The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.

The records of the DC Cowboys Dance Company, an all-male, gay, non-profit dance company based in Washington, DC. that was active from 1994-2012. They peformed nationally and internationally live and on television, "celebrating diversity through dance."

The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.

The papers of New York-based painter, lithographer, art critic, and poet Fairfield Porter measure 9.3 linear feet and date from 1888 to 2001, with the bulk of material dating from 1924 to 1975. Papers document Porter's life and career through correspondence, writings, business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.

This collection contains John and Ann Fischer's correspondence, field notes, manuscripts, microfilm, sound recordings, and photographs relating to their work in Micronesia, Japan, and New England. Most of the materials in this collection were produced or collected by John. Although some materials have been identified as Ann's work, not all folders containing her notes have been so identified. Since John and Ann often collaborated, some of their notes are also intermixed. Materials relating to Truk and Ponape make up the bulk of the series. They not only include John and Ann's field notes but also administrative materials relating to John's position as District Anthropologist and District Island Affairs Officer. Because they returned at various times to visit and update data, there are documents on Ponape from 1949 as well as from the 1970s and in between. The Fischers' work in Japan is also well-represented in the collection along with their research for John and Beatrice Whiting's Six Cultures Project. The collection also contains a number of psychological tests administered by John and Ann during their research in Ponape and Japan. The sound recordings are mostly related to Ponape, with additional recordings from Japan. Several of the photographs are from Micronesia, some of which were taken by Harry Clifford Fassett. There are also some photos from Japan as well as personal photographs. Additional items in the collection include John's correspondence and papers he wrote as a student.

Recorded by Moses Moon (known at the time as Alan Ribback) and assisted by Norris McNamara during 1963 and 1964, the collection includes audio recordings of interviews with civil rights leaders and participants as well as free-style recordings of mass meetings, voter registration events, and other gatherings organized by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This collection provides a mostly unfiltered documentation of significant moments in the civil rights movement.

The collection documents the building, operation and daily life of coal mining communities in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio between 1911 and 1946. The collection is a valuable for the study of mining technology and the social conditions of the time period and regions.

Collection consists of photographic materials taken by Frank Espada, mostly images from the Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, which documents these communities across the Unites States. In addition, there are materials relating to his earlier work documenting civil rights activities, also in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s.

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003 and was created in Nigeria and Ghana. Much of the collection documents masquerades, shrines, festivals, market scenes, and ceremonies, and includes images of Urhobo, Uzairue, Ishan (Esan), Etsako, and Otuo peoples.