are still family owned. Today's farms are threatened by developers due to rising land prices.
Scope and Contents:
32 photographs made in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, May 1994, under a grant from the Graham Foundation to document disappearing family farms in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. They include images of farms, dairy barns, silos, cemetery, and roads.
Welsh men and women came to the County in the 1840s to launch another part of America's dairy history; after five or six generations, many farms are still family owned. Today's farms are threatened by developers due to rising land prices (up to $50,000/acre perked) and their central location between Milwaukee (east), Madison (west), and Chicago (south).
Arrangement:
Arranged into two series. Sequence arranged by artist.
Biographical / Historical:
Artist b. Port Chester, New York, 1945; childhood in several American cities and Switzerland; studied printmaking at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., graduated 1969; gave up printmaking for photography due to influence of Farm Security Administration photographs he had seen at the Library of Congress as a teenager. Self-employed photographer since 1970, working on grants and contracts to document workers, and rural poverty.; also landscape, still life, and portraiture. To Denmark 1979: commercial photography for about ten years before returning to the U.S. Work in many museum and private collections. Artist's residency, Yaddo, 1992-1993.
Artist's comment about the portfolio subjects: Welsh men and women came to Waukesha County in the 1840s to launch another part of America's dairy history; after five or six generations, many farms are still family owned. Today's farms are threatened by developers due to rising land prices (up to $50,000/acre perked) and their central location between Milwaukee (east), Madison (west), and Chicago (south).
Provenance:
Collection donated by Barbara Scheide and Jan Faul, December 30, 1994.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Use and copyright restrictions: rights retained by the artist. The Museum may exhibit and reproduce photographs in its publications, but cannot make copies or authorize reproduction by others.,Contact artist for reproduction arrangements.
Jan Faul "Farming the Welsh Hills" Portfolio, 1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist [or Barbara Scheide: consult finding aid for credits for specific photographs].
Photographs from a project entitled "Kentucky Coal Country," in which photographer Gordon Smith concentrates on economic and social factors in Kentucky. The photographs document poverty, erosion of the land through strip mining, and other harsh realities in Kentucky.
Scope and Contents:
The seven photographs in this group are all from a project entitled "Kentucky Coal Country," in which Gordon Smith concentrates on economic and social factors in Kentucky. They powerfully and starkly document poverty, erosion of the land through strip mining, and other harsh realities in Kentucky. All negatives were made in 1994, but these prints were made by Smith in late 1998 and/or early 1999. All are silver gelatin, printed on 16" x 20" paper, and are unmounted. Included with the prints are copies of the artist's project description and a caption list with his comments for forty images in the series.
Smith's photographs depict the Appalachian region of Kentucky, whose residents remain among the poorest in the nation. "This region, whose underground fortunes are still being ruthlessly plundered, now faces a near lifeless economy patched together by low paying service jobs, food stamps and welfare cheques," he writes. "...[The] Appalachian Regional Commission has overseen the spending of huge quantities of taxpayer dollars in an effort to penetrate the economic, geographic and cultural isolation of this mountainous region... Two thirds of these funds have been absorbed by road construction efforts which appear to have been more beneficial to local contractors and the coal and lumber industries than the population at large. The lavish spending program has had little effect in transforming the area's coal-linked economic base... The state of Kentucky has been particularly hard hit."
Smith's photographs indicate his concerns about the devastation of both the land and the people in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. The photographs in this selection vividly show the effects of strip mining, as well as people living in poverty. "Machines have stolen forever the jobs that kept this land alive," he comments. "...As communities perish and families are split apart, one of America's oldest and least understood cultures is in danger of being wiped away..."
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1: Documents,
Series 2: Photographs,
Biographical / Historical:
Gordon R. Smith is an American photojournalist whose photographs are in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography (Tucson, Arizona), the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and many other American and European collections. He has been included in many group exhibitions, and he has had solo exhibitions in galleries in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. He has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (Visual Arts Fellowship, 1994) and Eastman Kodak Company (Materials Grant, 1990).
His work has been published in the Washington Post, New York Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Photographer's Forum, S F Camerawork, Photo Metro, The Photo Review, Camera Austria, and other newspapers and magazines. He is based in Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Gordon R. Smith,1999, January 25.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Photographer holds copyrights. Reproduction permission from artist; contact information upon request.
Topic:
Coal mines and mining -- 1990-2000 -- Kentucky Search this
49 Photographic prints (Silver gelatin on paper, 16 x 20)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Portfolios (groups of works)
Photographs
Place:
Massachusetts
Marblehead (Mass.)
Date:
2000
Summary:
These photographs depict various scenes in Marblehead, Massachusetts, as photographed in the year 1999, including views of the town and its environs, commerce, and activities of people, especially families. The photographs are part of a self-assigned project, through which Stuart Cohen intended to survey the state of the town as it prepared to greet the new millennium.
Scope and Contents:
Photographs depict various aspects of activities in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the year 2000, including views of the town and its structure, architecture, and environs, as well as activities of people, especially families. There is also emphasis on the commerce of the town. Subjects include high school cheerleaders, children sledding, an amusement park, an arts festival, firemen with a hand pumper, a costume parade, Santa Claus and Christmas rituals, a fitness center, an outdoor wedding, school classrooms, a frame house under construction, sailmaking, a farmers' market, stores, restaurants, a bar, fishing, a library, etc. Prints captioned and signed, with additional information on verso.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Stuart Cohen initiated this project to document Marblehead, Massachusetts, at the turn of the new millennium.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Stuart Cohen.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright. Contact photographer for reproduction.
The collection documents a working class "gay" bar, the Shamrock Bar, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1997-2000, through photographs and oral history interviews.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of Carol Burch-Brown's photographs (200 photoprints, mostly silver gelatin on fiber-base paper, but including more than a dozen digital prints), copies of tape-recorded interviews (on 26 compact discs), and transcripts of interviews (3 volumes plus a compact disc containing Word files) made at the Shamrock Bar, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1997-2002, documenting a working-class gay bar. The photographs include "drag" performances, pageants, and other activities at the bar. Many show performers applying makeup and donning costumes, including the use of prosthetic breasts. Pictures taken in the bar are often in a soft-focus, slightly blurred, high-contrast, impressionistic style. There are a number of sharp-focus portraits, however, and exterior views of the building, its neighborhood, and the town are sharply focused, detailed documentary images.
Names (usually pseudonyms or stage names) which turn up in the interviews include: Natasha Michaels, Nikki Eaves, Shea West, Cortney Collins, Taylor Made, India Dream, Clinton, Tiffany Aver, Terba Devero, Roxie Morehead, and Dorothy. The performer "Bunny" is actually the photographer's friend and colleague, Ann Kilkelly. Many of these persons are also shown in the photographs, as is Helen Compton.
Note: The audio compact disks are not original recordings, and may be played by researchers directly.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Photoprints
Series 2: Text (including transcripts of interviews)
Series 3: Compact discs
Biography:
Carol Burch-Brown is Professor of Art and Humanities at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, and is a photographer, painter, and musician. Photographer and co-author with David Rigsbee, Trailers, University Press of Virginia, 1996.
Historical:
During its heyday, the Shamrock Bar in Bluefield, West Virginia was a gathering place for gays and lesbians. The photographer reported in March 2003, before donating this collection, that Miss Helen Compton, proprietor of the Shamrock, had died and the establishment had been closed.
Other Title:
It's Reigning Queens in Appalachia
Provenance:
Colection donated by Carol Burch-Brown, December 2003.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright. Requests will be referred to the photographer.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
Print #75. Photograph taken in 1999. Carol Burch-Brown, copyright 2003.
Local Numbers:
AC0857-0000007.tif (AC Scan No.)
Exhibitions Note:
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Archiving the History of an Epdemic: HIV and AIDS, 1985-2009," June 3, 2011-October 3, 2011. Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Collection Rights:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright. Requests will be referred to the photographer.
The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews by Carol Burch-Brown, 1997-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
