Collection consists of photoprints and other materials created by Jacob Jacobson for the "Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America" exhibition circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), from April 2000 to early 2004.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of photoprints and other materials created by Jacob Jacobson for the "Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America" exhibition circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), from April 2000 to early 2004. The materials are arranged into two series.
Series 1: Iris (Inkjet) Digital Photoprints, dates, consists of eighty six color Iris (inkjet) items. The subjects are primarily individual musicians and craftsmen, although several instrument companies are included, notably the venerable Selmer Company of Elkhart, Indiana, which has manufactured band instruments for many decades. These digital prints were made from Jacobson's 35mm color transparencies (although print number one is monochrome, rather than full color). The prints are from a limited edition of 350, and are signed by the photographer in the lower right beneath the image, and numbered on the lower left. Some prints bears Northlight Atelier blind stamp in the margin and an identifying label with the print number and subject's name is affixed to each print on the verso at the bottom. Most of the prints have an image size of 20" in the long dimension and from approximately 13-1/4" to 14-1/4" on the short side; on heavy, textured archival paper, ranging in size from about 16"x 23" to 19"x 24". Eight larger prints, with image sizes of approximately 21-22" x 31-32" in size, were received matted and in 28" x 40" frames. Some representative image and print sizes are included. Most prints are in one large flat box; prints in the "folder" are stored separately because the paper is slightly too large for the box. The large framed prints are necessarily stored separately and are less accessible.
Series 2: Other Materials, dates, includes a loose-leaf notebook containing inventory of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) exhibit prints with titles and thumbnail images for identification (except item 55, which is omitted), plus a CD-ROM containing the images in pocket. Note that the images for numbers 81 and 85 in the notebook are reversed. There is also a compact disk in plastic jewel case of the same name ("Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America"), which contains sixty tracks of instrument makers playing their instruments and interviews with some of them. Compact disk in plastic jewel case, "Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America; Music and Interviews Recorded Live; Taken from the Book..." (produced by Northlight). Containing music and selected interviews with instrument makers, produced for commercial distribution by Northlight Atelier; 60 tracks. Compact disk in plastic jewel case, "Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America; Music and Interviews Recorded Live; Taken from the Book..." (produced by Northlight). Containing music and selected interviews with instrument makers, produced for commercial distribution by Northlight Atelier; 60 tracks.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1, Iris (Inkjet) Digital Photoprints
Series 2, Other Materials
Biographical / Historical:
"Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America" was an exhibition of photographs by Jake Jacobson, circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), from April 2000 to early 2004 to at least fourteen venues. The first site was April 8, 2000, at the Georgia Mountains History Museum, and the last venue for the show was the Elkhart County Historical Museum, Bristol, Indiana, ending April 6, 2004. Selections from the exhibition were on view from June 4 to 8, 2001, in the Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, and it was shown in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries building, March 2-April 28, 2002.
The field work for the project was begun in 1996, culminating in 1998. "Traveling coast to coast, in an extensive two-year journey across the United States, Jake Jacobson and research collaborator Trisja Malisoff recorded the images, words, and music of over 300 contemporary musical instrument makers. Documenting the diversity of American music, Jacobson's photographs reveal a complex, living tradition-a heritage that draws upon Latin, Native American, European, African and Asian music influences."
Following this project, Jacobson engaged in a related photographic documentation, "Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of China." He has established a "Heart & Hands Foundation." Music has been an important part of Jacobson's life throughout his career as a photographer, printmaker, and jazz musician. During the mid-1960s he operated a backyard print shop, producing rock concert posters. As an advertising and editorial photographer, he pioneered new techniques for special effects and printmaking. His continuing passion for photographing musical artists is evident in the portraits in the "Heart & Hands" project.
A graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, Jacobson has taught photography at UCLA and Cypress College in Orange County. A longtime practitioner and teacher of Yoga, he is the owner of the Center for Yoga in Los Angeles. He operated a "state-of-the-art" photography, printmaking, and video production studio, Northlight of Colorado, in the mountains near Telluride, Colorado, before relocating the Northlight Atelier to Santa Barbara, California, in 2003.
Another project of Jacobson's is entitled, "Oh, Baby--Celebrating Birth Rites around the World."
Provenance:
Collection donated by Mr. Jacobson.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Technical Access: Do not use original
Rights:
Jake Jocobson retains copyright. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection consists of photographic materials taken by Frank Espada, mostly images from the Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, which documents these communities across the Unites States. In addition, there are materials relating to his earlier work documenting civil rights activities and HIV/AIDS awareness, also in the United States during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Scope and Contents:
Photographs and negatives taken by Frank Espada, mostly images from his most well-known body of work, The Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, which consists of several hundred prints and thousands of negatives of Puerto Rican communities across the Unites States. The purpose the project was to establish the national presence of Puerto Ricans in the United States, to celebrate Puerto Rican culture and Latinidad, and to make a political statement.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into five series.
Series 1: Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, 1962-2008, undated
Sub-Series 1.1: Photographic and Digital Prints, 1962-1986, undated
Sub-Series 1.2: Proofs, 1979-1986, undated
Sub-Series 1.3: Contact Sheets and Negatives, 1964-1987, undated
Sub-Series 1.4: Interviews, 1980-1982, undated
Sub-Series 1.5: Site Notebooks, 1981-1985, undated
Series 2: Civil Rights Era Materials, 1963-1974, undated
Sub-Series 2.1: Black and White Prints, 1963-1974, undated
Sub-Series 2.2: Proofs, Negatives, and Contact Sheets, 1963-1968
Sub-Series 2.3: Slides, 1969
Series 3: Personal Papers, 1966-2007, undated
Series 4: Out of School Youth (OSY) Project, 1989
Series 5: Youth Environment Study (YES) Project, 1989-1991
Biographical / Historical:
Francisco Luis Espada Roig, later known as Frank Espada, was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico in December 1930. He and his family migrated to New York City in 1939. He attended public school and after high school, briefly attended City College of New York. In 1949, he joined the Air Force.
In 1952 he married his wife, Marilyn. They had three children, Lisa, Jason, and Martin. Espada began working for an electrical contractor to provide for his family, a job he would hold for ten years.
There followed a second stint in the Air Force, during the Korean War, and then, in 1954, Espada began attending the New York Institute of Photography on the GI Bill. In the late 50s and early 1960s, influenced by mentors such as important New York-based photographers Dave Heath and the legendary W. Eugene Smith, Espada became intent on pursuing what he called his "first love," documentary photography, but this dream had to be delayed.
From the early 60s on, he became heavily involved in the New York community and the Civil Rights Movement, organizing voter registration drives, rent strikes, and marches for civil rights. He photographed many subjects in New York throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including the civil rights era. Because he was close to Puerto Rican activists and communities, he photographed these as well.
In the 1970s, he was a Ford Foundation Fellow working with the Drug Abuse Council. In 1979, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he was finally able to receive income from photography. This fellowship allowed him to pursue his "life-long dream of shooting a major documentary" on the Puerto Rican diaspora. He documented Puerto Rican communities and the Puerto Rican experience around the United States, including Hawaii and Guam.
In 1985, Espada moved to San Francisco and was given the opportunity to teach at the UC Berkeley Extension Program. He discovered that he loved to teach, which resulted in what he referred to as "eighteen of the best years of my life," and he was revered by his students.
In 1989 he joined forces with the Youth Environment Studies (YES), documenting the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2005 he retired from teaching and continued working on his book, encompassing his documentation of Puerto Rican communities. The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People, reproducing many of his photographs with his incisive, poignant text was published in 2007, twenty-eight years after the Diaspora project had begun.
Frank Espada was an activist for justice and an important documentary photographer in the "socially conscious" tradition, who wrote: 'The purpose of showing my work is to get young people thinking, to stimulate their minds and hearts, to make conditions known, and to attack injustices wherever they exist."
In his later years, he turned to color photography and landscapes for personal artistic expression. He passed away in February of 2014 from a heart problem.
Materials at Other Organizations:
Duke University Libraries
Frank Espada papers and photographs, 1946-2010 and undated, bulk 1975-2010
The Frank Espada Papers and Photographs collection consists largely of photographic prints, contact sheets, proofs, and negatives, chiefly dating from the mid-1970s through 2010, relating to Espada's Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, his project work on indigenous Chamorro communities in Micronesia, primarily in Guam, Tinian, and Saipan, and his work documenting HIV/AIDS outreach and education in San Francisco. The largest body of materials, which includes photographs as well as manuscripts and recorded interviews, derives from Espada's work with the Puerto Rican communities which spanned several decades. A smaller group of materials, nineteen prints, associated contacts and negatives and several folders of documents, were created through Espada's activism in the Civil Rights Movement for voter registration and school desegregation in New York City from 1962-1970.
Other materials include research files on documentary topics he was currently investigating; materials used in preparation for his many photography project exhibits, large and small; teaching syllabi and notes from his photography courses; awards and memorabilia; and other manuscript and printed materials from his career in photography.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs
The Puerto Rican diaspora, between 1979 and 1981
83 photographic prints
Detroit Institute of Arts Research Library and Archives
[Frank Espada: artist file]
1 folder. Folder may contain clippings, press releases, brochures, reviews, small exhibition catalogs, resumés, other ephemera.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Collection was purchased from Frank Espada's son Jason Espada with funds from the Latino Initiatives Pool.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some ethnographic materials in this collection are restricted because participants did not sign release forms. Restricted materials are part of series 4 and housed in boxes 57 and 59. Material may not be accessed or used until 2064.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Frank Espada Photographs, circa 1962-2008, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
This collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, and the funds were used to purchase the collection from Jason Espada.
Environmental portraits of Cajun musicians: 64 inkjet photographic prints, 1980-2008, some in black-and-white and others in color.
Scope and Contents:
Environmental portraits of Cajun musicians, often taken in their homes, usually showing them with their instruments, typically accordions, violins, and guitars. Exterior images sometimes include automobiles. The collection consists of 64 inkjet photographic prints, 297 x 420 mm. (12" x 16-3/4"), some in black-and-white and others in color. They are beautifully crafted and include a wealth of detail. They are basically straightforward environmental portraits, and although the subjects are rendered with dignity, sometimes unusual, quirky aspects of some subjects' personalities, including seemingly incongruous details, also are on display in whimsical pictures imbued with gentle humor. This group of prints is in excellent, new condition. Waagenaar's pictures are sharp, clear, and demonstrate a sympathetic, warm attitude toward his subjects.bPrints are signed in pencil on verso. Printed on Hahnemule Fine Art Inkjet Paper.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Emile Waagenaar lives in the Netherlands, where he works as a commercial photographer. He is an enthusiastic aficionado of Cajun music and because he loves the music, which he discovered in the 1970s, in 1982 he began photographing musicians who play this regional style in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana, Texas, etc. Over the years, at his own expense, he has made many trips from his home to the United States in order to seek out, befriend, and photograph Cajun musicians with their instruments—in their homes, businesses, and concert environments in the United States. Since he fears that this music is always at risk of disappearing as older musicians die and other popular music styles of the moment attract audiences away from traditional forms and styles, he has a missionary spirit in engaging in this project. He hopes not only to preserve visual records of some of the most important musicians and their environments, but to engender interest in Cajun music on the part of those who view his photographs. This project seems is one to which he devotes considerable time and passion and is the most personal of his photographic projects because it is self-assigned rather than deriving from economic necessity. His enthusiasm for this style of music led him to form his own Cajun band in the Netherlands. Many of his images can be viewed on his web site at http://www.emilecajun.web-log.nl/.
Waagenaar has had a number of exhibitions of his work on Cajun musicians in Europe and the United States, including the solo exhibit, "La Joie de la Musique," Sept. 9-Nov. 25, 2006 (La Musées de Lafayette, Louisiana). His work is discussed and critiqued by Johan von Gurp in the catalog Schatten van Breda's Museum (Breda, Netherlands, 2003).
Waagenaar's aims are both aesthetic and historical. He has tried to document the most important and innovative musicians, first among the generation of musicians who were the founders of Cajun music in the beginning of the 20th century. He writes, "After that I think it is important to have the second, third and fourth generation of these musicians. Every generation gives…Cajun music another drive, but the people I want to photograph must…respect the old traditional style and stay close to that. These days I use the Internet to find new musicians, but the best [way to] locate these people is talking with the musicians I already know…when I am in Louisiana. Mostly I give them a phone call and explain my intentions."
Provenance:
Donated by Emile Waagenaar.The photographer had these prints made specifically for this gift.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Emile Waagenaar retains copyright. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Emile Waagenaar Photoprints of Cajun Musicians, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist. Copyright held by the artist.
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 papers of painter, political activist, and educator Leon Golub are dated 1930s-2009 and measure 16.5 linear feet and 4.13 GB. His career as a painter and educator – and, to a far lesser extent, his personal interests and activities – are documented by correspondence, interviews, writings by Golub and other authors, subject files, printed and digital material, and audiovisual recordings. Also included are biographical materials, personal business records, and photographs of Leon Golub and wife Nancy Spero. Posthumously dated items are mostly condolence letters, obituaries, printed material, and inventories of his work.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, political activist, and educator Leon Golub are dated 1930s-2009 and measure 16.5 linear feet and 4.13 GB. His career as a painter and educator – and, to a far lesser extent, his personal interests and activities – are documented by correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed and digital material, and audiovisual recordings. Also included are biographical materials, personal business records, and photographs of Leon Golub and his art work. Posthumously dated items are mostly condolence letters, obituaries, printed material, and inventories of his work.
Biographical materials consist largely of video documentaries about Leon Golub and his work, obituaries, and information about his 2004 memorial service and a larger memorial tribute held later. Also found are educational records, passports, curricula vitae.
Correspondence is mostly of a professional nature, focusing on exhibitions, projects, collectors, articles submitted for publication, Golub's work, speaking engagements, awards, gifts of artwork, studio visits, and travel arrangements. Correspondents include dealers, curators, art historians, critics, collectors, writers, and editors. Scattered throughout are a small number of letters concerning personal business and politics.
Interviews with Leon Golub and joint interviews with Leon Golub and Nancy Spero were conducted for a variety of purposes. They are preserved as transcripts, video, and sound recordings. Writings by Golub include manuscripts and notes for articles, catalog essays, and miscellaneous writings. Notes and texts for talks, lectures, and panel discussions, include some transcripts and recordings. Among the writings by other authors are a dissertation, a thesis, academic papers, notes, texts of speeches, and a recording of a lecture by an unidentified speaker.
Subject files reflect Golub's professional and personal activities, interests and relationships. Of note are many files of "Images (source material)" used for a variety of artwork and projects. Personal business records documenting Golub's artistic output include many inventories and lists, and a comprehensive register of work, information about consignments, loans, photo permissions, and gifts or donations. Also found are extensive mailing lists.
Printed material includes clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and a variety of miscellaneous printed items. Most material is about/mentions Golub, and/or includes reproductions of his work. Scattered throughout are items concerning topics of interest to Golub, and articles written by him.
The majority of the photographic materials are color digital prints of Golub's artwork. There are photographs of Leon Golub and Nancy Spero, family members, and friends and colleagues at exhibition events. Also found are a few photographs of Golub's plexibox sculptures.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1930s-2006 (Boxes 1-2; 1.4 linear feet, ER01-ER02; 3.82 GB)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1955-2004 (Boxes 2-3; 0.9 linear foot)
Series 3: Interviews, 1967-2004 (Boxes 3-4; 0.8 linear foot)
Series 4: Writings, 1948-2003 (Boxes 4-5, 21; 1.1 linear foot, ER03; 0.098 GB)
Series 5: Subject Files, 1959-2005 (Boxes 5-11, OV 18; 6.2 linear feet, ER04-ER06, 0.213 GB)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1965-2009 (Boxes 11-12; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1950s-2009 (Boxes 12-16, 21, OV 19; 3.9 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1940s-2004 (Boxes 16-17, OV 20; 0.6 linear foot)
Biographical / Historical:
Leon Golub (1922-2004) was a painter in New York City known for figurative work with political content, an anti-war activist, and professor of art at Rutgers University.
Chicago native Leon Golub studied art history at the University of Chicago (BA 1942) before serving as a cartographer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Europe during World War II. Upon returning home, Golub became identified with Monster Roster, a group of Chicago artists who believed art must be grounded in real events in order to be relevant to the viewer and society, an idea he held throughout his life. At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Golub pursued his interest in painting (BFA 1949, MFA 1950) and met fellow student Nancy Spero whom he married in 1951. After graduation he began teaching at local colleges, exhibited in Chicago and New York, and served as chair of "Exhibition Momentum" (1950). The couple and their two sons lived in Italy from 1956-1957. In 1959 they moved to Paris and, while there, a third son was born. Upon returning to New York City in 1964, Golub became actively involved with the Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Vietnam, other anti-war groups, and civil liberties organizations. While his painting style changed with time, Golub continued to explore power, violence and conflict, often working in series with titles such as Combats, Napalm, Mercenaries, Interrogation, and Riot.
He first participated in a group show with other veterans at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1947, and soon was included in group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States and in Europe, including the Guggenheim Museum's influential national traveling exhibition "Younger American Painters" (1954-1956). Golub and Spero exhibited their work in tandem and collaborated on installations. He continued to participate in group shows including "Documenta IX" (2002). Golub's work is included in the permanent collections of museums throughout the world.
Golub began his teaching career soon after graduation, first at a junior college in Chicago. In the later 1950s he served briefly on the faculties of Illinois Institute of Technology School of Design and Indiana University; in the 1960s at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He began a long tenure at Rutgers University, School of Visual Arts in 1970 and retired in 1991. In the early 1990s, both Golub and Spero were affiliated with Sommerakademie in Salzburg. Golub wrote and spoke on art, politics, and social issues; he also published many articles, statements, and book reviews, as well as contributing introductions and essays for exhibition catalogs.
Awards and honors included the Skowhegan Medal for Painting (1988), Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights Award (1989), Dickinson College Arts Award (1992), National Foundation of Jewish Culture Visual Arts Award (1995), and Hiroshima Art Prize shared with Nancy Spero (1996). Golub was awarded honorary doctorates of Fine Arts by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1982), Swarthmore College (1985), College of St. Rose (1995), Trinity College (1999), and Pratt Institute (2000). He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2002).
Leon Golub died in New York City August 8, 2004 from complications following surgery.
Related Materials:
Also among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews with Leon Golub conducted for the Archives of American Art by Bruce Hooten 1965 and Irving Sandler 1968 October 28-November 18. The Nancy Spero papers, 1940s-2009, bulk 1970-2009, include documentation of many of the couple's collaborative projects, joint exhibitions, their family, and shared interests.
Provenance:
The Leon Golub papers were donated by Leon Golub in 1978; the majority of the papers were given in 2013 by The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts via their sons Stephen, Philip and Paul Golub. Material loaned for microfilming in 1969 is included with the 2013 donation.
Restrictions:
Use of original materials requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
