Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Shows President Eliot of Harvard, Rev. Lyman Abbot, Andrew Carnegie and others.
Local Numbers:
RSN 22539
General:
Similar to RSN 27762.
Associated number (company accession no.?) 90662.
Currently stored in box 3.2.24 [229].
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
The struggle / L. Hughes (0:22) -- Field call / A.G.H. Dodson (1:15) -- Complaint call / E. Brown (0:40) -- Intro and Kneebone Bend / L. McKiver, D. Skipper (2:51) -- Brother Terrapin, slow train to Arkansas / R. Amerson (1:56) -- Jack and Mary and three dogs / J. Hunter (5:53) -- Buck dance / J. Tucker (1:19) -- I'm goin' up north / Children of East York School (1:22) -- Pharaoh's host got lost / L. McKiver (1:32) -- Bars fight / L. Terry (read by A. Bontemps) (1:23) -- Earl of Dartmouth / P. Wheatley (read by D.F. Washington) (0:49) -- I wonder where my brother gone / A.G.H. Dodson (1:17) -- Narrative / H. Tubman (read by D.F. Washington) (0:59) -- Speech at Akron Convention / S. Truth (read by R. Dee) (2:05) -- Singing slaves / F. Douglass (read by O. Davis) (1:03) -- Steal away to Jesus / K. West (1:50) -- What to the slave is the Fourth of July? / F. Douglass (read by O. Davis) (2:36) -- Why slavery is still rampant / S.P. Parker (read by R. Dee) (1:47) -- Free at last / D. Reed and V.H. Ward (1:33) -- When Malindy sings / P.L. Dunbar (read by M. Walker) (3:48) -- There's a great camp meeting / Fisk Jubilee Singers (2:01) -- Atlanta Exposition address / B.T. Washington (1:16) -- John Henry / B. McGhee and S. Terry (4:03) -- Banjo player / F. Johnson (read by A. Bontemps) (0:44) -- Boatman dance / E. Cotten (1:42) -- Shine / P. Randolph (1:03) -- Chopping in the new ground / Inmates of Ramsay or Retrieve State Farms, TX (1:37) -- Lynching, our national crime / I.B. Wells-Barnett (read by R. Dee) (3:43) -- A recorded autobiography / W.E.B. Du Bois (2:33) -- Listen Lord, a prayer / J.W. Johnson (read by M. Walker) (2:55) -- My heart is fixed / G. Davis (2:04) -- The Titanic / Lead Belly (4:04) -- Heritage / C. Cullen (2:58) -- Jungle drums / J.P. Johnson (2:32). No more auction block / P. Robeson (2:09) -- Negro speaks of rivers / L. Hughes (0:43) -- If we must die / C. McKay (0:57) -- Ma Rainey / S. Brown (2:06) -- Backwater blues / B.B. Broonzy (2:47) -- Married man blues / B. and D.D. Pierce (5:11) -- For my people / M. Walker (5:41) -- Children of the poor, sonnet 2 / G. Brooks (0:47) -- Body and soul / G. Nicholas (3:48) -- How He delivered me / J. Johnson & the Gospel Tones (2:39) -- Long distance call / M. Waters (6:58) -- Cry to me / S. Burke (2:13) -- Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around / SNCC Freedom Singers (2:31) -- Birmingham 1963 - Keep moving / M.L. King, Jr. (3:42) -- Black Panther Party platform / B. Seale (2:59) -- Interview (excerpt) / A. Davis (1:05) -- Together to the tune of Coltrane's "Equinox" / S.W. Fabio (1:40) -- Nikki-Rosa / N. Giovanni (1:12) -- Liberation/poem / S. Sanchez (0:34) -- Dope / A. Baraka (4:48) -- Village of Brooklyn, Illinois / H. Bluiett (3:30) -- For the poets / J. Cortez (3:56) -- Shotgun Joe / Golden Eagles (5:19) -- St. Louis woman / I. Reed (1:26) -- People everyday / Arrested Development (3:27).
Track Information:
101 The Struggle / Langston Hughes.
102 Field Call / Annie Grace Horn Dodson.
103 Complaint Call / Enoch Brown.
104 Intro and Knee Bend / Doretha Skipper, Lawrence McIver.
105 Brother Terrapin, Slow Train to Arkansas / Rich Amerson.
106 Jack and Mary and Three Dogs / Janie Hunter.
107 Buck Dance (excerpt) / Joech Tucker, Scott Dunbar.
108 I'm Goin' Up North / Children of East York School.
109 Pharaoh's Host Got Lost / Lawrence McIver.
110 Bar Fights / Arna Wendell Bontemps, Lucy Terry.
111 Earl of Dartmouth (excerpt) / Dorothy Washington, Phillis Wheatley.
112 I Wonder Where My Brother Gone / Annie Grace Horn Dodson.
114 Speech at Akron Convention / Ruby Dee, Sojourner Truth.
115 Singing Slaves / Frederick Douglass, Ossie Davis.
116 Steal Away to Jesus / Kinsey West.
117 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (excerpt) / Frederick Douglass, Ossie Davis.
118 Why Slvery is Still Rampant (excerpt) / Ruby Dee, Sarah Parker Remond.
119 Free At Last / Dock Reed, Vera Hall.
120 When Malindy Sings / Margaret Walker, Paul Laurence Dunbar.
121 There's A Great Camp Meeting / Jubilee Singers, John W. (John Wesley) Work, Mary Ferguson.
122 Atlanta Exposition Address / Booker T. Washington.
123 John Henry / Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry.
124 Banjo Player / Arna Wendell Bontemps, Fenton Johnson.
125 Boatman Dance / Elizabeth Cotten.
126 Shine / Percy Randolph.
127 Chopping in the New Ground / Inmates of Ramsey or Retrieve.
128 Lynching, Our National Crime / Ruby Dee, Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
129 A Recorded Autobiography / Moses Asch, W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt) DuBois.
130 Listen Lord, A Prayer / Margaret Walker, James Weldon Johnson.
131 My Heart is Fixed / Gary Davis.
132 The Titanic / Lead Belly.
133 Heritage / Countee Cullen.
134 Jungle Drums / James P. (James Price) Johnson.
201 No More Auction Block / Paul Robeson.
202 The Negro Speaks of Rivers / Langston Hughes.
203 If We Must Die / Claude McKay.
204 Ma Rainey / Sterling Brown.
205 Backwater Blues / Bill Broonzy.
206 Married Man Blues / Billie Pierce, De De Pierce.
207 For My People / Margaret Walker.
208 The Children of the Poor, Sonnet 2 / Gwendolyn Brooks.
209 Body and Soul / David Jackson, Big Nick Nicholas, John Miller.
210 How He Delivered Me / Gospel Tones (Vocal group), Juanita Johnson.
211 Long Distance Calls / Otis Spann, Muddy Waters.
212 Cry To Me / Realtones, Marc Ribot, Solomon Burke.
213 Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around / Freedom Singers.
214 Birmingham 1963 - Keep Moving / Martin Luther, Jr. King.
215 Black Panther Party Platform / Bobby Seale.
216 Interview (excerpt) / Angela Yvonne Davis.
217 Together to the Tune of Coltrane's "Equinox" (excerpt) / Ronald Fabio, Sarah Webster Fabio, Wayne Wallace.
218 Nikki-Rosa / Nikki Giovanni.
219 liberation/poem / Sonia Sanchez.
220 Dope / Imamu Amiri Baraka.
221 The Village of Brooklyn, Illinois 62059 (excerpt) / Hamiet Bluiett.
222 For the Poets / Jayne Cortez.
223 Shotgun Joe / Golden Eagles (Musical group), Joseph Boudreaux.
224 St. Louis Woman / Ishmael Reed.
225 People Everyday / Arrested Development (Musical group).
Local Numbers:
SF-COMM-CD-47003
Smithsonian Folkways.47003
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Folkways 2001
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Birmingham (Ala.), Albany (Ga.), Washington (D.C.), Texas, New Orleans (La.), Louisiana, Chapel Hill (N.C.), North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, New York, United States.
General:
Commercial
compiled, annotated and produced by Robert H. Cataliotti
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.
43 Linear feet (35 document boxes and 39 oversize boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
Date:
circa 1750-2009
bulk 1880-1960
Summary:
The Charlene Hodges Byrd collection measures 43 linear feet, and dates from circa 1750-2009, with the bulk of the material dating from 1880-1960. The collection documents the personal life and professional career of Charlene Hodges Byrd, an African American teacher from Washington, D.C., along with material for several related families from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Family members prominently represented include Sarah A. Shimm, teacher and essayist under the name Faith Lichen; her daughters Erminie F. Shimm and Grace E. Shimm Cummings, both teachers; and Byrd's mother, Joyce Ethel Cummings Hodges, also a teacher. Correspondence and writings chiefly discuss family life, religion, race, education, and the relationship with Frederick Douglass and his family. The collection is arranged in 10 series: Biographical Material, Correspondence, Writings, Subject Files, Financial and Legal Records, Printed Material, Volumes, Memorabilia, Textiles, and Photographs.
Scope and Contents:
Series 1. Papers related to biographical and family histories of the Byrd, Cummings, Davage, Dews, Hodges, Shimm, Spruill, and Thomas families. Material includes family trees; school diplomas and certificates; programs; awards; marriage and divorce papers; funeral documents; and obituaries.
Series 2: Chiefly letters from family and friends regarding family news, financial matters, school, work, neighborhood affairs, church events, travel and the weather. The majority of the letters are addressed to Charlene Hodges Byrd, Grace E. Shimm Cummings, Ida R. Cummings, Elizabeth Dews Hodges, Joyce Ethel Cummings Hodges, Erminie F. Shimm, Sarah A. Shimm, and Elizabeth N. Thomas. Other correspondence includes letters from Booker T. Washington, Bessye Beardon, Charlotte Davage, Amelia Douglass, and Harrell S. Spruill. There are also a number of greeting cards, postcards, and empty envelopes.
Series 3. Writings include essays, speeches, papers written for school, teacher's notebooks, and a diary of Erminie F. Shimm, 1903. Topics include education, Frederick Douglass, religion, race, Africa, and the temperance movement.
Series 4. Subject files on Charlene Hodges Byrd's involvement with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; Book Lovers of Charleston, West Virginia, a women's book club organized in 1923; Church Women United radio program; and The Links, Inc., a volunteer service organization. The papers on Liberia relate to missionary work, and were probably gathered by Erminie F. Shimm; and the Shimm-Thomas Collection are papers related to the deposit and later return of family items housed as a collection at Morgan State College.
Series 5. The financial and legal records include invoices and receipts, bank books, real estate tax assessments, deeds, and wills. There is also material related to the estate of Erminie F. Shimm.
Series 6. Printed materials includes books, pamphlets, newspapers, newsletters, clippings, invitations and programs. The books and pamphlets are chiefly school yearbooks and newspapers and other texts related to religion, politics, music, and poetry. Also included is a copy of Frederick Douglass's autobiography and a printed copy of his speech "The Race Problem." The clippings include obituaries, articles about Charlene Hodges Byrd and her husband Charles R. Byrd, essays by Sarah A. Shimm under the name Faith Lichen, and articles on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The invitations and programs are primarily for school graduations, weddings, social events, and funerals. Other printed material includes newsletters; business cards; calling cards; postage stamps, chiefly from Liberia; and blank postcards. The binder on Frederick Douglass was prepared by Byrd and her goddaughter for the West Virginia School Studies Fair, and includes copies of Byrd family artifacts.
Series 7. Autograph books, guest books, and scrapbooks. The autograph book of Grace E. Shimm Cummings includes autographs from Amelia Douglass, Lewis B. Douglass, Charles R. Douglass, W. H. Clair, and Francis J. Grimke. The scrapbook of Grace E. Shimm Cummings and Erminie F. Shimm consists primarily of clippings, and was assembled from an old teacher's book with a student registration and punishment pages still intact at the back.
Series 8. Miscellaneous items in the collection including artwork, a coin purse, a piece of handwoven cloth belonging to Catherine Nelson's great grandmother, and leather hair curlers.
Series 9: The textiles are chiefly christening gowns, children's garments, and an apron. Several garments belonged to Joyce Ethel Cummings Hodges, Charlene Hodges Byrd, and Elizabeth N. Thomas. There is also a doll that belonged to Amelia Douglass's niece, Kitty Cromwell.
Series 10. Photographs include pictures of Charlene Hodges Byrd, Joyce Ethel Hodges Cummings, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Dews Hodges, Charles Gilmor Cummings, Grace E. Shimm Cummings, Erminie F. Shimm, and other friends and relatives of the Byrd, Hodges, Cummings, Douglass, and Shimm families. Subjects are primarily portraits and candids, along with some wedding, baby, and school pictures. While some of the photographs are annotated, many of the individuals are unidentified. Included are vintage photographs, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visites, tintypes, daguerreotypes, and negatives.
Biographical / Historical:
The Shimm, Thomas, Cummings, Hodges, Davage, and related African American families chiefly lived in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Numerous family members worked as teachers, barbers, or in the service industry. They were active in local churches and service organizations, and had established friendships with local church leaders as well as with Frederick Douglass and his family.
The Shimm and Thomas families were located in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The Thomas family can be traced back to Philip Nelson, who owned property in Leesburg, Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Family genealogical papers list Nelson as a descendent of British Admiral Horatio Nelson. This lineage, however, is not supported in publically available family histories of Horatio Nelson. Philip Nelson and his wife Araminta had five children: Catherine (b. 1805?), William, Levi (b. 1820?), Henrietta, and Grayson.
Catherine Nelson married Elias E. Thomas (b. 1816?) of Virginia in 1840. They wed in Philadelphia and had five children: Levi Nelson (b. 1841), Sarah (1843-1885), Edward (b. 1844), Elizabeth (1848-1932), and Charles (b. 1851).
Sarah Thomas married William Y. Shimm (b. 1841), a barber in Reading, Pennsylvania, on July 26, 1863. They had 2 daughters, Erminie (1867-1936) and Grace (1865-1910). The Shimms lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio, but had moved to Washington, D.C., around 1871. Sarah was a teacher and a writer who published under the name "Faith Lichen." Her writings, primarily essays and commentaries about race and politics, were printed in several newspapers including The National Republican, The Celtic Weekly, The People's Advocate, and The Sunday Morning Gazette.
Sarah's sister Elizabeth was also a teacher in Maryland. Her brother Charles was a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and a graduate of the first class at Howard University's law school.
Erminie and Grace Shimm became teachers in the Washington, D.C., public school system. Erminie was active in her church and supportive of missionary work in Liberia. Grace married Charles Gilmor Cummings, a pastor in Alexandria, Virginia, on July 9, 1902. They had one daughter, Joyce Ethel (1903-1971), and second child in 1905 who died in infancy. Grace died in 1910 of heart failure. After her death, Grace's sister Erminie and Charles's family helped raise Joyce Ethel in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland.
Joyce Ethel Cummings Hodges graduated from Morgan College in 1924, and received her master's degree from Howard University in 1931. She taught at Douglass High School in Baltimore from 1924-1964. Joyce Ethel married Charles E. Hodges (1900--975) in 1927 and they divorced in 1953. The couple had one daughter, Charlene (1929-2009).
Charlene Hodges Byrd grew up in Washington, D.C., but attended the Northfield School for Girls in East Northfield, Massachusetts, for high school, graduating in 1946. She received her bachelor's degree from Connecticut College in 1950, and her master's degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago in 1951. She married Charles R. Byrd (1919-2004) in 1952. They had one son in 1954, but he died four days after birth. Byrd soon began a career as a teacher and education administrator, eventually working for Kanawha County Schools in Charleston, West Virginia. She was also active in her local community as a member of the Book Lovers of Charleston, West Virginia; Church Women United; and The Links, Inc.
Charles E. Hodges was born Bridgewater, Virginia, where his father was a minister. He graduated from Morgan College in 1923 and received his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943. He was a teacher and served as principal of the North Street School in Hagerstown, Maryland. After he and Joyce Ethel divorced in 1953, he married Elizabeth Dews (1913-1999) in 1955.
Elizabeth Dews Hodges, born Elizabeth Virginia Waumbeeka, was adopted by James Edward (1889-1954) and Sarah Virginia Dews (1888?-1964) in Washington, D.C., in 1920. She graduated from Miner Teachers College in 1939, and worked as a teacher in Annapolis, Maryland, at Wiley H. Bates High School for 34 years. She was awarded a medal for her work there by the Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge in 1959. Elizabeth was active in local organizations in Maryland and Washington, D.C., including the SE/NE Friends of the Capitol View Branch Library; Eastern Star Chapter 4; Mount Ephraim Baptist Church; National Museum of Women in the Arts; National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples; and the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind.
The Davage family is descended from Sidney Hall (b. 1818?) and Charles Davage (b. 1815?). Sidney was a former slave at the Perry Hall mansion in Baltimore, and was manumitted by 1840. She married Charles, a coachman, on April 12, 1842. They had five children: Eliza Jane (1843-1913), Sophia (b. 1847), Charlotte (b. 1849), Charles (b. 1854), and Hester (b. 1845).
Their daughter Eliza Jane married Henry Cummings (b. 1830?). They had seven children: Harry Sythe (1866-1917), Charles Gilmor (1870-1924), William (b. 1882), Ida R. (1868-1958), Estelle (1874-1944), Carroll (b. 1875), Francis (b. 1872), and Aaron (1864?-1932).
Harry Sythe Cummings, a lawyer in Baltimore, became the city's first African American City Council member. He was first elected in 1890 and served intermittently until his death in 1917, often working on issues related to education. Cummings also delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention in 1904 seconding the presidential nomination of Theodore Roosevelt. He married Blanche Conklin in 1899, and they had three children: Harry S. Jr. (b. 1905), Lucille (d. 1906), and Louise.
Charles Gilmor Cummings graduated from Drew Theological Seminary in 1898, and was a pastor in Alexandria, Virginia and elsewhere. After the death of his wife Grace in 1910, he married Rosa Catherine Bearden, grandmother of artist Romare Bearden, in 1912.
Ida R. Cummings graduated from Morgan College in 1922, and was the first African American kindergarten teacher in Baltimore. She was also active in local organizations, and was president of the Colored Fresh Air and Empty Stocking Circle; chairman of the Woman's Section Council of Defense in Baltimore during the World War, 1914-1918; and president of the Woman's Campaign Bureau of the Colored Republican Voters' League of Maryland.
Provenance:
The Charlene Hodges Byrd collection was donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Herbert S. Garten, co-personal representative of the Estate of Charlene H. Byrd, in 2010.
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Citation:
Charlene Hodges Byrd collection, circa 1750-2009. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
This project received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The material type of the series is black and white silver gelatin negatives.
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Dye transfer process
Color separation negatives
Matrices, color separation
Studio portraits
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
1900-1994
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Series 4 materials document the clients and individuals whose photographs were taken by the Scurlock Studio and a wide variety of subject matters. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Scope and Contents note:
The materials document the clients and individuals whose photographs were taken by the Scurlock Studio and a wide variety of subject matters. The subjects represented are individual portrait sittings, organizations, events, businesses, commercial ventures of the studio, and Washington, D. C.
Arrangement:
Arranged in 12 subseries.
4.1: Black-and-White negatives
4.2: Black and white negatives in freezers arranged by job number
4.3: Black and white negatives in freezer storage arranged by client
4.4: Black and white negatives in freezer storage arranged by subject
4.5: Black and white negatives in cold storage arranged by job number
4.6: Black and white negatives in cold storage arranged by client
4.7: Negatives in cold storage arranged by client with index cards
4.8: Negatives in cold storage arranged by subject
4.9: Black and white negatives for publication
4.10: Glass Plate Negatives
4.11: Customcraft Negatives
4.12: Banquet Negatives
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
This series forms part of the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
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.
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.
Topic:
African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this
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.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0618.S04
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
undated
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Subseries 4.1 includes black and white silver gelatin negatives. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Scope and Contents:
Subseries 4.1 includes black and white silver gelatin negatives. The majority of the negatives, not all, have been scanned.
Arrangement note:
The negatives are not arranged in a clear order, and the negatives document clients and subjects. Researchers will need to look in two different box sizes for negatives of different sizes that were originally housed together in freezer boxes but are now housed separately according to size. A number of freezer boxes are missing, this is the reason for box number gaps, and contain varying numbers of negatives. The physical number of boxes was condensed during rehousing but the original freezer box numbers were retained in combination on the new boxes. The beginning and end of a freezer box are indicated inside the new box by blue dividers.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.1 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
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.
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.
Topic:
African Americans -- History -- 20th century Search this
Commercial photography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C) Search this
African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 20th century
Matrices, color separation
Dye transfer process
Studio portraits
Color separation negatives
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.
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
1888-1993
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Series 1 primarily consists of black and white photographs, but also includes job envelopes, order forms, correspondence, notes, and other photographic materials such as negatives. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records.
Scope and Contents note:
Materials are almost entirely black and white photographs, but also include job envelopes, order forms, correspondence, notes, and other photographic material types that were included in the overall order. In addition, not all photographs in this series were taken by the Scurlock Studio; there are photographs by Abdon Daoud Ackad and other studios or photographers that were sent in to make copies. The series is arranged into two subseries: Subseries 1.1: Clients, and Subseries 1.2: Subjects.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 2 subseries.
1.1: Clients Black and white photographs
1.2: Subjects Black and white photographs
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
This series forms part of the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
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.
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.
African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this
African Americans -- History -- 20th century Search this
Genre/Form:
Matrices, color separation
Photographs -- 20th century
Dye transfer process
Color separation negatives
Studio portraits
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.
Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke speaks on the subject of Anna J. Cooper: Teacher and Human Being. He talks about Cooper's life and the time in which she lived; and her human and religious influences. Cooke, who assisted with the Cooper exhibition at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, provides an overview of Cooper's history and addresses questions from the lecture audience. Cooke also provides an overview of the history of educational institutions and schools, and the education system in Washington, D.C. He discusses civil rights, legislation changes in D.C., and how civil rights legislation affected Cooper, W. E. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington. Zora Martin-Felton introduces Cooke providing a short history of his Anacostian roots.
Lecture. AV003264: Part 1. AV003220: Part 2. Part of Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South Audiovisual Records. AV003264 and AV003220: undated. AV001346: dated 19830925, audio only, contains part of (copy of) AV003220 recording.
Biographical / Historical:
The collection, Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South Audiovisual Records, contains sound and video recordings of exhibit tours, gallery talks, and lectures associated with an exhibition, Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South. The exhibition presented the life and times of Washington, D.C. black educator and author Anna Julia Haywood Cooper through historical documents, photographs, memorabilia, and re-creations of her home and classroom settings. It was organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from February 1981 to September 1982; Louise Daniel Hutchinson served as curator. The exhibition was based on an unpublished manuscript by the late Dr. Leona Gable, Smith College; and titled after Cooper's written work, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South.;Educator, author, and speaker Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964) was born into slavery and educated at Saint Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina. While teaching at St. Augustine's, she married George A. C. Cooper, who died two years later. After her husband's death, Cooper moved to Washington, D.C., attended Oberlin College, taught at Wilberforce College and M Street High School, and later went on to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Cooper taught Greek, Latin, geometry, and science; and created a path for African Americans to attend Ivy League schools. Although she taught and served as principal (1902-1906) of the M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C., her role and influence extended beyond its boundaries. Cooper was an advocate of human rights who lectured on a broad range of topics that affected blacks and women, including race relations, poverty, and gender inequality; a feminist of her day. She was a contributor to the District of Columbia's Colored Settlement House; served as president of Frelinghuysen University, which offered affordable liberal arts and professional courses for working African Americans; and wrote A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, the first book-length volume of black feminist analysis in the United States.;Educator, author, statesman, and former president of the District of Columbia Teacher's College Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke (1917-2010) was born in New York City and raised in Washington, D.C. He attended Dunbar High School, Miner Teachers College, New York University, Catholic University of America, and Columbia University, where he received his doctorate. Cooke was married to Rose Cooke for 63 years.;Originally named Preparatory High School for Colored Youth and later known as M Street High School, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, located in Washington, D.C., was the first black public high school in the United States. During the first half of the twentieth century, Dunbar was an academically elite public school with many of its teachers holding master and doctorate degrees. By the 1950s, the school was sending 80 percent of its students to college. During the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, Dunbar struggled to keep its prestigious reputation and high standards. As with many troubled urban public schools, Dunbar standards fell and some students struggle with basic reading and math. The Dunbar Legacy Lecture Series, which was held at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in the early 1980s, consisted of lectures by and about people associated with Dunbar High School.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003220
ACMA AV001346_B
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.
Doctor Edward S. Hope talks about schools and education. He speaks of African American contributions to higher education, paricularly those of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. duBois, and his father, John Hope. He talks about liberal arts colleges, particularly Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Atlanta University. Hope also reminsciences about growing up at Morehouse College, where his father was the president, his education, and his work at a coffee shop and power plant in his younger years. Introduction by John Kinard.
Lecture. Poor sound quality. Part of ACM Museum Events, PR, and Ceremonies Recordings. Undated.
Collection 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.
The subseries consists of black and white silver gelatin negatives.
Note:
Cold Storage
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Color separation negatives
Matrices, color separation
Studio portraits
Dye transfer process
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
1929-1989
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Subseries 4.6 consists of black and white silver gelatin negatives. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Scope and Contents note:
The negatives document the orders of the clients of the Scurlock Studio. The majority of the negatives are of portrait sittings but there are also negatives depicting children, couples, and groups.
Arrangement note:
The arrangement of the negatives is unclear; the arrangement will be in alphabetical order before it will start completely over again.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.6 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
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.
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.
Bust portrait, no Scurlock number, no ink on negative. No edge imprint. #112.
Exhibitions Note:
"Corcoran" print exhibited in "The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise," NMAAHC Gallery, NMAH, January 30 - November 15, 2009; image reproduced in exhibit's companion book.
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.
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 1900-1910 -- 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.
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
1928-1994
Scope and Contents:
The materials document the orders placed by the clients of the Scurlock Studio. The photographs primarily depict individual portrait sittings but there are also portraits of children, groups, and other subjects.
Arrangement note:
The negatives are arranged by job number.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.5 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Series 8: Business Records, Subseries 8.1: Studio Session Registers are restricted. Digital copies available for research. See repository for details.
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.
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.
The materials in the subseries consists of black and white silver gelatin negatives.
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Matrices, color separation
Color separation negatives
Photographs
Studio portraits
Dye transfer process
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Date:
1923-1940
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Subseries 4.12 materials primarily document clients of the Scurlock Studio that were organizations and the images depict those groups' and organizations' activities. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Scope and Contents note:
The materials primarily document clients of the Scurlock Studio that were organizations and the images depict those groups' and organizations' activities.
Arrangement note:
There is not a clear system of arrangement within the subseries.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.12 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Series 8: Business Records, Subseries 8.1: Studio Session Registers are restricted. Digital copies available for research. See repository for details.
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.
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.
Topic:
African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this
African Americans -- History -- 20th century Search this
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 subseries contains black and silver gelatin negatives.
Note:
Cold Storage
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Color separation negatives
Photographs
Studio portraits
Dye transfer process
Matrices, color separation
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
circa 1870-1989
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Subseries 4.8 consists of black and white silver gelatin negatives. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Scope and Contents note:
The materials document negatives that cannot be connected to a client or are the commercial ventures of the Scurlock Studio. the negatives depict a variety of subject matter including art, buildings, advertising/commercial, unidentified people, and Washington, D. C.
Arrangement note:
The negatives do not appear to be organized in a clear manner; the arrangement follows alphabetical order but the alphabet starts over several times.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.8 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Series 8: Business Records, Subseries 8.1: Studio Session Registers are restricted. Digital copies available for research. See repository for details.
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.
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.
Topic:
Commercial photography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C) Search this
Photography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Genre/Form:
Color separation negatives
Photographs -- 20th century
Studio portraits
Dye transfer process
Matrices, color separation
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 Benjamin Layton collection documents the life, family history, and interests of Benjamin T. Layton. Items date from circa 1865 to 1977. The collection measures 3.45 linear feet and is composed of newsletters, clippings, pamphlets, newspapers, correspondence, certificates, photographs, memorabilia, books, stamps, etchings, and programs.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life, family history, and collecting interests of World War II veteran and federal employee Benjamin T. Layton. Layton grew up in Virginia and settled in Kensington, Maryland. Notable aspects of the collection include nineteenth-century photographs of African Americans, photographs of Layton's family, 1970s political photographs, and first editions of Richard Wright's Black Boy and Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery and Working with the Hands. Family photographs and memorabilia reflects the family's roots in Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area. Layton's historical photograph collection draws from photographers in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
Items date from circa 1865 to 1977. The collection measures 3.45 linear feet and is composed of newsletters, clippings, pamphlets, newspapers, correspondence, certificates, photographs, memorabilia, books, stamps, etchings, and programs. It has been arranged in three series: Series I: Biographical Files, 1913-1977, Series II: Photographs, circa 1865-1977, and Series III: Printed Material, 1901-circa 1976. Some items in Series II and Series III are oversized.
Biographical / Historical:
Benjamin Thomas Layton was born on December 24, 1917, in Hanover, Virginia, to a prominent Virginia family. His maternal great-grandfather, Ballard Trent Edwards, was a freeborn African American man who opened a school for formerly enslaved people and served for eight years in the Virginia House of Delegates. His father, William Brown Layton, was the superintendent of the Negro Reformatory of Virginia (later the Virginia Manual Labor School), a reform school for African American boys located in Hanover County.
Layton was an athlete and scholar, playing varsity tennis and attending Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. He did graduate work in social sciences at the University of Chicago and Howard University, but his studies were interrupted by the draft in 1941.
Layton served with distinction in the U.S. Army during World War II, leading truck convoys carrying soldiers, supplies, weapons, and prisoners of war during the Battle of the Bulge. He also worked in military intelligence. His last active duty assignment was commanding a military detachment in Baumholder, Germany. His decorations included the Bronze Star, which he was awarded in 1977. He attained the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring from the Army in 1963.
From 1963 to 1966 he worked in Europe, then returned to the United States in 1966, where he was an ROTC instructor at Chamberlain Vocational High School in Washington, D.C. He left in 1967 to become an equal-opportunity specialist at the United States Department of Agriculture, from which he retired in 1985. His brother William W. Layton also lived and worked in the Washington, D.C., area.
Layton had a passion for collecting and donated coins, paper money, and military artifacts to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He also donated objects relating to clubs and fraternities to the Anacostia Community Museum. He was a member of numerous organizations, including the Retired Officers Association, the Reserve Officers Association of the United States, the American Legion, the Prince Hall Masons, the Kiwanis Club of Wheaton, and the Federation Nationale des Anciens Combattants, a French veterans group.
Layton was married twice, his first marriage to Irma Goode ending in divorce. He lived in Kensington, Maryland, with his second wife Marguerite, with whom he had two daughters. He died on February 15, 2001, at age 83 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Related Materials:
The Anacostia Community Museum houses more items in the Benjamin Layton Collection, including buttons, fraternity paddles, lapel pins, and medals.
Order to Report for Induction, 1941. 1993.3172.04. The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, National Museum of American History.
Notice to Appear for Physical Exam, 1940. 1993.3172.03. The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, National Museum of American History.
Layton Family Collection, 228 THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, USA.
Provenance:
The Benjamin Layton collection was donated to the Anacostia Community Museum in two accretions in 1976 and 1978 by Benjamin Layton.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Rights:
The Benjamin Layton collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the 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.
Topic:
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (U.S.) Search this
The materials in the subseries are black and white silver gelatin negatives.
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Studio portraits
Photographs
Dye transfer process
Color separation negatives
Matrices, color separation
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Date:
1931-1971
Scope and Contents note:
The vast majority of the negatives are individual portrait sittings but there are some family and group portraits. The box numbers in the finding aid are the old freezer box numbers and are not reflective of the physical number of boxes; when the negatives were rehoused, the physical number of boxes were reduced and the old freezer box numbers were retained in combination on boxes. The beginning and end of a freezer box is demarcated by blue dividers inside the new boxes.
Arrangement note:
The negatives are arranged by job number and document the orders placed by clients at the Scurlock Studio.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.2 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
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.
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.
Topic:
Commercial photography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C) Search this
African Americans -- History -- 20th century Search this
Photography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this
Genre/Form:
Studio portraits
Photographs -- 20th century
Dye transfer process
Color separation negatives
Matrices, color separation
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.
