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.

This accession consists of records that document the activities which the Office of Quincentenary Programs coordinated or organized to mark the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's first landfall in the Americas on October 12, 1492. The Quincentenary programs began in 1985 under the coordination of Smithsonian's Directorate of Inte...

Exhibit scripts are the textual component of exhibits. These records document the production of labels and other text that accompany Smithsonian Institution exhibits, and deal with matters of concept, design, scope, and style. The records occasionally contain photographs, brochures, memoranda and correspondence with curators, exhibits speciali...

The Helen Peterson collection includes correspondence, notes, miscellaneous administrative documents, financial records, calendars, questionnaires, notes from interviews, survey forms, copies of resolutions, proceedings, speeches, programs, press releases, printed and processed material, and many other types of documents. Mainly these relate to Petersons's career and special interests between 1953 and 1970. There are also a few documents that concern the organizations which Peterson served for periods preceding or following her periods in office. Of special interest are the materials related to the NCAI, many of which supplement the records in that organization's files. The collection also includes documents that concern a wide range of Indian interests and activities.

This accession consists of project management and projects files created and maintained by Deputy Director Douglas E. Evelyn and pertain to specific National Museum of the American Indian projects, such as special exhibitions, digitization projects, and film festivals. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, exhibition schedules, rep...

This accession consists of files that document grants by the Assistant Secretary for Public Service to Smithsonian offices for educational outreach programs among their constituents. Examples include a project sponsored by the American Indian Program to encourage Native American artists. Materials include correspondence and memoranda, budgets,...

The National Congress of American Indian (NCAI), founded in 1944, is the oldest nation-wide American Indian advocacy organization in the United States. The NCAI records document the organization's work, particularly that of its office in Washington, DC, and the wide variety of issues faced by American Indians in the twentieth century. The collection is located in the Cultural Resource Center of the National Museum of the American Indian.

The collection primarily documents the activities of the National Museum of American History's Program in African American Culture (PAAC) dating from 1979 through 2004. The Program in African American Culture (PAAC) created public programs documenting the black experience in the United States, as well as, other countries. Archival materials include photographs, programs, administrative files, magnetic tape, audiocassettes, U-matic and VHS video cassettes.

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. This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. These Festival records include administrative papers and the audiovisual documentation of annual Festivals (1967-ongoing). Finding aids are available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

This accession consists of the administrative records of the Deputy Director of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Douglas E. Evelyn. Materials include chronological files, 1990-1991; incoming correspondence, memoranda, and brochures, 1992-1994; outgoing correspondence, 1992-1994; travel reports, 1992-1994; budgetary files; ...