As the curatorial team turns towards identifying collections for the upcoming 12 Years that Changed Washington exhibition, we’ve been looking more closely at the art and artists held by the ACM to show how changes in art and culture coincided with radical social change in DC. Looking beyond formal visual arts, we are also looking for the many posters, prints and informal art that blossomed during this time–and in so doing stumbled upon one of the masters in our collection, James Wells.
Throwback Thursday: Museum Visitors
Anacosita Community Museum Archives
Four African visitors to the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, now Anacostia Community Museum, July 1970. The visitors, from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast (Côte d’ Ivoire), Chad, and Mali, were in the United States as part of an Operation Crossroads Africa/State Department educational tour. Balcha Fellows (third from right), a special assistant to the museum’s founding director, John Kindard, arranged the Anacostia Community Museum portion of the tour.
Douglass Dwellings: Collection Spotlight
Anacostia Community Museum Archives recently acquired two collections donated by Southeast Voices relating to the Frederick Douglass housing projects: Henry Bazemore Collection of Frederick Douglass Dwellings Photographs and the Frederick Douglass Dwellings Collection. The Douglass Dwellings were built in Southeast Washington, D.C., as World War II-era temporary housing for African American workers. Celebrated African American architect Hilyard R. Robinson designed the complex, and renowned photographer Gordon Parks documented the community for the Farm Security Administration.
Both collections contain photographs of social activities in the community sponsored by the local recreation center. Among the charming activities for the children were “Tom Thumb Weddings,” where children played the roles of bride, groom, minister, wedding party, and guest. Other activities documented in the collections are dance recitals, sporting events, hobby shows, and the annual soap box derby. The images challenge perceptions of life in public housing during the 1940s by illustrating the positive aspects of life in the projects.
This entry originally posted on the Smithsonian Collections Blog on Friday, April 23, 2010.
Throwback Thursday: Revisiting Black Mosaic
For our very first throwback, an installation shot of Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, DC exhibition.
The exhibition explored the immigration of people of African descent from Central and South America and the Caribbean to the Washignton Metropolitan area. The show focused on several issues including: Identity; the African Diaspora in the Americas; memories of home; race and color at home; migration/immigration; music; and community life in Washington.
To view the exhibition and research records from this exhibition contact: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Percival Bryan: An Unlikely Autograph Collector
Percival Bryan was a leading autograph collector from Jamaica who settled in the northeast section of Washington, D.C., east of the Anacostia River. In 1941 Mr. Bryan became a United States citizen and started his career as a driver. His interest in collecting autographs began while serving as chauffeur for U. S. Attorney General Homer S. Cummings. F or Bryan, his autograph books provided a record of the “pulse of the public” and contributed to the nation’s history.
The Percival Bryan collection at the Anacostia Community Museum contains 298 of his autograph books. Within these books are the signatures of known and unknown individuals, poems, sketches, and a few watercolors. By the end of his career Bryan was a D.C. cab driver and had collected over 160,000 signatures. He encouraged everyone from members of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s cabinet to participants in the 1963 March on Washington to make their mark in his books. Bryan even sought the “John Hancock” of everyday passengers in his cab. You can help us identify the famous and not so famous signatures in Bryan’s collection by transcribing his very first autograph book. Select the link below to look inside and transcribe!
- Percival Bryan Autograph Album Book 1, 1941 – 1944 (Transcribe it!)
- Finding Aid to the Percival Bryan collection, 1932 – 1993, bulk 1942 – 1980
- Images from the Percival Bryan collection
Urban Change: Panama 4 years later
I am just back from over a week in the beautiful nation of Panama. It has been four years since I was last there and the changes are astounding (more on that in other posts).
I went with our photographer, Susana Raab, to do photo documentation for the upcoming exhibit Bridging the Americas. The framework for Bridging the Americas is the relationship between the nations of Panama and the United States. The Panama Canal and the former U.S. territory, The Panama Canal Zone, are literally and figuratively at the center of this bond.
One of the spaces I was most excited for Susana to document was the ascent at Cerro Ancon, or Ancon Hill.
Ancon Hill is the highest point in Panama City. It is home to lush vegetation and wildlife, provides spectacular views of Panama City and the Panama Canal, and has historical significance.
When the U.S. controlled the Panama Canal Zone (1903-1979/1999) multiple levels of U.S. authority existed in and around Cerro Ancon – political, medical, and military. The area held the residence of the U.S. Canal Zone Governor, the U.S. Gorgas Hospital, and also parts of U.S. Southern Command.
On my first journey to the summit in 2010, I was greeted in route by fellow hikers and the reclamation of public space via nationalist art. I loved them! It felt like the perfect visual goodbye gift on the final day of my research year in Panama.
Here are just a few of the many pictures I took on my ascent in 2010.
Photo by Ariana A. Curtis
Photo by Ariana A. Curtis
the style looks like Rolo de Sedas
Photo by Ariana A. Curtis
“Centro del Mundo, Corazon del Universo”
translation: Center of the World, Heart of the Universe
Photo by Ariana A. Curtis
Four short/long years later, the hike up Cerro Ancon was much less colorful. Gone are the benches formerly painted with Panamanian symbols – ladies in polleras, the Bridge of the Americas, the Panamanian skyline, the gold frog.
Now the benches are a standard dismal gray. There are small remnants of color and nationalist symbols near the top of the hill like this one:
Cerro Ancon August 2014
Photo by Susana Raab
And though gray the benches, even on a cloud day in Panama City, the views of the city, the bridges, and the Panama Canal are still spectacular and well worth the hike!
August 2014
Photo by Susana Raab
August 2014
Photo by Susana Raab
Reclaiming the Edge: The Anacostia Community Museum’s work with Urban Waterways
A five minute video narrated by Anacostia Community Museum historian Dr. Gail Lowe.
Student Conservation Association Cleans up Civil War Ring Trail in SE DC Green Space
One thing people don’t realize prior to visiting Washington, DC is how green the city is. A ring of Civil War forts encircled the city’s heights, and today the remnants of these forts are connected by a series of ring trails, suitable for hiking and biking. One trail connects Fort Stanton to Fort Dupont, DC’s largest city park. Fort Stanton is located just across the street from the museum.
Last week I found these young students cleaning the trail for the Student Conservation Association, whose mission is to build the next generation of conservation leaders and inspire lifelong stewardship of the environment and communities by engaging young people in hands-on service to the land. They were just in the nick of time too, as a cyclist rounded the bend just as the team was finishing up for the afternoon.
There is a lot to discover East of the River.
The Museum Academy Explores the Anacostia River with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
The Anacostia Community Museum Academy enjoyed a day learning about urban river ecology with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation aboard the Sequoia.
Ubuhle and the Art of Independence at the Anacostia Community Museum
In April of 2013 Collections Manager Josh Gorman and I travelled to South Africa to organize and photograph in advance of the exhibition Ubuhle and the Art of Independence. Here is a video teaser of the exhibit which closes this August.