The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Joseph Lindon Smith papers, 1647-1965, bulk 1873-1965. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Program in African American Culture Search this
Container:
Box 15, Folder 13
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1986 June 7
Scope and Contents:
Lecture and song workshop held June 7, 1986 at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. It examined the sacred music tradition of the African Methodist Church focusing on the 1801 Richard Allen hymnal. Richard Allen, hymn writer, publisher and pastor, was born a slave in Philadelphia in 1760. By the late 1700s, Allen, a devout Methodist, had resolved to build a Black Methodist Church that would address the needs of black people whose worship tradition grew out of camp meeting spiritual songs. In 1787, he led a group of free blacks out of the St. George Methodist Church to form their own organization, the Free African Protection Society. Their mission was to build a church with the freedom to develop their own religious practice and songs. In 1791, his congregation established the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in central Philadelphia.
Allen's hymnal entitled Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns from Various Authors by Richard Allen, African Minister, was the first of several he published. They contained worship songs in the black tradition in addition to those learned by blacks in white churches. The program organized by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, director, Program in African American Culture (PAAC). Program number AC408.43.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Use of reference audio and video cassette copies only.
Collection Rights:
Reproduction fees for commercial use. Copyright restrictions. Contact staff for information.
Collection Citation:
Program in African American Culture Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Recorded in: Sneedville (Tenn.), United States, Tennessee.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
159 Video recordings (U-matic 3/4" video recordings)
1 Video recording (VHS 1/2" video recording)
15 Linear feet (15 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Videocassettes
Place:
United States -- Race relations
United States -- Rural conditions
Date:
1989-1994
Scope and Contents note:
The collection, which dates from 1989 to 1994 and measures 15 linear feet, documents the reminiscences of elderly members of various African-American churches in the Atlanta area, as well as individual church histories, outstanding personalities of the South, religious expression in the South, and styles of singing and worship. The collection is comprised of audiovisual materials.
Biographical/Historical note:
Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, Inc. is the nation's largest regional interfaith cable network. AIB has been providing faith-based communities and nonprofit service organizations access to a larger audience since 1969. AIB remains a destination for international dignitaries and media representatives due to its unique programming platform, which promotes dialogue between all faiths, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Seen in over 1,000,000 homes across 19 metro area counties, AIB is a self-supporting organization and does not allow the solicitation of funds or attacks on other faiths. Viewers can find Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others presenting their views.
Provenance:
Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters Oral History Collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
This short documentary provides an overview of the development of church music alongside the growth of African American churches in the eastern United States from the arrival of black Africans in Jamestown in 1619 through 1877 and the Reconstruction era. The evolution of church music within African American churches included the formation of music programs and performances, hymnals, choirs, negro spirituals, and music education as well as the addition of organs to accompany the singing of psalms, hymns, and anthems. During the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, the Christianization of slaves and Africanization of Protestant hymns swept through the American colonies. European Christianity and the emotionalism of the African homeland were combined during the Second Awakening, which began in the late eighteenth century and lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century. The history of church music created by urban and rural congregations within New England and Southern states is explored.
Short documentary. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. Complete production: AV000962, AV003327. Production elements: AV002679 [narration], AV003345 [outtakes - sound], AV003421 [music], AV003336 [music]. AV003421: 6 songs including We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder [also known as Jacob's Ladder] and Battle Hymn of the Republic [also known as Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!]. AV003336: 2 recordings of We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder. Dated 19940923 [AV000962]. Undated [all other recordings].
Biographical / Historical:
Church Songs of Black Americans 1740 - 1877 was created alongside the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003327
ACMA AV002679
ACMA AV003345
ACMA AV003421
ACMA AV003336
ACMA AV002642
General:
Title transcribed from opening credits of video recording.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
Climbing Jacob's Ladder argues for the importance of documenting and preserving the history of the African American church as explained by church historians, archivists, and curators. The African American church tells the story of African Americans, provides direction and goals for the young, and is the center of African American life. Its history is illustrated through photographs and moving images, which are endangered of being lost and forgotten if preservation measures are not taken. The short documentary also provides an overview of the history of the black church and African American worship from slavery through present day, the role and style of black preachers, black church music and choirs, and clothing worn to religious services.
Short documentary. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. AV001152: dated 19920324. AV005160: transferred from VHS, captions burnt into image, dated 1991. AV005350: 16mm Preservation Color Interpositive, no sound, dated 20150317.
Biographical / Historical:
Climbing Jacob's Ladder was based on the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.;The African American church provides the spiritual, educational, social, political, and economic center for the African American community. Because the history of the African American church tells the story of African Americans, the church is the largest repository of African American history.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV005160
ACMA AV005350
General:
Title transcribed from open credits of video recording.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
Michael W. Howell dramatizes Richard Allen's life from his birth into slavery through his establishment of what was to become the modern-day African Methodist Episcopal Church. Events which led to the founding of the Free African Society and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia are explained.
Short one-man dramatization with still images and narration interspersed. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. Complete production: AV000961 [captions burned into image]. Production elements: AV003353 and AV003356 [narration]. AV003356: first minute only [remaining recording related to Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston]. Dated 19941031 [AV000961]. Undated [all other recordings].
Biographical / Historical:
The Times of Richard Allen was created alongside the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.;Born a slave in 1760 on the Delaware property of Benjamin Chew and later sold to Stokely Sturgis, Richard Allen was one of the founders of the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1789. In 1801, his collection of spiritual songs and hymns helped to establish an ongoing tradition of hymn singing at Mother Bethel. Allen also formed the Free African Society, Philadelphia's first black mutual aid society to serve the needs of African Americans regardless of religious beliefs, with Absalom Jones in 1787 after African Americans were segregated during worship services at St. George's United Methodist Church in Philadelphia.;Michael W. Howell collaborated with Smithsonian staff to create The Times of Richard Allen, a one-man dramatization performed by Howell at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History in 1987 to augment the museum's exhibit "After the Revolution: Everyday Life in America, 1780-1800," which focused in part on Allen. [McIntyre, Mike. Accolade for Round House. The Washington Post, Feb. 17, 1987.]
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003353
ACMA AV003356
General:
Title transcribed from opening credits of video recording.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
Audio tour for the exhibition - Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 - presents African American religious history beginning with the first African slaves who brought African religious faith with them and the incorporation of African religion customs with Euro-Christian faith. The audio tour includes the history of Black Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Episcopalian congregations in the North; black congregations in the South during Civil War and Reconstruction; black churches and politics, including slave rebellions; the work of Reverends and Preachers; negro spirituals; and vodou. Names profiled include Cotton Mather, David Walker, Nat Turner, Henry M. Turner, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Audio tour. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. AV002681: dated 19871201. AV001345: undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audio Tour was created for the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001345
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
During the audio tour of exhibition, The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties, narrator Robert Hall presents the evolution and achievements of black creative expression beginning in Harlem and spreading across the United States during th 1920s. Literary, visual, performance, and cinematic achievements are profiled. Including brief biographical histories and achievements by Marcus Garvey, James Weldon Johnson, Jessie Fauset, A. Philip Randolph, Claude McKay, Nella Larson, Carl Van Vechten, Countee Cullen, Alain Locke, Harry T. Burleigh, Paul Robeson, Roland Hayes, Lois Mailou Jones, Jules Bledsoe, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith, and Mamie Smith.
Self guided audio tour narration. Part of The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties Audiovisual Records. AV001362: master. Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
The exhibition - The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties - showcased the evolution and achievements of the Renaissance, which was the explosion of literary, visual, performance, and cinematic creativity generated by black artists between the end of World War I and the early days of the Great Depression. Represented is the creativity of Marian Anderson, Richard Barthe, Countee Cullen, Aaron Douglas, Duke Ellington, Meta Warrick Fuller, Roland Hayes, Zora Neale Hurston, Malvin Gray Johnson, Alain Locke, "Jelly Roll" Morton, Paul Robeson, George Schuyler, and Wallace Thurman, among others. The exhibition, held at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, ran from September 1985 - December 1986.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001362
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 29, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 29, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 1, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 1, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 5, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 5, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 6, 1991.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
