The collection dates from circa 1981 to 2018 and consists of photographic prints, negatives, posters, art prints, DVDs and printed and manuscript materials. Photographs depict architecture, agricultural work, beadwork, weaving, village scenes, artists, artists at work, artworks, markets, celebrations, scenic views, animals, churches and mosques. Most depict Kunama or Saho peoples, particularly women and children. LaDuke also regularly photographed war zones during the Border War, especially those in Nakfa and Gelebe, portraying Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Locations include villages in Ethiopia and Eritrea, particularly Senafe, Nakfa and Massawa, as well as Border War zones various battlefields and camps for internally displaced persons.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of 3,194 color photographs (20 x 24 inches or smaller), 2,488 color 35 mm negatives, a copy of a sketchbook, 11 posters, 24 art prints, biographical materials, correspondence, printed materials, and 3 DVDs, created by Betty LaDuke in circa 1981-2018.
The majority of the photographs were taken in Eritrea, including in Agordat, Asmara, Barentu, Emebet, Geleba, Keren, Massawa, Mendefera, Nakfa, Senafe and Serona, though some were taken in Ethiopia, especially in Lalibela. Images depict architecture, agricultural work, beadwork, weaving, village scenes, artists, artists at work, artworks, markets, celebrations, scenic views, animals, churches and mosques. Most of the photos depict Kunama or Saho peoples, particularly women and children. LaDuke also regularly photographed war zones during the Border War, especially those in Nakfa and Gelebe, portraying Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, Red Cross workers, World Food Program supply tents and the Tacoumbia Food Distribution Center. Other notable subjects include the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), artwork in the Saint George Gallery and children at Dekemhare School.
LaDuke frequently documented art workshops that she attended, artwork and exhibits. Many of her photos depict artwork by Berhane Adonais, Michael Adonais, Mussie Asgodam, Haile Berthe, Danny Dafla, Isak Fasil, Josief Idris, Terhas Iyassu, Elsa Yacob, Abraham Mogos, Kiros Adebe, Tzeghereda Yohannes, Teamrat Ghidei, Afewerki Asmeron, Demoz Russom and Jacob Abraha, as well as the artists themselves at work, socializing or posing by their finished artwork. Additionally, the collection includes four pen and ink drawings by the artists Afewerki Haile, Yoseirf G. Idris and Fessahaie Zemicael, and a number of art prints by LaDuke.
A copy of LaDuke's sketchbook depicts scenes in Asmara and surrounding areas, Tekul, Aidkeh, Keren, Barantu, Tocumbia, Mendefera, Senafe and Massawa. LaDuke sketched village, market and street scenes, celebrations, churchgoers at a Coptic Church, animals, Saho basketmakers, Kunama peoples, St. George's Restaurant and grain mill workers, among other subjects.
Biographical Materials include artist statements and biographical notes, a letter announcing LaDuke as winner of the Vida Scudder Award, a blank registration form for the Northern National Art Competition, for which LaDuke served as judge, a letter to LaDuke from Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, exhibit schedules and a resume.
The printed material in the collection includes clippings of publications in which LaDuke's artwork is featured, such as Sojourners, Ashland Magazine, School Arts Magazine and Calyx, promotional materials and a holiday notecard produced by Heifer International, announcements and posters. Exhibition files for LaDuke's shows include clippings, announcements, catalogs, photos, correspondence and a CD-ROM of her photos. Additionally, there are a substantial number of exhibit reviews published in such magazines and newspapers as The Oregonian, The Christian Science Monitor and the Durango Herald.
Finally, the collection contains three DVDs entitled Africa Between Myth and Reality (circa 2000), Betty LaDuke: Art Reflection Life (2006), and With Love from Eritrea (2018)which document LaDuke's artistic process and artwork.
Arrangement note:
The collection is organized into 10 series:
Series 1: Photographic Prints, 1994-2002 (3,031 prints; Binders 1-7)
Series 2: Sketchbook (Copy), circa 1998 (1 Book; Binder 8)
Series 3: Color Photographic Prints, 1986-2003 (135 items; Boxes 9-10)
Series 4: Exhibition-Related Prints, Photographs and Posters, circa 1992-circa 2002 (21 items; Box 11)
Series 5: Art Prints and Matted Color Photographic Prints by LaDuke, 2001, 2008, undated (38 items; Boxes 12-13)
Series 6: Biographical Materials, circa 1999-circa 2009 (6 folders; Box 15)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1996-2008 (32 folders, Boxes 15-16)
Series 8: A/V Material, circa 2000-2018 (3 DVDs, Box 17)
Series 9: Art Prints and Poster by Other Artists, 1994, undated (5 items; Box 18)
Series 10: Negatives, 1994-2002 (2,488 items)
Biographical/Historical note:
Artist, writer, professor and multicultural women's art advocate Betty LaDuke (b. 1933) was born in the Bronx to Russian and Polish immigrant parents. She attended California State University in Los Angeles and the Otis College of Art and Design. After three years of teaching junior high art in East Los Angeles, LaDuke moved to Ashland, Oregon in 1964 to accept a position in the art department at Southern Oregon University, where she would teach for over 30 years. Beginning in 1972, she began to undertake annual research journeys to Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Africa, where she found inspiration for the paintings and prints that would make up her circulating exhibits. Upon her retirement from teaching in 1996, LaDuke began to travel to project sites of Heifer International, a humanitarian organization concerned with world hunger and environmental sustainability. These experiences inspired a new phase of her work, including a return to mural painting. LaDuke has published several books on women's art and has been the subject of a book by Gloria Feman Orenstein, entitled Multi-Cultural Celebrations: the Paintings of Betty LaDuke 1972-1992.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. The negatives are located in cold storage. All negatives have been digitized and are available online.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Use of original records requires an appointment. The negatives are located in cold storage. All negatives have been digitized and are available online.
Item Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Item Citation:
Betty LaDuke collection, EEPA 2007-003, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
40 Film reels (silent color negative A and B rolls, 16mm)
1,336 Film reels (in 399 cans, silent color negative outtakes and trims, 16mm)
10 Film reels (silent color print, 16mm)
701 Sound tape reels (1/4 inch)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound cassettes
Film reels
Sound tape reels
Date:
1989-1992, undated
Summary:
The Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World collection consists of film materials and associated documentation for the editing process of the ten-episode ethnographic television series aired in 1992 and hosted by Harvard anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis. The collection consists of field sound, camera original film in the form of outtakes and trims, edited silent film (A and B rolls and prints), and technical paper documentation including field and lab reports.
Scope and Contents:
The Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World collection, 1989-1992, undated, comprises edited and unedited film, audio, and associated paper documentation. Footage in edited form includes A and B rolls and some resulting prints, while unedited film is in the form of trims and outtakes. Depending on the stage in the editing process, film is associated either with a general subject or with a specific edited title. Audio is largely 1/4-inch audio tapes of original field sound and translations. Associated paper documentation is largely technical and lab reports and does not exist consistently for subjects and episodes.
Of note is the large collection of trims and outtakes. As these rolls are camera original film, they are printed with "latent key numbers" along the edge of the film, or codes that advance sequentially through the roll. Each roll is associated with a unique range of latent key numbers, allowing researchers to trace camera original film through the editing process and narrow down filming order. Sequences removed from trims and outtakes for use in final episode cuts are also associated with these latent key number ranges. The National Anthropological Film Collection holds searchable lists of the collection's latent key numbers; contact the NAFC for more detail.
Arrangement:
The Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World collection is arranged in 3 series: Series 1. Edited film materials, circa 1992; Series 2. Unedited film materials, 1989-1991, undated; Series 3. Technical documentation, 1989-1991, undated.
Administrative History:
The television program Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, hosted by Harvard anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis, was a television series aired in 1992 that interrogated universal human themes such as death, life, love, and spirituality in the lives of a wide range of indigenous peoples at the turn of the millennium. The program juxtaposed lives and customs in tribal societies with those of urban Canadians to underline the relevance of indigenous values.
Maybury-Lewis, at the time professor of anthropology and the curator of South American Ethnology in Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, worked extensively in Brazil and particularly with the Xavante. He was also co-founder of Cultural Survival, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of culture, land, and human rights of indigenous peoples.
Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World was created by Richard Meech and Michael Grant and written by Adrian Malone. The series was was co-produced by Biniman Productions Limited, Adrian Malone Productions Limited, BBC-TV and KCET Los Angeles, in association with the Global Television Network, and with the cooperation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, Rogers Telefund, and Telefilm Canada.
The Millennium film collection is a collection of footage that was eventually edited into episodes of the Public Broadcasting System television program Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, hosted by Harvard anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis. The series interrogated universal human themes such as death, life, love, and spirituality in the lives of a wide range of indigenous peoples at the turn of the millennium, comparing lives and values in tribal societies to those of urban Canadians.
Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World was created by Richard Meech and Michael Grant and written by Adrian Malone. The series was was co-produced by Biniman Productions Limited, Adrian Malone Productions Limited, BBC-TV and KCET Los Angeles, in association with the Global Television Network, and with the cooperation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, Rogers Telefund, and Telefilm Canada.
Provenance:
The Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World collection was donated to the National Anthropological Film Collection (formerly the Human Studies Film Archives) by series co-producer and co-director Richard Meech in 2012.
Restrictions:
The Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the National Anthropological Film Collection may not be played.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Citation:
The Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World collection, National Anthropological Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution.
Photographs taken by Klara Farkas in Ethiopia in 1971.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
