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New Orleans Jazz Parade - 1968

Creator:
Smithsonian Institution Archives  Search this
Type:
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2017-12-11T12:00:01.000Z
YouTube Category:
Education  Search this
Topic:
Museum administration  Search this
See more by:
SIArchives
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
YouTube Channel:
SIArchives
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_aVwxxOzV6xU

Eyewitness to Change

Creator:
National Museum of Natural History  Search this
Type:
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2008-04-21T20:06:09.000Z
YouTube Category:
Science & Technology  Search this
Topic:
Natural History  Search this
See more by:
smithsonianNMNH
Data Source:
National Museum of Natural History
YouTube Channel:
smithsonianNMNH
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_Zv4CUzIX5yY

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection

Collector:
McCormick, Mack  Search this
Musician:
Badeaux, Ed, 1926-2015  Search this
Chenier, Clifton, 1925-1987  Search this
Cotten, Elizabeth  Search this
Estes, Sleepy John, 1899-1977  Search this
Hopkins, Lightnin', 1912-1982  Search this
House, Son  Search this
Howling Wolf  Search this
James, Harry  Search this
Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 1897-1929  Search this
Johnson, Robert, 1911-1938  Search this
Leadbelly, 1885-1949  Search this
Lipscomb, Mance, 1895-1976  Search this
Muddy Waters, 1915-1983  Search this
Rinzler, Ralph  Search this
Shaw, Robert, 1908 August 9-1985  Search this
Thomas, Henry, 1874-1952  Search this
Wallace, Sippie  Search this
Historian:
Oliver, Paul, 1927-2017  Search this
Singer:
Spivey, Victoria  Search this
Producer:
Strachwitz, Chris  Search this
Extent:
60 Cubic feet (171 boxes, 9 map folders)
Culture:
African Americans -- Mississippi  Search this
Arkansas  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps
Television scripts
Ephemera
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets
Color slides
Business records
Family papers
Resumes
Diaries
Journals (periodicals)
Financial records
Audio cassettes
Manuscripts
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings
Transcripts
Manuscripts for publication
Color negatives
Negatives
Articles
Place:
United States -- Race relations
Delta (Miss.)
Sugarland Prison (Tex.)
Greenwood (Miss.)
Robinsonville (Miss.)
Dallas (Tex.)
Houston (Tex.)
San Antonio (Tex.)
Tunica (La.)
Texarkana (Tex.)
Galveston (Texas)
Date:
1858-2015, undated
Summary:
Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.

Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into fifteen series.

Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated

Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated

Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated

Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated

Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated

Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated

Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946

Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated

Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated

Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated

Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated

Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015

Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated

Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated

Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964

Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969

Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968

Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated

Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated

Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated

Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980

Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated

Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated

Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated

Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated

Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated

Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated

Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated

Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated

Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated

Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated

Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated

Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated

Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated

Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated

Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated

Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated

Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated

Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated

Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated

Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated

Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated

Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated

Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated

Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated

Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated

Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated

Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated

Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated

Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated

Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated

Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated

Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.

McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.
Related Materials:
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

W. C. Handy Collection, NMAH.AC.0132

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3, African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389

Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517

Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551

Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635

Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657

Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740

Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323

Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370

Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388

Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472

McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511

Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH

CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR

Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011

Smithsonian Institution

Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055

Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420

National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584

Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055
Separated Materials:
National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts

Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:

Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.

Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.

Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.
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.
Occupation:
African American musicians  Search this
Topic:
Drafts (documents)  Search this
Blues (Music)  Search this
Blues musicians  Search this
Photographs  Search this
Postcards -- 20th century  Search this
telephone -- Directories  Search this
Plays  Search this
African American music -- 20th century  Search this
Sharecropping  Search this
Plantations  Search this
Zydeco music  Search this
Commercial recordings  Search this
Piano music (Barrelhouse)  Search this
Genealogy  Search this
African Americans -- Texas  Search this
Songsters  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Delta (Miss. : Region)  Search this
Rodeos -- United States  Search this
Prisons -- Songs and music  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- History  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- Planning  Search this
Street scenes  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Texas.  Search this
African Americans -- Folklore  Search this
American South  Search this
African American -- Social life and customs  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Mississippi.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Alabama.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Conjunto music  Search this
Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Folk music -- United States  Search this
Ethnomusicology -- History  Search this
Sound recordings  Search this
Sound recording and reproduction  Search this
Tejano music  Search this
Transcripts  Search this
Folklorists  Search this
Zydeco musicians  Search this
Musicians, Cajun  Search this
Folk music -- United States -- History and criticism.  Search this
Music -- History and criticism  Search this
Festival of American Folklife  Search this
African Americans -- Alabama -- Music  Search this
Guitar -- 20th century  Search this
Guitar music  Search this
Guitarists  Search this
Country musicians  Search this
Sound recording executives and producers -- United States -- Biography.  Search this
Sound recording industry  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Southern States.  Search this
Blues musicians -- United States -- Interviews.  Search this
Hawaiian guitar  Search this
Hawaiian guitar music  Search this
African American farmers  Search this
Sharecroppers  Search this
Labor -- Southern states -- 20th century  Search this
manuscripts -- Editing  Search this
African Americans -- Songs and music  Search this
Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this
African American prisoners  Search this
Crafts  Search this
Museum outreach programs  Search this
Folk music -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Black people -- Race identity  Search this
Race discrimination -- United States  Search this
Sound recordings -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Genre/Form:
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps -- United States
Television scripts
Ephemera -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets -- 20th cenury
Color slides -- 20th century
Business records -- 20th century
Family papers -- 20th century
Resumes
Diaries -- 20th century
Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
Financial records -- 20th century
Audio cassettes -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings -- 20th century
Transcripts -- 20th century
Manuscripts for publication
Manuscripts -- 20th century
Color negatives
Negatives -- 20th century
Articles -- 20th century
Citation:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1485
See more items in:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d0d0dd0-eaee-4e5e-9e87-ebca1a5d86d7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1485
Online Media:

Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie

Creator:
Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993  Search this
Fishman, Charles  Search this
Extent:
20 Cubic feet ( 31 boxes, 2 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Awards
Business records
Clippings
Manuscripts
Financial records
Photographs
Music
Posters
Audiovisual materials
Date:
1941-2006
bulk 1987-1993
Summary:
Collection documents the career of noted American jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie, through a donation from his former manager, Charles Fishman.
Scope and Contents:
The collection primarily documents Charles Fishman's tenure as Gillespie's manager, 1985-1993, and is composed of business records. There is also a significant amount of personal material and photographs from the 1940s-1980s, much of which was saved by Mr. Fishman when Dizzy Gillespie wanted to throw these materials away or take them home.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into eleven series.

Series 1, Personal Materials, 1988-1993, undated

Series 2, Correspondence, 1987-2002

Series 3, Business Files, 1979-2001, undated

Series 4, Contracts, 1987-1993

Series 5, Performance Programs, 1984-1997

Series 6, Awards and Honors, 1989-1991

Series 7, Music Manuscripts, undated

Series 8, Photographs, 1941-1993, undated

Subseries 8.1, Dizzy Gillespie, 1941-1993, undated

Subseries 8.2, Albums, 1988-1993

Subseries 8.3, Other Artists, undated

Subseries 8.4, Negatives, undated

Series 9, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1958-2000, undated

Series 10, Artwork and Posters, 1982-2006, undated

Subseries 10.1, Artwork, 1990-2004, undated

Subseries 10.2, Posters, 1982-2006, undated

Series 11, Audio Visual Materials, 1950-1992, undated

Subseries 11.1, Sound Recordings, 1989-1992, undated

Subseries 11.2, Moving Images, 1946-1992, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Born in South Carolina in 1917, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was a master jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. In the 1940s, he was one of the principal developers of both bebop and Afro-Cuban jazz. Through the multitudes of musicians with whom he played and who he encouraged; he was one of the most influential players in the history of jazz.

The youngest of nine children, Gillespie was exposed to music by his father, a part-time bandleader who kept all his band's instruments at home, where young Gillespie tried them out. At age twelve, he received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina, where he played trumpet in the school band. In 1935, at age eighteen, he moved to Philadelphia and joined his first band, where his clownish onstage behavior and sense of humor earned him his nickname, "Dizzy." Thereafter, he was almost constantly joining and leaving, or forming and disbanding, bands of various size and style, as he set out to first hone his talent, then to develop his own creative innovations and to publish his recordings, and then to fulfill his lifelong desire to lead his own band. Along the way, he played with, collaborated with, encouraged, and influenced, all the major – and most of the minor – jazz musicians of his age, including Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Billy Eckstine, Cab Calloway, and John Coltrane.

In 1937, Gillespie moved to New York, where he joined Teddy Hill's band; with Hill he made his first overseas tour, to England and France. By 1939, he had joined Cab Calloway's band and had received his first exposure to Afro-Cuban music. In 1940, Gillespie met Charlie "Bird" Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Kenny Clarke and together they began developing a distinctive, more complex style of jazz that became known as bebop or bop. In the early 1940s, Gillespie made several recordings of this new sound. In 1945, he formed and led his own big band, which was quickly downsized into a quintet due to financial problems. He was able to reform the band the next year and keep it together for four years, but it was disbanded in 1950. During this time, he began to incorporate Latin and Cuban rhythms into his work. In 1953, a dancer accidentally fell on his trumpet and bent the bell. Gillespie decided he liked the altered tone and thereafter had his trumpets specially made that way.

In 1956, after leading several small groups, the United States State Department asked Gillespie to assemble a large band for an extensive cultural tour to Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, Greece, and Yugoslavia; a second tour, to South America, took place several months later. Although he kept the band together for two more years, the lack of government funding prevented him from keeping such a large group going and he returned to leading small ensembles. In 1964, displaying the humor for which he was well-known, Gillespie put himself forward as a candidate for President.

Gillespie continued to tour, perform, record, and to collaborate with a wide range of other musicians throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He continued to encourage new styles and new talents, such as Arturo Sandoval, whom he discovered during a 1977 visit to Cuba. In 1979, Gillespie published his autobiography, To Be or Not to Bop. In the late 1980s, he organized and led the United Nations Orchestra, a 15-piece ensemble that showcased the fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with jazz. In these later years, although still performing, he began to slow down and enjoy the rewards of his extraordinary talent. He received several honorary degrees, was crowned a chief in Nigeria, was awarded the French Commandre d'Ordre des Artes et Lettres, won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and received both the Kennedy Center Medal of Arts and the ASCAP Duke Ellington Award for Fifty Years of Achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader. Dizzy Gillespie passed away on January 6, 1993.
Related Materials:
Materials held in the Archives Center

John and Devra Hall Levy Collection NMAH.AC1221

Paquito Rivera NMAH.AC0891

James Moody Papers NMAH.AC1405

Chico O'Farrill Papers NMAH.AC0892

Boyd Raeburn Papers NMAH.AC1431

William Claxton Photographs NMAH.AC0695

Ray Brown Papers NMAH.AC1362

Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters NMAH.AC1207

Graciela Papers NMAH.AC1425

Leonard Gaskin Papers NMAH.AC0900

Ella Fitzgerald NMAH.AC0584

Herman Leonard Photoprints NMAH.AC0445

Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs NMAH.AC0887

John Gensel Collection of Duke Ellington Materials NMAH.AC0763

Duke Ellington Collection NMAH.AC0301

Benny Carter Collection NMAH.AC0757

Chuck Mangione NMAH.AC1151

Bill Holman Collection NMAH.AC0733

Duncan Schiedt Photograph Collection NMAH.AC1323

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Music and Photographs NMAH.AC0797

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection NMAH.AC0491

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Publicity Photoprints, Interviews, and Posters NMAH.AC0766

William Russo Music and Personal Papers NMAH.AC0845

Pat and Chuck Bress Jazz Portrait Photographs NMAH.AC1219

Milt Gabler Papers NMAH.AC0849

Floyd Levin Reference Collection NMAH.AC.1222

Materials held in the Division of Culture and the Arts

Includes Dizzy Gillespie's iconic "bent" trumpet (1986.0003.01); sound recordings, a button, and a sculpture.

Materials held in the Smithsonian Institution Archives

National Museum of American History. Office of Public Affairs Accession 95-150

Smithsonian Press/Smithsonian Productions Accession 04-091

Smithsonian Associates. Resident Associate Program Accession 03-086

Smithsonian Resident Associate Program Accession 98-031

Smithsonian Productions Accession 06-181

Smithsonian Resident Associate Program. Office of Public Affairs Record Unit 632

National Museum of American History. Department of Public Programs Accession 17-312

National Museum of American History. Office of Special Events Record Unit 595

Smithsonian Institution. Division of Performing Arts Accession T90055

America's Smithsonian. (Traveling exhibition) Accession 98-142

Smithsonian Institution. Division of Performing Arts Accession 84-012

Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications Record Unit 296

Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications Record Unit 590

Materials held in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Gertrude Abercrombie AAA.abergert

Materials at Other Organizations

Dizzy Gillespie Collection, circa 1987-2000, University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Charles Fishman, Dizzy Gillespie's manager, in 2007.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Jazz musicians -- United States  Search this
Trumpet players -- 20th century  Search this
Genre/Form:
Awards
Business records -- 20th century
Clippings -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
Financial records -- 20th century
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- 1940-2000
Music -- Manuscripts
Posters -- 20th century
Audiovisual materials
Citation:
Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0979
See more items in:
Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep845912e18-7dc1-4340-81f5-68770d687b08
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0979
Online Media:

Ruth Duckworth papers, circa 1930-2010

Creator:
Duckworth, Ruth, 1919-2009  Search this
Subject:
Lauria, Jo  Search this
Burger, Thea  Search this
Type:
Sketchbooks
Citation:
Ruth Duckworth papers, circa 1930-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Women ceramicists  Search this
Jewish artists  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Craft  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)7603
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209765
AAA_collcode_duckruth
Theme:
Women
Craft
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209765

Oral history interview with Ruth Duckworth, 2001 April 27

Interviewee:
Duckworth, Ruth, 1919-2009  Search this
Interviewer:
Trapp, Kenneth R.  Search this
Subject:
DeVore, Richard  Search this
Larsen, Jack Lenor  Search this
Leach, Bernard  Search this
McKinnell, James  Search this
McKinnell, Nan  Search this
Moore, Henry, 1898-1986  Search this
Rie, Lucie  Search this
Vergette, Nicholas  Search this
Westphal, Alice  Search this
Central School of Arts and Crafts (Birmingham, England)  Search this
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  Search this
University of Chicago  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ruth Duckworth, 2001 April 27. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women ceramicists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Ceramics  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Women  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12764
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)226964
AAA_collcode_duckwo01
Theme:
Craft
Women
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_226964
Online Media:

Oral history interview with Robert Chapman Turner, 2001 June 11

Interviewee:
Turner, Robert Chapman, 1913-2005  Search this
Interviewer:
Carney, Margaret, 1949-  Search this
Subject:
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (U.S.)  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Robert Chapman Turner, 2001 June 11. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Ceramicists -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this
Ceramicists -- Maryland -- Interviews  Search this
Quakers  Search this
Decorative arts  Search this
World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscientious objectors  Search this
Ceramics  Search this
Theme:
Craft  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12010
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)227020
AAA_collcode_turner01
Theme:
Craft
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_227020
Online Media:

Rudy Cuellar Lowrider Posters

Donor:
Cuellar, Rudy  Search this
Creator:
Royal Chicano Air Force  Search this
Extent:
.25 Cubic feet (4 map folders)
Culture:
Latinos -- California  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Screen prints
Date:
1975-2016
Summary:
Collection consists of posters featuring lowrider imagery.
Content Description:
Posters for fundraisers, social actions, and community events for the Latino community of Northern California; all prominently feature lowrider imagery.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.

Series 1: Posters, 1975-2016
Biographical:
Rudolfo "Rudy" Ojeda Cuellar was born and raised in Roseville, California. Rudy graduated from Roseville High School where he learned about screen printing, linoleum block printing and a deeper understanding of what being an artist was about. He enrolled at Sierra College, three miles from his hometown, where he was exposed to ceramics and cultural sculptural images. A friend helped him transfer to Sacramento State University where he met professors Jose Montoya and Esteban Villa and many other members of the Royal Chicano Artist group. At Sacramento State, he learned mask making, mold making, and silversmithing. From 1971 to 1979 he worked for Centro de Artistas Chicanos teaching at risk kids from the local school district screen printing skills, art and design and how to get along with one another. While working at the Centro de Artistas he taught and helped the other Royal Chicano Art Front members with the silk-screening process, and creating prints, signs and posters for other community events.

In 1980 Cuellar started Centro Screen Print & Associates with Louie "the Foot" Gonzalez (another founding member of RCAF). Rudy taught silk screening at Folsom State Prison and Louie became a rural mail carrier. His work as printer and as artist has been in numerous exhibits and publications such as Triumph of our Communities, Posada's Mexico 1979, CARA Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985 Wight Art Gallery – University of California, Los Angeles. Design in California and Mexico 1915 – 1985 and Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now. Cuellar was deeply influenced by his trips to Mexico and especially art teachers, counselors, and friends such as George Lem and Mr. Otis, John Adams, Juan Cervantes, and Stephan Kaltenbach that each taught him to never put boundaries on his quest to create Mexican and pre-Colombian images.
Historical:
The Rebel Chicano Art Front was created in 1969 by art professors José Montoya and Esteban Villa along with many other artists, activists, community organizers, poets, and teachers while at California State University, Sacramento. As artists and art students, they often loosely worked to support community events with creative endeavors. The group eventually came together under Joe Serna and was managed by Ricardo Favela in 1972 to form the Centro de Artistas Chicanos, an organization that provided much needed community space and support for after school arts programs, a library and bookstore, training programs, family and child programs such as Día de Los Muertos festivals, acting classes, and even an auto body repair training program. As part of the after-school arts program (and print shop), RCAF artists came together to teach community children about history and culture through art.

To supplement the meager city and private funds for the Centro, the artists organized art and gallery shows, art auctions, and sale of prints in the bookstore. As this collective of artists started having art shows, they would shorten their name to the "RCAF," often being confused with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Being a creative bunch, they changed their name from the Rebel Chicano Art Front to the Royal Chicano Air Force. They embraced this new identity/confusion, getting Army surplus clothing, and creating "ranks" of general or "creative mechanicos comsimcos" [cosmic mechanics] for everyone. They created a mythical origin story that states that they flew here from the mythical homeland of Aztlán in adobe airplanes. This playfulness broke down many social barriers in the barrio as well as within the larger Sacramento community and helped them tackle serious subjects through their programs and art.

The 1960's and 70's ushered in a wave of political and social awareness for communities of color. Community organizations around the country began advocating and organizing for more political and social empowerment as a counter to the discrimination, oppression, and neglect that many Chicanos (and other Latino communities) encountered. The GI Bill sent many Chicanos to college, opening young Chicano eyes to new ways to fight injustice. Many young social reformers started to take advantage of funds from the War on Poverty programs to establish community service organizations. Chicano and Latino artists were very aware of neglect and lack of representation in mainstream galleries and art institutions and started to rethink and reinvent cultural spaces. The RCAF was formed as a way to creatively instill pride, dignity, and respect for the Chicano community of Sacramento (Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1979 "Chicano Air Force Flies High").

In addition to the RCAF, other Latino groups and organizations formed during the late 1960's and 1970's in the Bay area such as the Mexican American Liberation Art Front, La Raza Graphics Center, and Artist Sies that cultivated artist collectives and artist support networks. Galleria de La Raza, the first Mexican American "museum" in the Bay area opened to encourage Chicano and Latino art within their own community. Throughout the country, Latinx artists and activists formed organizations and galleries such as Self-Help Graphics in Los Angeles. The East coast also saw their share of organizations develop such the Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia in 1972. In New York, the Taller Boriqua and El Museo de Barrio saw the Puerto Rican activist community grow and build their own galleries, arts spaces, and educational spaces to reach Latino communities in ways that traditional art and cultural centers did not.

Art, and the inexpensive silk screen process, became one of the fronts in the fight for community self-empowerment and advocacy. The traditions of mural and poster art in California were already very strong by the time RCAF was formed. In the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, African American and labor organizations had formed art workshops developing poster woodcut technique both as an art form and a way to advance political awareness. Art schools and colleges in California (and New York) organized artistic workshops to help combine art with social movements. The RCAF members also drew artistic and activist inspiration from a long tradition of printmaking in Mexico such as political and cultural artist José Posada in the 1890's and the Taller Grafica Popular in the 1930's. The reliance on silk screen poster art created a whole new movement and vocabulary of artistic forms, colors, and representations that drew from Mexican heritage but was also quick and easy to replicate. Artists like Montoya and Favela used these posters as their canvas to create a body of work that was bought and sold like other traditional art pieces, but was inexpensive to create and could relate and engage with the community not accustomed to gallery shows.

The silk screen process was eventually replaced by the screen print process, a technologic change that cut reliance on harmful chemicals, but still retained the "look and feel" of a DIY silk screen. However, what was crucial among RCAF were all the commissioned pieces, like these lowrider posters, that showcased how the artistic forms melded with community activism and documentation. While some of the artworks were bought and sold and made for art spaces, most art was primarily displayed in storefronts, restaurants, and community centers. The community and street space became the gallery that advertised United Farm Worker events, social justice gatherings, health initiatives, etc. The Chicano Civil rights movement succeeded and was sustained in part, by posters like these. The poster "transcended" the advertisement of events into a production of art. More importantly, these posters help document the Chicano movement, bridging community activism, art, advertisement, and social formation.

Source

Historical content note courtesy, Steve Velasquez, Curator, Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History, August 13, 2020.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution

Archives of American Art

Roberto Sifuentes papers, circa 1988-2006, bulk 1993-2000. The papers document Chicano performance artist and educator Roberto Sifuentes.

Philip Brookman Papers, 1977-1993. The collection documents Brookman's exhibition, writing, and filmmaking projects in the form of artist files, exhibition files, professional files, and subject and research files. Much of the material concerns the production and distribution of Brookman's 1988 video documentary about Chicano art in California, Mi Otro Yo (My Other Self), that grew out of the exhibition and conference "Califas: An Exhibition of Chicano Art and Culture in California," held at University of California, Santa Cruz in 1981 and 1982.

National Museum of American History

Tomas Ybarra-Frausto Calendar Collection, NMAH.AC.0660

Lowrider "Dave's Dream," 1982. See accession: 1990.0567.

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Exhibition Records, circa 1983-1994 and undated. Accession 00-002. INcludes records for the exhibition American Encounters

Exhibition Records, 1970-1995. Accession 01-097. INcludes documentation for American Encounters Lowriders, 1992.

Productions, 1991-1994, 1997-1998. Accession 02-123. Includes Smithsonian Productions video program entitled, ""Spreading Beauty Wherever I Go," on the lowrider cars of New Mexico, 1992.

Productions, 1987, 1989, 1991-1993, 1997. Accession 02-202. Includes video footage for "Spreading Beauty Wherever I Go," on the "lowrider" cars of New Mexico.

Productions, 1991-2000. Accession 05-231. Includes video footage from the exhibit American Encounters Lowrider show, 1978 from the Museum of Fine Arts.

Materials at Other Organizations

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

Lowrider collection, 1977-1982. Collection Number: 8098

University of San Diego, San Diego Lowriders Archival Project

The San Diego Lowrider Archival Project documents the history of lowriding in San Diego and the surrounding borderlands, from the 1950s through today. The project includes photographs, car club documents and memorabilia, official records, meeting minutes, dance posters and lowrider art.

University of Southern California, Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies

Lowrider magazine collection 0589

A collection of 56 issues of Lowrider magazine, along with three issues of Q-VO: A National Lowrider's Magazine -- all spanning from 1977 to 2003

UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections

Royal Chicano Air Force Archives, CEMA 8

Extensive collection of slides and silkscreen prints, along with administrative records, news clippings, correspondence, exhibition descriptions and flyers, photographs, creative writings, and miscellaneous publications of the Sacramento-based artists collective. Founding members of the RCAF include José Montoya, Esteban Villa, Juanishi V. Orosco, Ricardo Favela, and Rudy Cuellar.

UCLA Chicano Research Center

Alturas Films Records, CSRC.2018.009

Alturas Films is a film production company based in Emeryville, Californis. Founded by Rick Tejada-Flores, it specializes in documentaries that focus on overlooked topics in Latino and Latin American culture, many of which were broadcast on public television. Among its films are Low 'n Slow, Rivera in America, and Elvia.
Provenance:
Fifteen posters were purchased from Rudy Cuellar in 2021.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
Occupation:
Graphic artists -- California  Search this
Topic:
Automobiles -- Social aspects -- United States  Search this
Hispanic American artists  Search this
Lowriders  Search this
Posters  Search this
Popular culture  Search this
Genre/Form:
Screen prints
Citation:
Rudy Cuellar Lowrider Posters, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1514
See more items in:
Rudy Cuellar Lowrider Posters
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d79ef1c-d62a-4a0a-9dc4-dd464a344dbd
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1514
Online Media:

Production Records

Topic:
Coral Reefs: How to Make Use of 400 Million Years of Evolution (Motion picture : c. 1981)
John Bull: The World's Oldest Operable Locomotive (Documentary film : 1981)
Maine Coast (Documentary film : c. 1982)
Leaf Making: Or the Secret Life of Museum Plants (Motion picture : c. 1981)
Changes: The Story of Evolution and Speciation (Motion picture : c. 1979)
Quadrangle (Documentary film : c. 1984)
Flue-Cured Tobacco Culture (Documentary film : c. 1983)
Big Cats and How They Came to Be (Motion picture : 1976)
Census: Accounting for the Nation (Motion picture : 1974)
Thomas A. Edison and His Amazing Invention Factories (Motion picture : 1979)
Ghosts of Forever (Motion picture : c. 1982)
Who Would Have Thought? (Proposed documentary film : 1970)
Giant Panda Story (Motion picture : c. 1974)
Shells and the Animals Inside (Motion picture : 1978)
Columbus and His Time (Motion picture : 1976)
Mirror of Kings: Tales from Kalila wa-Dimnah (Motion picture : 1982)
Tradition in Western Civilization (Documentary film : 1978)
Communication: It's More Than Sound (Motion picture : 1982)
Security (Motion picture : 1981)
Berlin Airlift (Motion picture : 1984)
Clockwork Universe (Motion picture : 1980)
Consequences of Cultural Adaptation (Motion picture : c. 1973)
Enter Life (Motion picture : 1986)
FDR: The Intimate Presidency (Motion picture : 1982)
Field to Factory: The Urban North, 1915-1940 (Motion picture : 1987)
Web of Life (Motion picture : 1973)
Full Speed Ahead (Motion picture : 1978)
Gilgamesh (Motion picture : 1978)
City of the Dead (Documentary film : 1978)
Peril on the Sea (Motion picture : 1978)
Phone Philm (Motion picture : 1976)
Predator and the Prey (Motion picture : 1973)
Sharing a Lifestyle (Motion picture : 1973)
American Picture Palaces (Motion picture : 1983)
Smithsonian World (Television program : 1984-1991)
Reunions: Memories of an American Experience (Documentary film : 1979)
Smithsonian World (Television program)
Man's Use of the Earth (Motion picture : 1973)
Names:
American Sailor (Exhibition) (1984-1985: Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Clockwork Universe: German Clocks and Automata, 1550-1650 (Exhibition) (1980: Washington, D.C.)  Search this
FDR: The Intimate Presidency (Exhibition) (1982: Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Festival of American Folklife  Search this
Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration, 1915-1940 (Exhibition) (1987: Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Harry S. Truman Centennial: The Berlin Airlift (Exhibition) (1984: Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Indiana (Steamboat)  Search this
It All Depends: How Man Affects and is Affected by his Natural Environment (Exhibition) (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.). Hall of American Maritime Enterprise  Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Hall of American Maritime Enterprise  Search this
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Hall of Dynamic Evolution  Search this
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Hall of Paleontology  Search this
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Hall of Western Civilization  Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications. Smithsonian Video Collection  Search this
Smithsonian Productions  Search this
Loveland, Karen  Search this
Extent:
4 cu. ft. (4 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Clippings
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white transparencies
Color negatives
Color transparencies
Date:
1967-1987, 1991-1992
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records created and maintained by Karen Loveland, Director of Special Projects for the Office of Telecommunications, documenting the planning, development, and execution of film, video, and television productions for general release, for accompaniment to exhibitions and exhibition halls, for training, and for television spots. Film, video, and television productions for general release include Smithsonian Video Collection; American Picture Palaces; Coral Reefs: How to Make Use of 400 Million Years of Evolution; John Bull; Maine Coast; Leaf Making: Or the Secret Life of Museum Plants; Smithsonian World; Changes: The Story of Evolution and Speciation; Quadrangle; Flue-Cured Tobacco Culture; The Big Cats and How They Came to Be; Indiana Engine Retrieval; Census: Accounting for the Nation; Enter Life; Thomas A. Edison and His Amazing Invention Factories; The Ghosts of Forever; Who Would Have Thought?; The Giant Panda Story; Shells and the Animals Inside; Columbus and His Time; Mirror of Kings: Tales from Kalila Wa Dimna; and Reunions: Memories of an American Experience.

Films and videos accompanied American Sailor, 1984-1985; Harry S. Truman Centennial: The Berlin Airlift, 1984; Clockwork Universe: German Clocks and Automata, 1550-1650 in 1980; Hall of Dynamic Evolution, beginning in 1979; Hall of Paleontology, beginning in 1982; FDR: The Intimate Presidency, 1982; Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration, 1915-1940, beginning in 1987; Festival of American Folklife; Hall of American Maritime Enterprise, beginning in 1978; the Communication Exhibition, beginning in 1977; Hall of Western Civilization, beginning in 1978; and It All Depends: How Man Affects and is Affected by his Natural Environment. Training films and videos include Communication and Security.

Materials include memoranda, correspondence, video proposals, scripts, interview transcripts, production and post-production schedules, computer editing forms, story boards, roll logs, budget summaries and expense reports, orders and requisitions for supplies and services, travel vouchers, invoices, notes, mailing lists for premieres, publications with articles about videos, clippings, press releases, fact sheets, copies of contracts, color and black and white negatives and transparencies of credits, and research materials.

See accession 01-230 for a 16 mm distribution print of the "Mirror of Kings:...".
Topic:
Video recordings -- Production and direction  Search this
Intellectual property  Search this
Museum exhibits  Search this
Documentary television programs  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuscripts
Clippings
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white transparencies
Color negatives
Color transparencies
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 01-203, Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications, Production Records
Identifier:
Accession 01-203
See more items in:
Production Records
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-sia-fa01-203

Ruth Duckworth papers

Creator:
Duckworth, Ruth, 1919-2009  Search this
Names:
Burger, Thea  Search this
Lauria, Jo  Search this
Extent:
4.7 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Date:
circa 1930-2010
Summary:
The papers of sculptor and ceramicist Ruth Duckworth measure 4.7 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to 2010. The collection comprises exhibition files for Ruth Duckworth: Modernist Sculptor, a multifaceted retrospective of Duckworth's life and work; professional files including business papers, writings, and correspondence regarding Duckworth's professional activities; printed materials recording Duckworth's career; artwork that includes sketches of ceramics, figure drawings, self portraits, and paper cutouts; and photographic materials of Duckworth, her artwork and studio, travel in Europe and Japan, and personal snapshots.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of sculptor and ceramicist Ruth Duckworth measure 4.7 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to 2010. The collection documents Duckworth's career through exhibition files, professional files, printed materials, artwork, and photographs.

Exhibition files are for Ruth Duckworth: Modernist Sculptor, a multifaceted retrospective of Duckworth's life and work organized by her agent Thea Burger and curator Jo Lauria. Professional files consist of business papers, writings, correspondence regarding Duckworth's professional activities, and files containing Burger's speech delivered at Duckworth's memorial service and sympathy letters received after Duckworth's death. Printed material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and a few miscellaneous items. Duckworth's artwork includes sketches of ceramics, figure drawings, self portraits, and paper cutouts. Photographic materials picture Duckworth, her artwork and studio, and travel in Europe and Japan, and include personal snapshots.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: -- Ruth Duckworth: Modernist Sculptor -- Exhibition Files, 1996-circa 2005 (1.0 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Professional Files, circa 1970-2009 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2, 6)

Series 3: Printed Materials, circa 1970-2010 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 4: Artwork, circa 1935-circa 1985 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 5: Photographic Materials, circa 1930-circa 2005 (2.8 linear feet; Boxes 3-6)
Biographical / Historical:
Ruth Duckworth (1919-2009) was a sculptor and ceramicist in Chicago, Illinois, known for abstract modernist forms that were heavily inspired by the natural world.

Duckworth was born Ruth Windmüller in Hamburg, Germany, as the youngest of five children. As a child, Duckworth was often sick and would draw in bed as a way to pass the time. It became evident that she had talent as an artist, but under the Nazi regime in Germany, Duckworth was unable to attend art school because her father was Jewish.

In 1936 she left Germany as a refugee to live in Liverpool, England, with her sister. She attended the Liverpool School of Art from 1936 to 1940. She then moved to Manchester where she began making puppets until she took work in a munitions factory to support the war effort. Around 1942, Duckworth moved to London with friends she had made at the factory. There she met and married artist Aidron Duckworth in 1949. She also became acquainted with other sculptors, including Lucie Rie and Henry Moore, who encouraged her to pursue sculpture.

Duckworth attended Hammersmith Art School, then taught at the Central School of Art and Craft from 1959 to 1964 before taking a teaching position at the University of Chicago in 1964. After feeling that her career had been slow to develop she enjoyed breakthroughs in the late 1960s and 1970s with the commissions Earth, Water, and Sky, for the University of Chicago Geophysical Science Building, and Clouds Over Lake Michigan for Dresdner Bank in Chicago. Duckworth and Aidron divorced in 1967.

In 1981 Duckworth met Thea Burger, while working on a commission for one of Burger's clients. The two realized they could both benefit from a working relationship where Burger worked as Duckworth's agent taking care of the business aspects of the sculptor's career while Duckworth focused solely on her artwork.

Burger organized Ruth Duckworth: Modernist Sculptor, a multifaceted retrospective of Duckworth's life and work, with curator Jo Lauria in 2005. A catalog that included written contributions by Tony Birks, Martin Puryear, and Jo Lauria and a short film titled, Ruth Duckworth: My Life in Clay, were created to accompany the retrospective. The exhibition opened in January 2005 at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Over the course of two years the exhibition traveled to the Chicago Cultural Center, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark University, Long Beach Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery.

Duckworth had intended to return to the United Kingdom later in life but continued living in her Chicago home and studio until she died in 2009.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art is an interview with Ruth Duckworth conducted on April 27, 2001 by Kenneth R. Trapp for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America at the studios of Smithsonian Productions, Washington, D.C.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on Reel 1397 including biographical information, photographs, twelve silhouette cutouts, a scrapbook of clippings, and loose printed material. Loaned materials returned to the donor that were not subsequently donated are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Ruth Duckworth papers were donated in 2015 by Thea Berger, Duckworth's agent. A portion of this material had been lent for microfilming in 1977 by Ruth Duckworth. Additional contact sheets and negatives of Duckworth were donated in 2020 by photographer Cal Kowal.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Ceramicists -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Sculptors -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Women ceramicists  Search this
Jewish artists  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sketchbooks
Citation:
Ruth Duckworth papers, circa 1930-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.duckruth
See more items in:
Ruth Duckworth papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9bc1b12ca-50d1-4d66-b62f-9a1abf3a8deb
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-duckruth
Online Media:

Smithsonian Production, 1991-1997

Container:
Box 9 of 17
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Rights:
Boxes 2, 13-14 contain materials restricted indefinitely; see finding aid; Transferring office; 06/05/2008 memorandum, Toda to Drummond; Contact reference staff for details.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 08-092, National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), Office of the Director, Subject Files
See more items in:
Subject Files
Subject Files / Box 9
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-fa08-092-refidd1e4043

NMAH - S - Smithsonian Productions

Container:
Box 15 of 27
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 03-091, National Museum of American History, Office of the Director, Subject Files
See more items in:
Subject Files
Subject Files / Box 15
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-fa03-091-refidd1e6699

Agency history, 1966-

Creator:
Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press  Search this
Subject:
Oehser, Paul H (Paul Henry) 1904-1996  Search this
Lowe, Felix C  Search this
Goodwin, Daniel H  Search this
Richter, Anders  Search this
Rivinus, Edward F  Search this
True, Webster Prentiss 1892-  Search this
Hubel, Gordon  Search this
Cannell, Peter F  Search this
Fehr, Donald  Search this
Minkiewicz, Ginger  Search this
Smithsonian Institution Editorial Division  Search this
Smithsonian Institution Publications Division  Search this
Smithsonian Institution Editorial and Publications Division  Search this
Smithsonian Institution Press  Search this
Smithsonian Institution Office of Telecommunications  Search this
Smithsonian Press/Smithsonian Productions  Search this
Smithsonian Books (Publisher)  Search this
Type:
Mixed archival materials
Date:
1966
1966-
Topic:
University press publications  Search this
Museum publications  Search this
Local number:
SIA AH00384
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_arc_236262

Rock ' n ' Soul Audiovisual History Project Collection

Sponsor:
National Museum of American History (U.S.)  Search this
Author:
Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum (Memphis, Tennessee)  Search this
Interviewer:
Daniel, Pete  Search this
Less, David  Search this
McGovern, Charles  Search this
Meehan, John P.  Search this
Names:
Stax Records  Search this
Sun Records  Search this
Presley, Elvis, 1935-1977  Search this
Interviewee:
Anderson, Clara  Search this
Berger, Bettye  Search this
Blackwood, James, 1919-2002  Search this
Burlison, Paul  Search this
Dickinson, Jim, 1941-  Search this
Fontana, D.J., 1954-  Search this
Ford, Fred  Search this
Gist, Morse  Search this
Gordon, Willie  Search this
Jackson, Cordell, 1923-  Search this
Kesler, Stan  Search this
Lansky, Bernard  Search this
Manuel, Bobby, 1945-  Search this
Mitchell, Willie, 1928-  Search this
Moore, Scotty, 1931-  Search this
Nelson, Ford  Search this
Newborn, Calvin  Search this
Novarese, John, 1923-1996  Search this
Perkins, Carl  Search this
Phillips, Sam, 1923-  Search this
Porter, David, 1941-  Search this
Rich, Charlie, 1932-1995  Search this
Riley, Billy Lee, 1933-  Search this
Roll, Bobby  Search this
Sammons, George  Search this
Stewart, Jim  Search this
Talley, Bob  Search this
Thomas, Rufus, 1917-  Search this
Withers, Ernest  Search this
Yelvington, Malcolm, 1918-2001  Search this
Extent:
20 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Interviews
Oral history
Audio cassettes
Transcripts
Audiovisual materials
Place:
Memphis (Tenn.)
Date:
1992 and 1999
Summary:
In 1990, curators at the National Museum of American History began a project to develop a traveling exhibition about American music, and in the course of research, curators repeatedly returned to the Mississippi Delta area and Memphis, Tennessee to conduct interviews. A group in Memphis organized to raise the funds to complete the research, to acquire objects and artifacts, and the project ultimately became the Smithsonian-affiliated Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum, which opened in 2000 at 191 Beale Street.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of oral and video history interviews conducted by curators at the National Museum of American History with musicians, recording executives, disc jockeys, and others involved with the development of rock'n'soul music. Complete transcripts of all of the interviews exist.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in four series.

Series 1, Original Interviews

Series 2, Reference Copies

Subseries 1: Umatic Videos

Subseries 2: Reference DVDs

Series 3: Audio Cassettes

Series 4: Transcripts
Biographical / Historical:
In 1990, National Museum of American History curators Dr. Pete Daniel and Dr. Charles McGovern, began conducting research with the intention of creating a traveling exhibit about "American music." Their investigations led them to the Mississippi delta and ultimately to Memphis Tennessee, which had developed as a crossroads where people and musical traditions met beginning in the 1930s. Based on their discoveries they refined their scope in order to focus on the music that grew out of the traditions that met and mixed in Memphis. They weren't able to secure funding for the originally proposed exhibit, but instead partnered with the Memphis Rock'n'Soul Museum to develop the exhibit Rock'n'Soul: Social Crossroads. The museum and exhibit opened in 2000 and explores the influential musical form that has its roots in Memphis.

Much of the basic research for the exhibit as well as the production elements for the companion radio series, "Memphis: Cradle of Rock'n'Soul" came from oral and video history interviews conducted with musicians, record producers, radio disc jockeys and others involved with the development and popularization of rock'n'soul during 1992 and 1999. Daniel and McGovern partnered with John Meehan of Smithsonian Productions to create high-quality, informative interview tapes. The Rock'n'Soul Video History Collection is comprised of these unedited interviews.
Provenance:
Made at the National Museum of American History for the Smithsonian-affiliated Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum in 1992 and 1999.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Only refrence DVDs and digital reference copies in the Smithsonian Institution's Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) may be used. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
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.
Topic:
Soul musicians  Search this
Soul music  Search this
Rockabilly music  Search this
Rock musicians  Search this
Rock music -- Interviews  Search this
Rock music  Search this
Genre/Form:
Video recordings -- 1990-2000
Interviews -- 1990-2000
Oral history -- 1990-2000
Audio cassettes -- 1990-2000
Transcripts
Audiovisual materials
Citation:
Rock 'n' Soul Videohistory Collection, 1990-1999, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0879
See more items in:
Rock ' n ' Soul Audiovisual History Project Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep85655701b-06d6-4af8-9ad5-44a3e8b70799
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0879

Middle Passage: Memory, History, Metaphor

Collection Collector:
Maltsby, Portia  Search this
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Program in African American Culture  Search this
Container:
Box 25, Folder 15
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1999 February 3-6
Scope and Contents:
The eighteenth annual national conference in observance of African History Month was a symposium and community tribute held from Wednesday, February 3, through Saturday, February 6, 1999, in the Carmichael Auditorium, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. The Middle Passage conference was launched by the Program on African American Culture series "African Americans at the Millennium: From Middle Passage to Cyberspace". The conference saluted three pioneering educators: Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Adelaide M. Cromwell and Dr. Joseph E. Harris.

Participants included:

Ronald Bailey, Ph.D., chair of the Department of African-American Studies, Northeastern University

Michael L. Blakey, Ph.D., professor of anthropology and anatomy and curator of the W. Montague Cobb Human Skeletal Collection, Howard University

Kim D. Butler, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Africana Studies, Rutgers University

Adama J. Conteh, Ph.D., assistant professor of history, Hampton University

Collaborative Public Art Team; Houston Conwill,sculptor; Estella Conwill Majozo, poet; and Joseph DePace, architect

C. Daniel Dawson, photographer and filmmaker

Tom Feelings, renowned artist and illustrator of children's books

Haile Gerima, film producer, director, writer, and editor

Michael A. Gomez, Ph.D., professor of history, University of Georgia; and adjunct faculty, Spelman College

Leslie King Hammond, Ph.D., artist and illustrator and dean of graduate studies, Maryland Institute College of Art

Sylvia Hill, Ph.D, chair of the Department of Urban Affairs, University of the District of Columbia

James Oliver Horton, Ph.D., Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History, George Washington University

Noel Ignatiev, Ph.D., a visiting assistant professor of history, Bowdoin College

Joseph E. Inikori, Ph.D., a professor of history and associate director, Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies, University of Rochester

Aisha Kahil, performing artist and master teacher in voice and dance and member of the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock

Gilberto Leal, a geologist, labor union and political party leader

Clarence Lusane, Ph.D., political scientist and author

Deborah L. Mack, Ph.D., director of public programs and exhibitions, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati

Lorna McDaniel, Ph.D., historian and founding editor of New Directions: Readings in African Diaspora Music

Alice McGill, storyteller, author and educator

Diana Baird N'Diaye, Ph.D., a folklorist, anthropologist, and program curator, Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies

Sylvia Ojukutu-Macauley, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of history, Georgetown University

Colin A. Palmer, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History, New York Graduate School, City University

Carla L. Peterson, Ph.D., professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature, University of Maryland

Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ph.D., curator emerita, National Museum of American History (NMAH); and Distinguished Professor of History, American University

Fath Davis Ruffins, historian at the National Museum of American History

Llewellyn Smith, television producer and playwright

Elisée Soumonni, Ph.D., lecturer, department of history, Université Nationale du Bénin

John Thornton, Ph.D., professor of history, Millersville University

Eleanor W. Traylor, Ph.D., graduate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Howard University

Sheila S. Walker, Ph.D., Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor in Liberal Arts and director of the Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas

Margaret Washington, Ph.D., history department, Cornell University

Jacquie Gales Webb, producer, Smithsonian Productions; and radio host

Olabiyi Yai, Ph.D., ambassador from Bénin

African Heritage Dancers and Drummers, a youth intervention program that provides rich portrayals of traditional West African dance, music, crafts, and folklore

Melvin Deal, founder and artistic director of the African Heritage Dancers and Drummers

Olufunmilayo Jomo, master teacher and performance artist of African dance and percussion

Kimberly A. Kelly, Ford Foundation Scholar, master's program, European decorative arts, Parsons/Cooper-Hewitt

Kono Youth Ensemble, founded in 1995 to awaken young people here and abroad to the power and beauty of traditional West African dance and drum

Djimo Kouyate, born in Dianna Senegal, is a diali, an oral historian and musician of Manding traditions

Amshatar Monroe, advocate of indigenous culture and spirituality and founder of Sacred Space

Pam Rogers, director of In Process…, Includes: Michelle Lanchester, Yasmeen Williams, Tammy Adair, Ayo Ngozi, Paula Pree, and Reverend Amitiyah Elayne Hyman

Sacred Space: Where Indigenous Paths Meet, a nonprofit organization committed to providing cultural and educational activities, council of elders: Baba Wande Abimbola, Nana Kwabena Brown, Mounain Eagle Woman (Mama Binta-Bisa Mati), Ione, Baba Kwame Ishangi, and Iya N'Ifa Efunyale (Mother) Taylor

Program number AC408.108.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access and use of audiovisual materials available in the Archives Center reading room or by requesting copies of audiovisual materials at RightsReproductions@si.edu
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions exist. Collection items available for reproduction Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Program in African American Culture Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
See more items in:
Program in African American Culture Collection
Program in African American Culture Collection / Series 1: Program Files
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep89129c4d2-357d-49d4-8642-fe35fadc394e
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0408-ref1315

Oral history interview with Robert Chapman Turner

Interviewee:
Turner, Robert Chapman, 1913-2005  Search this
Interviewer:
Carney, Margaret, 1949-  Search this
Creator:
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Names:
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (U.S.)  Search this
Extent:
48 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2001 June 11
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Robert Turner conducted 2001 June 11, by Margaret Carney, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Smithsonian Productions, in Washington, D.C.
Turner speaks of his childhood in Brooklyn, N.Y.; his father's business, Turner Concrete (now called Turner Construction); drawing classes; attending the George School for a post-graduate year before attending Swarthmore College, where his major was economics; the importance of Quakerism in his life and work; traveling throughout Europe and the Southwestern United States; his marriage to Sue, their trip to Europe during the outbreak of World War II and the difficulty of coming home to America; his involvement in war activities as a conscientious objector; the transition after the war ended into a "different reality"; visiting the different schools of craft, including Penland, Alfred, and Haystack; attending Alfred University, the teachers and students there during his years there; his relationships with other students, such as Ted Randall and Bill Schickel; teaching at Black Mountain College immediately after his graduation from Alfred; his admiration of Marguerite Wildenhain; his involvement in the first Super Mud phenomenon in 1966; how African culture fits into his work; the collaborative effort at Penland; the establishment of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), and his experience as the third president of the group; his "retirement" since 1979; the types of materials he uses; the awards he has received; galleries and exhibitions in which he has exhibited; and recollections of Bill Brown, founder of the Penland School of Crafts. Turner also recalls Josie Adams, Charles Harder, Kurt Ekdahl, Marion Fosdick, Bill Pitney, Jessie Shefrin, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Turner (1913-2005) was a ceramic artist from Alfred, N.Y. and Sandy Spring, Maryland. Margaret Carney (1949- ) is the director of the Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art in Alfred, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 digital audio tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 23 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Topic:
Ceramicists -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this
Ceramicists -- Maryland -- Interviews  Search this
Quakers  Search this
Decorative arts  Search this
World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscientious objectors  Search this
Ceramics  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.turner01
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a8c3d45e-256d-42c2-8bc8-4eb0ac08b6ac
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-turner01
Online Media:

Oral history interview with Ruth Duckworth

Interviewee:
Duckworth, Ruth, 1919-2009  Search this
Interviewer:
Trapp, Kenneth R.  Search this
Creator:
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
Names:
Central School of Arts and Crafts (Birmingham, England)  Search this
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America  Search this
University of Chicago -- Faculty  Search this
DeVore, Richard, 1933-2006  Search this
Larsen, Jack Lenor  Search this
Leach, Bernard, 1887-1979  Search this
McKinnell, James  Search this
McKinnell, Nan  Search this
Moore, Henry, 1898-1986  Search this
Rie, Lucie  Search this
Vergette, Nicholas, 1923-1974  Search this
Westphal, Alice  Search this
Extent:
67 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2001 April 27
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Ruth Duckworth conducted 2001 April 27, by Kenneth R. Trapp, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the studios of Smithsonian Productions, Washington, D.C.
Duckworth speaks of her early life and the time prior to her family leaving Germany; the decision to leave Germany in 1936 due to Hitler and the War; acclimating herself to England; attending Liverpool School of Art; WWII in England and the psychological effects of working in munitions factories; her nervous breakdown and seven years of therapy; her beginning to sculpt; her first exhibition of sculpture in London; her marriage and life with Aidron; difficulties in being an outsider in the world of art, specifically speaking about being a woman in sculpture; her first meeting with Lucie Rie; the devastation she felt after her brother died; attendance at the Hammersmith School of Art and not feeling her place there; switching to Central School of Arts and Crafts; her first job teaching ceramics at the Central School; learning the technique of glazing; visiting museums in London; how poetry nourished her during those early years, specifically the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke; the selling of her first pieces, "pieces that wouldn't sell"; the art scene in London; how the opportunity at the University of Chicago arose; her experience at the University of Chicago, an academic institution rather than a fine arts school; her first big show in the U.S. at the University in 1965; her graduate and undergraduate students; life as a foreigner in the U.S.; the opportunity to teach at the University of Iowa but becoming an associate professor at the University of Chicago instead; the cultural movement and ceramics movement in the U.S. during the 1960's; how her work changed from European influences to American influences; departments in art that were very unfriendly to women; her association with James and Nan McKinnell; her excursions and teaching trips across the U.S. as well as in Canada and Israel; her trip with Aidron across the U.S. and then their eventual separation; her friendship with Alice Westphal and the creation of the gallery Exhibit A; the unconscious changes in her work; her views on stoneware versus porcelain; Jack Lenor Larsen's summer show and the artists she met through that; her relationship with American museums versus European; unfortunate events at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; her continued feelings as an outsider but acceptance in later life as an artist, more so from the ceramic community than from the museum community; publications and catalogues of her work; the influences other artists have had upon her work; the limited use of color in her work; her collection of bones; her love of gardening; her sketches; the therapy coiling clay does for her; her projects at the moment; where she gets her ideas from; how she sees herself fitting in versus not fitting in; her speech at an international symposium in Amsterdam; what she would include in a retrospective of her artwork; her hopes to have her work be therapeutic to viewers and cause them to contemplate it; more thoughts on color; American culture; what matters most to her right now and that is saving the Earth; wishing to continue with her work and have a better relationship with museums. Ruth Duckworth recalls, Henry Moore, Bernard Leach, Nellie Barr, Virginia Ferrari, Hardy Schlick, Richard DeVore, Nicholas Vergette, Jane Goodall and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Ruth Duckworth (1919-2009) was a sculptor and clay artist from Chicago, Illinois. Kenneth Trapp (1943- ) is curator-in-charge at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 DAT tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 29 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Ceramicists -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Sculptors -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Topic:
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women ceramicists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Ceramics  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.duckwo01
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ca1c4ade-d6e9-445d-9c02-f69f07b60d14
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-duckwo01
Online Media:

Ideas for Designs for SI Products ca 1990s?

Collection Creator:
Sturtevant, William C.  Search this
Container:
Box 409
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1990
Collection Restrictions:
Files containing Sturtevant's students' grades have been restricted, as have his students' and colleagues' grant and fellowships applications. Restricted files were separated and placed at the end of their respective series in boxes 87, 264, 322, 389-394, 435-436, 448, 468, and 483. For preservation reasons, his computer files are also restricted. Seminole sound recordings are restricted. Access to the William C. Sturtevant Papers requires an apointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
William C. Sturtevant papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
William C. Sturtevant papers
William C. Sturtevant papers / Series 5: Smithsonian / 5.4: SI Activities
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3f1b10545-cca0-451a-8d24-c6a695697425
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-2008-24-ref11033

Minutes

Extent:
8.70 cu. ft. (9 document boxes) (7 12x17 boxes) (1 16x20 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1846-1995
Descriptive Entry:
These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead. Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from 1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives; two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice since that time.

The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A. Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A. Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.

Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White, William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.

Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell, Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin, Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey, Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull, Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.

Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth, Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton, Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce, Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R. Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.

Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings, John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley, John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton, Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
Topic:
Museums -- Administration  Search this
Museum trustees  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuscripts
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 1, Smithsonian Institution, Board of Regents, Minutes
Identifier:
Record Unit 1
See more items in:
Minutes
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-sia-faru0001
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William Grayson

Author:
Unknown  Search this
Subject:
Smithsonian Productions  Search this
Physical description:
Color: Black and White; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: Person, candid; Medium: Photographic print
Type:
Photographic print
Person, candid
Date:
c. 1977
Topic:
Grayson, William  Search this
Office of Telecommunications  Search this
Telecommunication  Search this
Smithsonian Institution--Employees  Search this
Standard number:
89-14120
Restrictions & Rights:
No restrictions
Data Source:
Smithsonian Archives - History Div
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sic_7418

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