African Postcard Collection
This collection includes postcards from 45 African countries. Subjects include agriculture; animals; artists; body arts; cityscapes; cultural landscapes; dance; education; expeditions; flora; industry; leaders; marketplaces; medicine; military; missionaries; music; portraits; recreation; rites and ceremonies; and transportation, among many other topics.
Marilyn Houlberg Nigeria collection
14 Documents (1 Binder)
1,946 Slides (Color, 35 mm)
The collection consists of 8,515 color slides taken by Dr. Marilyn Houlberg during various field studies among the Yoruba in southwest Nigeria between 1961 and circa 2007. The images depict Yoruba art and culture with a special focus on artisans, art objects, body arts, costume, festivals, hairstyles, indigenous photography, weaving and textiles. Cultural events depicted include Balufon festivals, Egungun and Gelede masquerades, social events (weddings, christenings, funerals), and religious ceremonies (initiation and animal sacrifice). Also included are various scenes of daily life, architecture, food preparation, markets, portraits and landscapes. Houlberg extensively documented Yoruba artists in the process of creating their art, including carvers Yesufu Ejigboye, Runshewe, and Lamidi Fakeye, as well as the final pieces themselves. Houlberg documentated art in situ, such as Yoruba house posts, shrines, wall art and wood doors and art objects, including Gelede masks, Ibeji (twin) and Eshu figures, Osanyin staffs, and Ogboni and Shango shrines. Manuscript and printed materials, including Houlberg's resume, thesis, and numerous published articles are also available in this collection.
Cook Labs records
Cook, Emory, 1913-2002
63.5 Cubic feet (Open-reel tapes)
8.75 Cubic feet (Business records)
78.55 Cubic feet
The Cook Labs records, which date from 1939-2002, document the activities of audio engineer Emory Cook and his label Cook Labs. The contents include business records, materials relating to recording artists, photographs, and production materials, as well as phonograph records, master recordings and unpublished recordings produced by or associated with the Cook Labs label. The collection also contains two interviews conducted with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer. There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.
Lily Spandorf drawings
This collection consists of 754 pen-and-ink, watercolor, and gouache drawings and paintings by artist Lily Spandorf. They depict scenes from various years of the Festival of American Folklife and its successor, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Ralph Rinzler papers and audio recordings
bulk 1950-1994
This collection, with bulk dates from 1950-1994, documents the life of Ralph Rinzler and his professional activities as Director of Field Programs for the Newport Folk Festival, Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (formerly the Festival of American Folklife) and the Office of Folklife Programs (now the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage), and the Smithsonian Institution's Assistant Secretary for Public Service. Includes personal papers, business records, correspondence, notes, photographs, audiotapes and field recordings.
Fairchild Industries, Inc. collection
This collection consists of historical files on FI, its predecessors, and subsidiaries. The material consists primarily of historical/public relations material, including photographs and brochures, but also includes significant amounts of business records for FEAC, Kreider-Reisner, Hiller, Republic, Ranger, Stratos, and Swearingen. The collection also documents Fairchild's joint ventures with Fokker, Pilatus, and other aircraft manufacturers. The material also includes an extensive negative collection as well as film and videotape libraries.
Central Administrative File, Records
The records pertain to the administration of David W. Scott, director, 1965-1968, Robert Tyler Davis, interim director, 1969, and Joshua C. Taylor, director, 1970- . Some records, most noticeably correspondence with Smithsonian Art Commission members, have been pulled up into the files from previous administrations. Also included are Smithsonian Art Commission and National Collection …
Ernst Herzfeld Papers
An outstanding scholar in the field of Iranian studies, Ernst Herzfeld (1879--1948) explored all phases of Near Eastern culture from the prehistoric period to Islamic times. This collection documents Herzfeld's excavations at Samarra, Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Aleppo and includes correspondence; field notebooks; drawings; sketchbooks; inventories of objects; "squeeze" copies of architectural details; and photographs.
UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World records
This collection, which dates from circa 1961-2006, contains audiorecordings from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World, as well as related business records. Includes recordings of tradition and sacred music from Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sudan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, China, Korea, the Solomon Islands, India, Bali, Java, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Thailand, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Syria, and Turkey.
Simon Ottenberg photographs of Limba and Afikpo Peoples
The collection primarily includes photographs of Limba peoples taken by anthropologist Simon Ottenberg during field research in northern Sierra Leone within Bafodea Town, the capital of Wara Wara Bafodea Chiefdom, and Guinea, from October 1978 through July 1980. The collection also includes photographs taken while conducting field research at an Afikpo village-group, in southeastern Nigeria, from January 30, 1988 to February 5, 1988 and in 1992.
