101 Caring for Collections; Stories from the Field,Research / Lou Pernell.
102 Stories from the Field,Research / Elease Hall, Myron L. Curtis, Ray Sebulsky.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0110
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 4, 1996.
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.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Silver gelatin on cellulose acetate film sheet, 2.5" x 2.5".)
Container:
Box 77
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
African American Air Force pilot in front of the star portion of a fighter plane. No ink on negative, no edge imprint.
Subseries 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.
Subseries 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.
Photographs -- 1940-1950 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
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.
The Sullivan Family papers, which date from 1880 to 1994 and measure 2.25 linear feet, document the personal lives of four generations in the Sullivan Family. The papers are comprised of personal correspondence, school materials, legal documents, financial records, clippings, books, posters, and photographs.
Scope and Contents note:
These papers, which date from 1880 to 1994, bulk dates 1920–1960, document the lives of four generations of the Sullivan family. They contain material relating to a great number of Sullivan family members descended from Livinia and Abraham Sullivan. The papers especially offer insight into the family's life and involvement during the Second World War through a particularly abundant collection of correspondence and photographs. The papers also include books, legal documents, financial records, and school materials.
Arrangement note:
The papers are organized into four series. Folders are arranged alphabetically within series, while documents within folders are organized chronologically. Oversized material appears in the series: Biographical Files, Printed Materials and Photographs. Non archival materials associated with the papers are housed in the Collections Department.
Series I: Biographical Files
Series II: Correspondence
Series III: Printed Materials
Series IV: Photographs
Biographical/Historical note:
In 1883 Abraham Sullivan welcomed his wife, Livinia and four children, Charles, Nynetta, Emma, and Theodore to Boston, Massachusetts. Emigrating from New Brunswick, Canada, the family would remain in the Boston area for many generations to come. After the move to Boston, oldest son Charles H. Sullivan would rise to prominence in the New England music scene. He became a skilled craftsman in instrument-making and founded the Boston Victorian Orchestra, a multi-racial orchestra.
Charles Sullivan never married, which perhaps contributes to the lack of information on his life. His brother Theodore married Anne Vann of Nova Scotia, Canada. Together they raised two daughters from Anne's previous marriage, Sadie and Rosa Jones (later Sadie Thompson and Rosa Miller). They also had four children of their own, Theodore M., twins Mary (later Mary Walters) and May, and Frances (later Frances Mendez).
Theodore and Anne's son Theodore M. began his family's military tradition by enlisting in the army in 1917, during the First World War. He spent two years fighting in Europe before being honorably discharged at the end of the conflict in 1919. In the early 1930s Theodore was awarded the Purple Heart by United States Secretary of War George Dern for eleven different wounds sustained in 1918.
Theodore M.'s example was followed by his immediate and extended family members during the Second World War. Many of the women volunteered in war efforts at home and all three of Theodore M.'s sons, Lewis, Earle, and Edwin (Eddy) enlisted for service in the armed forces. In 1943 Earle Sullivan was accepted into the Tuskegee Institution's program for training the first African American military pilots (now famously known as the "Tuskegee Airmen") and was well into his training before his death at the end of 1943.
The Sullivan family continued their tradition of service for many decades through memberships with the Red Cross and American Legion. In 1954 Sadie Thompson, Theodore M. Sullivan's half sister, was honored with an award for forty years of service in her Boston Chapter of the American Red Cross, and again in 1971 for fifty five years of active involvement.
Although the Sullivan family retained ties to the Boston area they originally settled in, several branches have spread throughout the northeastern United States. After his marriage, Theodore M. Sullivan began working for the Bureau of Engraving in Washington D.C. Still connected to his Boston home, Theodore split his time between the two cities until his death in 1969. Upon her marriage to Thomas Mendes, Ethylene Mendez, daughter of Francis Sullivan Mendez moved to Long Island, N.Y. She was eventually followed by her mother and sister, Lillian, where they lived until their deaths in the 1980s and 90s.
Provenance:
The Sullivan Family papers were donated to the Anacostia Community Museum in April 2005 by Savina Martin, Dominga Martin and Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for unrestricted research. Use requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Sullivan Family papers are the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
World War, 1939-1945 -- African Americans Search this
Genre/Form:
Autograph albums
Books
Correspondence
Certificates
Tintypes (prints)
Ephemera
Financial records
Negatives (photographic)
Photographic prints
Citation:
The Sullivan Family papers, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Savina Martin, Dominga Martin and Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper.
An educator and author, Robert Russa Moton (1867-1940) graduated from Hampton Institute in 1890, where he was commandant of the male student corps. In 1915, following the death of Dr. Booker T Washington, Moton succeeded Washington as principal of Tuskegee Institute until 1935. The initial training base for the Tuskegee Airmen was named Moton field, after Robert Russa Moton.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Container:
Box 55, Folder 63
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1991
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.
Series Citation:
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.
National Air and Space Museum -- Exhibitions Search this
Extent:
13.38 Cubic feet (11 legal document boxes, 1 shoe box (5 x 8 inches), 6 records center boxes )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Photographs
Date:
1917-2000
bulk 1981-1986
Summary:
This collection consists of background material collected in support of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) exhibit "Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation" (opened in 1982) and its companion book (published 1983) by curators Von Hardesty and Dominick Pisano, a related symposium, educational materials, and a travelling version of the exhibit. The collection contains photographs and textual materials used in the exhibit and book, internal correspondence and memoranda, and a large amount of material gathered for research purposes but not used in any "Black Wings" production.
Scope and Contents:
The core of the collection covers activities of American Black aviators between 1917 and 1981, from Eugene Bullard's service as a pilot in World War I through the first Black astronauts assigned to the Space Shuttle program in the early 1980s. Curators Von Hardesty and Dominick Pisano and other Museum staff collected and generally grouped materials to fit the four chronological sections of the "Black Wings" exhibit and related book, with a strong emphasis on the stories of individual people.
Headwinds (1917-1939) covers pioneer fliers such as Bullard and Bessie Coleman; Black aviation activities in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas; early aviators and organizers including William J. Powell, Willa Brown, and Cornelius Coffey; and long distance flights by James Herman Banning and Thomas C. Allen, and C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson and Dr. Albert E. Forsythe.
Flight Lines (1939-1945) includes the 1939 flight of Dale L. White and Chauncey E. Spencer to Washington, D.C.; the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPT); the start of training of Black military pilots at Tuskegee Army Air Field during World War II; and training of the all-Black 477th Bombardment Group. This section and the next include U.S. Army Air Force documents and photography, and materials obtained from individual Tuskegee Airmen.
Wings for War (1943-1945) covers the experiences of the men of the 99th Fighter Squadron and later the 322nd Fighter Group, all-Black fighter units which participated in the Allied campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy during World War II, and their commander, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
Era of Change (1945-1981), including many materials from the U.S. armed forces and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), covers the desegregation of the armed forces; military pilots' participation in the Korean and Vietnam wars (featuring William Earl Brown, Jr.; Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr.; Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.); general aviation (John W. Green, Jr.; Neal Loving); commercial aviation (Perry H. Young, Jr.; James O. Plinton, Jr.); and the U.S. space program, including not just the first Black astronauts (Guion S. Bluford, Jr.; Ronald E. McNair; Frederick D. Gregory; Charles F. Bolden) but many other NASA professional men and women from Project Mercury through the beginning of the Space Shuttle era.
Most of the material was photocopied from other sources such as books, newspapers, periodicals, and other archival collections, but many copy photographs and anecdotes were obtained from the aviators themselves (or their families), particularly those active in the 1930s and 1940s. The collection also contains internal Museum documents, notes, and memoranda regarding the development and implementation of the various "Black Wings" productions, including portions of exhibit scripts, book manuscripts, ephemera, and Museum photography taken at the exhibit opening and the symposium. Photographic formats include prints, copy prints, 4 x 5 inch black and white copy negatives and color transparencies, and 35mm copy slides. Quality of the photography is often fair to poor, as the copies are several generations removed from the original images.
The last six boxes of the collection (currently unprocessed) consists of material collected circa 2000 by curator Cathleen S. Lewis and Ian Cook (NASM Department of Space History) for a proposed update to the "Black Wings" exhibit. After it became clear that the exhibit was not going to be updated, Lewis transferred the material to the NASM Aeronautics Department, as Hardesty and Pisano were contemplating an update to the Black Wings book. This, too, failed to materialize, and the material was transferred to the NASM Archives in May 2018 to be added to the existing Black Wings Exhibit and Book Collection. This series was received by the Museum's Archives Division after the existing collection material had been scanned; it has not been scanned.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series. The first four roughly chronological series (Exhibit, Book, Educational Outreach, and Symposium) relate to the different "Black Wings" productions, and materials within each series often reflect the four-section groupings detailed in the Scope and Content note. The next series, Research Materials, has four sub-series: Biographical Files (alphabetical by last name), Subject Files and Study Materials (alphabetical by subject), Photographic Negatives, and Photographic Prints and Illustrations. The last series houses later additions to the collection which are currently unprocessed.
Materials within folders are predominantly photocopies (xerographs) and often include numerous duplicates, many unlabeled, and in no specific order. Materials relating to an exhibit often include a NASM Exhibits Department reference number (example: SE:13-L73-P58 to P59) indicating the exhibit number (13), label number (L73), and position within the exhibit (P58 to P59). Some materials are not visible online due to copyright restrictions.
Biographical / Historical:
On September 23, 1982, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) exhibit "Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation" opened as part of the existing "Pioneers of Aviation" exhibit located in Gallery 208 of the museum's National Mall Building in Washington, D.C. The exhibit was dedicated to the American Black Aviator, who anonymously played a historic role in shaping the growth of modern aviation. "Black Wings" encompasses the men and women who had to overcome enormous social pressures in order to gain the right to pursue the dream of flight in both civilian, military, and commercial circles. The exhibit generated much public and media interest, and inspired the Museum to sponsor a symposium on February 25, 1983, entitled "The American Black in Aviation, A Decade of Change: 1939-1949," (working title: "Tuskegee Airmen at War") featuring presentations by historians and U. S. Army Air Forces veterans including Noel F. Parrish (Commander, Tuskegee Army Air Field, 1942-1946), George F. Roberts (Commander, 99th Fighter Squadron, September 1943 to April 1944), and pilots Lewis A. Jackson, Elwood T. Driver, and Louis R. Purnell. In conjunction with the exhibit, the Museum, working with Sid Aaronson Films, Inc., produced a set of sound filmstrip packages designed for elementary and secondary school use. In 1983, the Smithsonian Institution Press published a companion book, Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation, authored by the exhibit's curators, Von Hardesty and Dominick Pisano; a second edition was issued the following year as part of the Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight series. A Smithsonian Institution Travelling Exhibition Service (SITES) version of the exhibit began circulating to other museums and venues in June 1983, and a expanded version of the SITES exhibit (featuring additional artifacts, photography, and audio-visual materials) was displayed April 1 to August 5, 1984, at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (later know as the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum) in Washington, D.C. The original NASM "Black Wings" exhibit—with occasional updates—remained on display in the "Pioneers of Flight" gallery (later renamed the "Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery") until 2019 when the gallery was closed due to renovations to the Museum's National Mall Building.
Related Materials:
"Black Wings: African American Pioneer Aviators" NASM Website Collection, NASM.2004.0026 [finding aid not available online]
Provenance:
National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Department of Aeronautics, Transfer, 1993, NASM.1993.0060; additional material transferred from NASM Department of Space History, 2018
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Symposium, "The American Black in Aviation, A Decade of Change: 1939-1949," [working title: "Tuskegee Airmen at War"], Friday, February 25, 1983, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
Black Wings Exhibit and Book Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0060, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
