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Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution Archives

Accession 95-050

Anacostia Museum. Education Department

Records, 1967-1994

Repository:Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C. Contact us at osiaref@si.edu.
Creator:Anacostia Museum. Education Department
Title:Records
Dates:1967-1994
Quantity:7 cu. ft. (7 record storage boxes)
Collection:Accession 95-050
Language of Materials:English
Summary:

The records document the activities of the Department of Education, Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. The records include correspondence and memoranda to and from the Chief of the department, Zora Martin-Felton, exhibition scripts and related materials, administrative files, committee reports and meeting minutes, appointment calendars, and miscellaneous records. The bulk of the correspondence is between Martin-Felton and different departments within the museum, including the Directors, John R. Kinard and Steven Cameron Newsome. Additional correspondence is to and from Zora Martin-Felton while she was the Acting Director of the museum from August through December 1989, following John R. Kinard's death in 1989. There is a small amount of correspondence between Martin-Felton and Barbara Sizemore, Suprintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools. James E. Mayo, Supervisory Exhibitions Specialist, and Sharon A. Reinckens, Chief, Department of Design, succeeded Martin-Felton and served as Interim Co-Directors from January 1,1990 to February 28, 1991. Steven Cameron Newsome became the museum's Director on March 1, 1991. Correspondence between the Interim Co-Directors and Martin-Felton concerns, among other issues, the hiring of the new Director, collecting and programming efforts, focusing on local and regional communities, exhibitions on the arts, social urban history and problems, and sharpening the focus of the museum's mission. There is also correspondence between Martin-Felton and other offices, divisions and bureaus of the Smithsonian. The bulk of the correspondence is from museum visitors seeking information on various subjects, particularly materials on events, families, or buildings in the neighborhood in which the museum is located, the Southeast area of the District of Columbia. Some of the correspondence are commentaries on the museum's exhibitions. Elementary and secondary school teachers wrote to Martin-Felton, either seeking materials on the history of Africa and the African Americans, or inviting her to speak to history and social science classes. Other records pertain to some of the museum education workshops which Zora Martin-Felton organized and carried out at the museum and in the neighborhood schools and other centers of learning. There are copies, notes and reference materials of Martin-Felton's speeches to various civic and academic organizations within the District of Columbia and abroad, including research notes, flyers, pamphlets and brochures pertaining to some of the exhibitions and education programs at the museum. There is a substantial quantity of research notes and a manuscript for "A Different Drummer: John R. Kinard and Anacostia Museum, 1967-1989", a book Martin-Felton coauthored with Gail S. Lowe. The records are interspersed with information on budget, volunteer, and student and teacher internship programs, and statistical records about public visits to the museum. Included are exhibition scripts; statements and labels; newspaper clippings; exhibition reviews; black and white photographs; color prints; color slides; miscellaneous materials concerning outreach activities; drawings and sketches; copies of some of Kinard's speeches and published works; newspaper and journal articles by and about Kinard; typescripts of Kinard's testimony before the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Government Operations, Subcommittee on Government Activities and Transportation; names and addresses of Martin-Felton's professional contacts; and miscellaneous administrative files.

Descriptive Entry

These records document the activities of the Department of Education, Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. The records include correspondence and memoranda to and from the Chief of the department, Zora Martin-Felton, exhibition scripts and related materials, administrative files, committee reports and meeting minutes, appointment calendars, and miscellaneous records. The bulk of the correspondence is between Martin-Felton and different departments within the museum, including the Directors, John R. Kinard and Steven Cameron Newsome. Additional correspondence is to and from Zora Martin-Felton when she was the Acting Director of the museum from August through December 1989, following John R. Kinard's death in 1989. There is a small amount of correspondence between Martin-Felton and Barbara Sizemore, Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

James E. Mayo, Supervisory Exhibitions Specialist, and Sharon A. Reinckens, Chief, Department of Design, succeeded Martin-Felton and served as Interim Co-Directors from January 1,1990 to February 28, 1991. Steven Cameron Newsome became the museum's Director on March 1, 1991. Correspondence between the Interim Co-Directors and Martin-Felton concerns, among other issues, the hiring of the new Director, collecting and programming efforts, focusing on local and regional communities, exhibitions on the arts, social urban history and problems, and sharpening the focus of the museum's mission.

There is also correspondence between Martin-Felton and other offices, divisions and bureaus of the Smithsonian. The bulk of the correspondence is from museum visitors seeking information on various subjects, particularly materials on events, families or buildings in the neighborhood in which the museum is located, the Southeast area of the District of Columbia. Some of the correspondence includes commentaries on the museum's exhibitions. Elementary and secondary school teachers wrote to Martin-Felton, either seeking materials on the history of Africa and the African Americans or inviting her to speak to history and social science classes.

Other records pertain to some of the museum education workshops which Zora Martin-Felton organized and carried out at the museum and in the neighborhood schools and other centers of learning. There are copies, notes and reference materials of Martin-Felton's speeches to various civic and academic organizations within the District of Columbia and abroad, including research notes, flyers, pamphlets and brochures pertaining to some of the exhibitions and education programs at the museum. There is a substantial quantity of research notes and a manuscript for "A Different Drummer: John R. Kinard and Anacostia Museum, 1967-1989", a book Martin-Felton coauthored with Gail S. Lowe.

The records are interspersed with information on budget, volunteer, and student and teacher internship programs, and statistical records about public visits to the museum. Included are exhibition scripts; statements and labels; newspaper clippings; exhibition reviews; black and white photographs; color prints; color slides; miscellaneous materials concerning outreach activities; drawings and sketches; copies of some of Kinard's speeches and published works; newspaper and journal articles by and about Kinard; typescripts of Kinard's testimony before the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Government Operations, Subcommittee on Government Activities and Transportation; names and addresses of Martin-Felton's professional contacts; and miscellaneous administrative files.

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Preferred Citation

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 95-050, Anacostia Museum. Education Department, Records

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Container List

Box 1

150th SI Celebration - minutes of meetings, 1994 (2 folders)

Box 1 of 7

1988 Museum Leadership Conference at the University of Delaware. Papers include an unpublished manuscript by John Kinard.

Box 1 of 7

Anacostia Museum (AM) news clippings and brochures, 1960s-1990s (3 folders)

Box 1 of 7

Research correspondence, 1983-1985 (2 folders)

Box 1 of 7

D.C. Public Schools Black Studies Curriculum Proposal developed by the Anacostia Community School Project, August 1969

Box 1 of 7

AM Guest Book, 1980, 1981, 1992

Box 1 of 7

AM staff member Larry Erskine Thomas (1917-1986). Funeral program, biographical information, and black and white photographs of him and his works.

Box 1 of 7

Zora Martin-Felton's appointment books, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1993

Box 1 of 7

Early Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (ANM) correspondence, 1968

Box 1 of 7

Miscellaneous research, exhibition correspondence, and biographical information on African American sculptor Ed Dwight

Box 1 of 7

Barry Gaither's Minority Report on the SI AM Review Panel's findings, 1979

Box 1 of 7

AM Space Requirements Study, 5/31/1988

Box 1 of 7

Southeast Neighborhood House: Thesis by Stephanie Felix, University of Wisconsin-Madison, on "African American Women in Social Welfare and Activism" in Southeast Neighborhood House, 1950-1970

Box 1 of 7

Mrs. Beulah Kinard's funeral program (John Kinard's mother, 1905-1994)

Box 1 of 7

"The Rat: Man's Invited Affliction": calendar of events, exhibition brochure, and partial text, 1970

Box 1 of 7

Former interns, 1984-1992

Box 1 of 7

"Before Freedom Came" supplementary materials

Box 1 of 7

AM Outreach Committee: Strategies and Plans

Box 1 of 7

1992 Senior Staff Meeting Notes

Box 1 of 7

Box 2

General Staff Meetings, 1991-1992

Box 2 of 7

AM Registration Procedures (2 folders)

Box 2 of 7

1992 Exhibits Committee: notes, criteria for exhibit selection, "Alvin Alley" exhibit description, etc.

Box 2 of 7

1992 correspondence and materials connected to A Different Drummer

Box 2 of 7

1992 Education Staff Meetings

Box 2 of 7

Senior Staff Meetings, 1992

Box 2 of 7

1994 education statement

Box 2 of 7

Zora Martin-Felton correspondence: 1990-1994 (3 folders)

Box 2 of 7

Papers by Dr. Barbara Sizemore (former superintendent of D.C. Public Schools), 1970s

Box 2 of 7

AM miscellaneous brochures, memos, and materials, 1960s-1970s

Box 2 of 7

Zora Martin-Felton's talks, articles, awards, and vita

Box 2 of 7

1994 Comments on John Kinard Book

Box 2 of 7

Box 3

Calendars of Events and Brochures, 1968-1976. Also contains a listing of AM exhibits from 1967-1987.

Box 3 of 7

Calendars of Events and Brochures, 1980-1984

Box 3 of 7

Calendars of Events and Brochures, 1984-1990

Box 3 of 7

Calendars of Events and Brochures, 1985 and 1991

Box 3 of 7

Calendars of Events and Brochures, 1988-1990

Box 3 of 7

A Curriculum in Black History for Elementary Schools prepared by Howard University

Box 3 of 7

The Anacostia Community School Project (ACSP) Evaluation prepared by Clark University, 1971

Box 3 of 7

Martin-Felton's Proposal for "Civil Rights" Exhibit (interviews, photographs)

Box 3 of 7

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1989-1990 (2 folders)

Box 3 of 7

Box 4

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1990-1991 (6 folders)

Box 4 of 7

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1987-1989 (5 folders)

Box 4 of 7

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1973-1980

Box 4 of 7

Internship Material, 1985-1990

Box 4 of 7

Intern Final Research Papers, 1986

Box 4 of 7

AM Staff Meeting with Jim Savage, 1977

Box 4 of 7

Summer Science Camp Data, 1990

Box 4 of 7

Box 5

Speeches, Awards, and Biography for Zora Martin-Felton, 1967

Box 5 of 7

Kennedy Center Task Force, 1990

Box 5 of 7

George Washington Carver Nature Trail

Box 5 of 7

Black Washington Sites

Box 5 of 7

"Walk through Anacostia," 1991

Box 5 of 7

AM Survey (visitors), 1990-1991

Box 5 of 7

Pre-tour Materials for Hearing Impaired by Zora Martin-Felton

Box 5 of 7

Internship Information (Education), 1988-1990 (3 folders)

Box 5 of 7

SI General Records Disposition Schedule, 1985

Box 5 of 7

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Triennial Report, 1986-1989

Box 5 of 7

Reference Materials for Understanding the Actual and Potential Audience, 1990

Box 5 of 7

Smithsonian Council Meeting, 1991

Box 5 of 7

Feasibility Study - Off-Mall Museum Shops

Box 5 of 7

"Gathered Visions" Teacher Resource Packet

Box 5 of 7

When Negroes March, by Garfinkel

Box 5 of 7

The Social Politics of FEPC, by Kesselman

Box 5 of 7

New Negro Alliance Yearbook, 1939

Box 5 of 7

Papers on Exhibits (2 folders)

Box 5 of 7

Friends for the Preservation of Afro-American Culture

Box 5 of 7

Box 6

Conservation for the Lay Person

Box 6 of 7

Hannah Harrison Schedule

Box 6 of 7

Updated job sheets

Box 6 of 7

Conservation Seminar, February 18, 1988

Box 6 of 7

Climbing Jacob's Ladder

Box 6 of 7

News articles and printed information

Box 6 of 7

Oral History Project Proposal/Implementation, 1989-1991

Box 6 of 7

25th Anniversary Booklet, 1992

Box 6 of 7

25th Anniversary Exhibition Correspondence, 1992

Box 6 of 7

25th Anniversary Dinner, 1992

Box 6 of 7

John Kinard Reviews

Box 6 of 7

Young Audiences, 1991-1992

Box 6 of 7

Miscellaneous Correspondence

Box 6 of 7

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1991-1992 (3 folders)

Box 6 of 7

Black Mosaic

Box 6 of 7

Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA)

Box 6 of 7

Youth Advisory Council, 1991

Box 6 of 7

African American Museums Association (AAMA) Materials

Box 6 of 7

"To Achieve These Rights," 1991-1992

Box 6 of 7

Cultural Consortium

Box 6 of 7

Program Ideas

Box 6 of 7

Anacostia Curriculum Drafts

Box 6 of 7

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1992

Box 6 of 7

Box 7

Martin-Felton Correspondence, 1991-1992

Box 7 of 7

Accessibility Plan for AM

Box 7 of 7

Southeast House Community Archives

Box 7 of 7

Teaching Guidelines on D.C. Public Schools Competency Based Curriculum, 1982

Box 7 of 7

Minorities in American Life Curriculum, D.C. Public Schools, 1983

Box 7 of 7

Smithsonian Institution Council, 1978-1982

Box 7 of 7

Maryland Public Schools Black History Packet, 1985-1986

Box 7 of 7

D.C. Social Studies Curriculum (Primary and Intermediate Level), 1985

Box 7 of 7

D.C. Science Curriculum (Intermediate Level), 1979

Box 7 of 7

D.C. Science Curriculum (Primary Level), 1979

Box 7 of 7