Anacostia Community Museum Archives

A Finding Aid to the Chitlin Market and Company Records, circa 1974–2006, in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives

Summary

Collection ID:
ACMA.06-019
Creators:
Anderson, Shauna R.
Chitlin Market and Co.
Dates:
circa 1974–2006
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.16 Linear feet
2 boxes
Repository:
The collection, which dates from circa 1974 to 2006 and measures 1.16 linear feet, documents the history of the Chitlin Market and Company, founded in 1995 in Hyattsville, Maryland, by Shauna Renee Anderson. The collection is composed of business documents, correspondence, promotional materials, clippings, publications, photographs, books, and VHS and cassette tapes.

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
The Chitlin Market and Company was founded in 1995 in Hyattsville, Maryland, by Shauna Renee Anderson. The collection is arranged into five series: Series 1: Career, Series 2: Publicity and Marketing, Series 3: Photographs, Series 4: Audiovisual, and Series 5: Publications.
Series 1: Career consists of correspondence and business documents related to the founding and operations of Chitlin Market and Co. and Anderson's other business ventures.
Series 2: Publicity and Marketing contains clippings, publications, writing, and promotional and packaging materials.
Series 3: Photographs consists of 24 images of Anderson's family, business, and customers. Notable in this series is a signed photograph of singer Diana Ross.
Series 4: Audiovisual consists of nine VHS and two cassette tape recordings of media coverage of Anderson's business endeavors.
Series 5: Publications consists of three books, two inscribed to Anderson and one a memoir written by Anderson herself.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
The collection is arranged by subject and format into five series: Series 1: Career, Series 2: Publicity and Marketing, Series 3: Photographs, Series 4: Audiovisual, and Series 5: Publications.

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
Shauna R. Anderson is a statistician, restaurateur, author, film producer, historian, and businesswoman. She was born in the Shaw area, Northwest Washington, DC, in 1954 to Geneva Anderson and Walter Chris Holmes. Her parents were entertainers, and her mother sang professionally under the name Jean Anderson on the Chitlin' Circuit, a network of performance venues in the eastern and southern US where African Americans could safely perform during segregation. Anderson was raised by her maternal grandmother Virginia Lee Battle, who taught her how to prepare chitlins.
Anderson had a successful accounting business when she decided to revive the demand for chitlins in the early 90's. She saw a market for high-quality cleaned pork chitterlings, and knew that making them available would offset the loss of a longstanding African American culinary tradition. She founded Chitlin Market and Co., selling chitlins online across the country and from a storefront in Hyattsville, Maryland.
Anderson lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with her daughter Jonvieve, where she still operates her Chitlin Market and Company as a mail-order-only business.

Administration

Author
Tonijala D. Penn 2011. Updated by Katie Seitz, April 2016
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The Chitlin Market and Company records were donated to the Anacostia Community Museum in 2006 by Shauna R. Anderson.
Processing Information note
The record were processed by Tonijala D. Penn in 2011 and updated in April 2016 by Katie Seitz.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access note
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Conditions Governing Use note
The Chitlin Market and Company records are the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
Preferred Citation note
Chitlin Market and Company records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Shauna R. Anderson.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American cookery Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Audiovisual materials Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hyattsville, (Md.) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American cooks Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographic prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American businesspeople Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American business enterprises Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women-owned business enterprises Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chitlin Market and Co. Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Anacostia Community Museum Archives
1901 Fort Place, SE
Washington, D.C. 20020
ACMArchives@si.edu