Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1967 Festival of American Folklife

Summary

Collection ID:
CFCH.SFF.1967
Creators:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Dates:
July 1-4, 1967
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1 Cubic foot
approximate
Repository:
The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1967 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
Arranged in 5 series.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera
  • Series 2: Fieldwork
  • Series 3: Photographs
  • Series 4: Audio
  • Series 5: Video

Historical note

Historical note
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 1967 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Division of Performing Arts.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Administration

Author
CFCH Staff

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1967 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections , Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Access note
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Conditions Governing Use note
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note
The Rinzler Archives is continually engaged in digitization of archival materials to facilitate preservation and ready access by users. However, given the diversity of legacy formats of the originals, some older materials may not be available. Notably, certain older audio recordings cannot be played because of deterioration of the tape stock, and the Archives has no playback equipment for EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) or multi-track audio recordings. Where listening or viewing copies are available, this is generally indicated for each item. Users are encouraged to contact Archives staff to verify that the materials of interest to them are already accessible, or to determine if they can be digitized as needed.

Forms Part Of

Forms Part Of
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1967 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .

Related Archival Materials note
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.

More Information

Introduction

Introduction
In 1966, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley engaged James R. Morris to serve as Director of Museum Services, soon to become a new Division of Performing Arts. Ripley charged Morris to develop a full program of performances on the National Mall - sound and light show, readings and concerts, films, live demonstrations, and special exhibitions. Morris, who had previously organized the American Folk Festival in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1963, proposed that the Smithsonian host a folk festival as the centerpiece of the outdoors activities. Through the Asheville festival, Morris had come into contact with key people involved in the Newport Folk Festival, among them Alan Lomax. It was Lomax who suggested that the Smithsonian hire Newport's then-director of field programs, Ralph C. Rinzler, to help plan a Smithsonian festival. The term "folklife", drawn from Scandinavian usage, was chosen over "folk" as the name of the new Festival.
The first Festival of American Folklife was held July 1-4, 1967 in two tents - one for crafts and one for sales - a music stage, and a performance area on the terrace of the Museum of History and Technology (later, the National Museum of American History). Fifty-eight traditional craftspeople and thirty-two musical and dance groups from throughout the United States demonstrated and performed at the first open-air event. Mountain banjo-pickers and ballad singers, Chinese lion dancers, Indian sand painters, basket and rug weavers, New Orleans jazz bands and a Bohemian hammer dulcimer band from east Texas combined with the host of participants from many rural and urban areas of the U.S. The entire event was free to the public, the expense of the production having been borne by the Smithsonian aided by numerous civic and cultural organizations, business enterprises and State Arts Councils.
The 1967 Festival drew a huge crowd - estimated at more than 400,000 - and strong interest from the press, Members of Congress, and Smithsonian leadership. In the Smithsonian's annual report for 1967, Ripley reflected on the success of the Festival:
Within - in the Museum - the tools, the products of craft work, the musical instruments hang suspended in cases, caught in beautifully petrified isolation. Without, for the space of a few hours they came alive in the hands of specialists from all over America.... It was a moving spectacle and one that underscored the principle that a museum, to be a museum in the best sense of the word, must live and breathe both within and without.
The 1967 Festival marked the inception of a fresh attempt at the evaluation, documentation and celebration of a hitherto unrecognized area of vigorous American expression. Concurrent with the first Festival, an American Folklife Conference was organized (with assistance from Henry Glassie) to address topics of American and international folklife studies, the relationship between folklife and history, applied folklife, and folklife in schools, museums, communities, and government agencies.
The Festival was organized by the Division of Performing Arts, under the direction of James R. Morris. Ralph Rinzler was the Applied Folklore Consultant and Festival Artistic Director, and Marian A. Hope was Project Assistant. No program book or schedule was published, but news articles, congressional remarks, letters from the public, and a list of participants were later compiled in lieu of a program book. That document can be viewed in Series 1.

Participants

Participants
  • Crafts
  • Harry Belone, 1912-1986, Navajo sand painter, Arizona
  • Herman Benton, 1914-1994, scoop maker, New York
  • Mary Bowers, 1922-2002, Seminole patchwork, needlework, Florida
  • Marie Z. Chino, 1907-1982, Acoma pottery, New Mexico
  • Mildred Cleghorn, 1910-1997, Indian cloth dolls, Oklahoma
  • Maisy Coburn, apple face and corncob dolls, Arkansas
  • Margaret Coochwytewa, 1923-1995, Hopi, coil and yucca leaves basket maker, Arizona
  • Victor Coochwytewa, 1922-2011, Hopi silversmith, Arizona
  • Freedom Quilting Bee, Alabama
  • Taft Greer, 1908-1986, weaver, Tennessee
  • Joseph Grismayer, 1888-1970, willow basket maker, Pennsylvania
  • Dewey Harmon, 1900-1972, whittler, North Carolina
  • Bea Hensley, 1919-2013, blacksmith, North Carolina
  • Louise Jones, 1910-1973, coil basket making, South Carolina
  • Robert Keith, chair maker, North Carolina
  • Mrs. Robert Keith, chair maker, North Carolina
  • Norman Kennedy, 1934-, carder, spinner, weaver, Massachusetts
  • Clifford Lucas, Indian dolls, New Mexico
  • Lila Suzanne Marshall, 1908-1994, corn shuck dolls, North Carolina
  • Charles Mayac, 1906-1971, ivory carver, Alaska
  • Leo J. Meyer, scrimshaw carver, Maryland
  • Alice Merryman, 1906-2007, corn shuck dolls, Arkansas
  • Norman Miller, 1905-1972, southern pottery, Alabama
  • Mrs. Norman Miller, southern pottery, Alabama
  • Hazel Miracle, 1915-2001, apple face, corn shuck dolls, Kentucky
  • Homer Miracle, 1910-1980, hand-hewn bowls, carver, Kentucky
  • Ann Mitchell, corn shuck dolls, Maryland
  • Golda Porter, spinner, North Carolina
  • Edd Presnell, 1916-1994, dulcimer maker, North Carolina
  • Ambrose Roanhorse, 1904-1982, Navajo silversmith, Arizona
  • Garnet Claw Roanhorse, 1911-1999, Navajo rug weaver, Arizona
  • Georgianne Robinson, 1917-1985, Osage ribbon work, needlework, Oklahoma
  • Lou Sesher, 1915-1989, model boat builder, Pennsylvania
  • Genevieve Tomey, Osage ribbon work, needlework, Oklahoma
  • Elisia Trivett, rug hooker, North Carolina
  • Ora Watson, 1909-2004, quilting, North Carolina
  • Willard Watson, 1905-1994, toy maker, North Carolina
  • Music
  • The Baca Family Band, Czech-American polka music, Texas
  • Libba Cotten, Country guitarist, North Carolina, Washington, D.C.
  • Dejan's Olympia Brass Brand, New Orleans marching band, Louisiana
  • Jimmie Driftwood, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas
  • First Maryland Regiment Fife and Drum Corps, martial music, Maryland
  • John Jackson, Songster and blues singer, Virginia
  • Bessie Jones (1902-1984) and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, shouts, jubilees, spirituals, and ring games, Georgia
  • Norman Kennedy, Scots ballad singer, Massachusetts
  • Clark Kessinger, 1896-1975, mountain fiddler, West Virginia
  • Vinice Lejeune (1919-1993) Group, Cajun band, Louisiana
  • The McGee Brothers with Sid Harkreader, String band, Tennessee
  • Sam McGee, 1894-1975
  • Kirk McGee, 1899-1983
  • Gene Meade, West Virginia
  • The Moving Star Hall Singers, shouts, jubilees, spirituals, and ring games, South Carolina
  • Glenn Ohrlin, cowboy singer, Arkansas
  • Grace Papakee, 1907-1982, Mesquakie Indian music, Iowa
  • John Papakee, 1895-1981, Mesquakie Indian music, Iowa
  • Billie Pierce (1907-1974) and De De Pierce (1904-1973) and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Orleans jazz, Louisiana
  • Almeda Riddle, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas
  • Scottish Pipe Band, highland marching music, Washington, D.C.
  • Wade Ward (1892-1971) and the Buck Mountain Band, mountain string band, Virginia
  • Yomo Toro Band, Puerto Rican music, New York
  • Ed Young (1910-1972), G.D. Young and Lonnie Young (1903-1976), African American fife and drum group, Mississippi
  • Young People's Chorus from the Scripture of Church of Christ, gospel, Virginia
  • Dance
  • Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers, cloggers, North Carolina
  • Chinese Lion Group, Washington, D.C.
  • Maurice Flowers, square dance caller, Maryland
  • Los Gallegos d'Espana, Galician dance, New York
  • Glinka Dancers, Russian dance group, New Jersey
  • Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
  • Mrs. Jochim Koyuk, King Island Eskimo dancer, Alaska
  • McNeff Dancers, Irish dancing with Ceilidh band, New York
  • Henry Paterick, square dance caller, Virginia
  • St. Andrews Society Group, Scottish dancing, Washington, D.C.

Shared Stewardship of Collections

Shared Stewardship of Collections
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Audiotapes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Contracts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographic prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folklore Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Audiocassettes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Negatives Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Video recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folk art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Plans (drawings) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folk festivals Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Food habits Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Slides (photographs) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
arts and crafts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folk music Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Memorandums Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Videotapes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Digital images Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World music Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
600 Maryland Ave SW
Washington, D.C.
rinzlerarchives@si.edu