Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1992 Festival of American Folklife

Summary

Collection ID:
CFCH.SFF.1992
Creators:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Dates:
June 25-July 5, 1992
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 1992 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: The Changing Soundscape in Indian Country
  • Series 3: Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Culture in the Americas
  • Series 4: New Mexico
  • Series 5: Workers at the White House

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 1992 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Administration

Author
CFCH Staff

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1992 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: 1992 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
The Columbus Quincentenary that was commemorated in 1992 gave pause to reflect on the forces that over the preceding 500 years had shaped social life in the Americas. The Festival programs on New Mexico, Maroons, and American Indian musics illustrated important historical and ongoing processes through which communities establish cultural identities in complex and dynamic social circumstances.
"The Changing Soundscape in Indian Country," produced jointly with the National Museum of the American Indian, explored ways that Indian musicians and their communities creatively adapted elements from the musical traditions brought to this continent from Europe, Africa, and elsewhere. Although many of the forms of this Indian music are non-Indian in origin, the themes and performance styles clearly address Indian experience and aesthetic expectations. In their creative hands, as Festival visitors could experience first-hand, external musical influences became part of the self-definition of Indian identity and trenchant commentary on what had been happening in "Indian Country" over the past five centuries.
Nowhere is the connection between creativity and self-definition more clear than in the cultural identities of contemporary Maroon peoples, whose ancestors escaped plantation slavery in the Americas and founded independent societies. Faced with the task of constructing and defending their positions, Maroons creatively defined themselves from a variety of sources. While their political institutions, expressive arts, religions, and other social forms were predominantly African in origin, they drew from a broad range of African cultures, and from European and Native American cultures as well. Much of the aesthetic component of Maroon cultures - their vibrant traditions of verbal and visual arts, shared with Festival visitors on the National Mall - encourages the cohesiveness of their society and voices themes that embody common experience and interest.
The Spanish Conquest established the Western Hemisphere's European presence and its most widely spoken language. While the original conquerors' culture did not value the Native cultures it encountered, over the centuries segments of Hispanic and Native American and later English-speaking and other populations engaged one another, by necessity, in ways that gave rise to today's rich array of cultural identities. New Mexico's distinctive cultural landscape took shape in this way, represented by some peoples who sustain their cultural identities through centuries-old combinations of Indian and European forms of thought and action, and by others whose basis of identity lies in reaffirming the wisdom and relevance of ancestral ways. Festival visitors could witness how, in New Mexico, cultural identity reflects the changes that continue to be wrought from the varieties of these social encounters.
The 1992 Festival also marked the 200th anniversary of the White House. Not a king's palace but rather "the people's house," the White House is at once national symbol, executive office and conference center, ceremonial setting, museum, tourist attraction, and family residence. The Festival revealed the culture of White House workers, who supported this broad array of functions over a span of history shaped by remarkable events, people and social change. White House workers had made the White House work with their labor and dedication. The Festival's living exhibition presented some of the skills, experiences, and values through which they gave shape to their occupational identities, calling visitors' attention to an important human component of the 200 year institutional history.
The 1992 Festival took place during two five-day weeks (June 25-29 and July 2-5) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 13th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan).
The 1992 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; keynote essays provided background on the Festival and each of the four programs, with shorter essays spotlighting particular traditions and offering a forum for statements from Maroon spokespeople.
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies.
Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies
Richard Kurin, Director; Diana Parker, Festival Director; Anthony Seeger, Director, Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings; Peter Seitel, Senior Folklorist; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist; Olivia Cadaval, Director, Quincentenary Projects; Richard Kennedy, Program Analyst; Vivian Chen, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Folklorists; Ken Bilby, Marjorie Hunt, Curators; Carla Borden, John Franklin, Program Managers; Arlene L. Reiniger, Program Specialist; Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Betty Belanus, Frank Proschan, Nicholas Spitzer, Research Associates
Folklife Advisory Council
Roger Abrahams, Jacinto Arias, Jane Beck, Pat Jasper, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Bernice Reagon, John Roberts, Carol Robertson, Gilbert Sprauve, John Tchen, Ricardo Trimillos, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez
National Park Service
James M. Ridenour, Director; Robert G. Stanton, Regional Director, National Capital Region

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
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folklore Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Digital images Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Food habits Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Contracts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folk festivals Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Plans (drawings) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
arts and crafts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Negatives Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Audiotapes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Memorandums Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World music Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Slides (photographs) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Audiocassettes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folk music Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographic prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Video recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folk art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Videotapes Genre Form 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.
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-6440
Fax Number: Fax: 202-633-6474
rinzlerarchives@si.edu