Archives Center Displays

The Archives Center's display cases, located on both sides of the Archives Center's entrance, contain rotating exhibits focusing on Archives Center collections. Recent displays have featured St. Valentine's Day cards from the collection; material on the Virgil Whyte "All-Girl Band," that coincided with the Museum's observance of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II; black and white photographs by Addison N. Scurlock, Jan W. Faul, Maria von Matthiessen and Gordon R. Smith; and stereographic photographs from the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.

Watkins Glen, New York, early 1900s

Documentary Photograph Exhibits

WOMEN OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIA: SERVING HOME AND COMMUNITY was an exhibition of sixty-five photographs by Barbara Beirne on display in the Documentary Photography Gallery of the National Museum of American History from March 1 through October 26, 1997.  The photographs currently are on exhibition with Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services.

This display of black-and-white silver gelatin prints features environmental portraits made in the Appalachian region from 1992 to 1996. "The subjects are tough survivors, between the ages of 50 and 96, who have coped with difficult lives and economic hardships to support and care for their families," according to David Haberstich, the Archives Center's Head of Photographic Collections. Haberstich served as curator for the exhibition.

"I have photographed in Appalachia since 1992 and have explored the dramatic change in women's roles over time. Appalachian women's significant contributions to home and community, performed with grace and dignity, have been remarkable," said Ms. Beirne. Her subjects include women who have survived economic deprivation and devastating personal tragedies, as well as community activists and service providers, such as a pediatrician, a police captain, and teachers. Beirne's brilliant, richly detailed photographs are accompanied by quotations drawn from interviews during which these women tell their sometimes grim but inspiring stories. The portraits and statements are complemented by a selection of Ms. Beirne's photographs of the Appalachian landscape and towns.

Ms. Beirne, who received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute is an accomplished photographer whose work has appeared in a number of books and exhibitions. An earlier portfolio of her work is in the permanent collection of the Archives Center.

The Archives Center expresses its thanks to the women depicted in the exhibition for allowing their portraits to be displayed. A checklist of the exhibition is available from the Archives Center.

Helen Powell, Glen Jean, West Virginia, 1996
Copyright Barbara Beirne, 1996

My daddy and two brothers spent over one hundred years underground in the mines. When my daddy got hurt, I worked to get him his compensation and pension. Later I lobbied to get the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act passed, and then a group of us helped found the Black Lung Association. Black lung wasn't acknowledged as a miner's disease until the late 1960s. Miners were dying, but they were told they had hasty consumption.  (Helen Powell)

Verna Mae Slone, Pippa Passes, Kentucky, 1993
Copyright Barbara Beirne, 1993

Many lies and half-truths have been written about the mountain people, but we know God sent his very strongest men and women here who could enjoy life and search out the few pleasures contained in a life of hard work. I wrote my book, "What My Heart Wants to Know," because I wanted my granchildren to be proud of their heritage. Now, surprisingly, my book is in its fifth printing.  (Verna Mae Slone)

The Ethnic Imagery Project

The Ethnic Imagery Project is a research effort that involves surveying the Archives Center ephemera and advertising collections for examples of how mainstream American businesses have portrayed ethnicity and distinctive ethnic groups visually over the last hundred and fifty years (click here to view an example from the Warshaw Collection, Tobacco Trade and Industry Series, box 15). Also included are collections in the Division of Cultural History in the National Museum of American History. To date, the collections surveyed include: the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (click here to view another example for the Tobacco Trade and Industry Series, box 16), the Victor Blenkle Postcard Collection, the Susie Paige African-American Greeting Card Collection, the Hoffman-Boaz African-American Postcard Collection, the Hills Bros., Inc. Collection, the Product Cookbook Collection, the Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, and significant parts of the Norcross Greeting Card Collection. The project is also studying the Archives Center's Movie Poster Collection.

At present, about 5,000 captioned slides are available, organized by collection. The images are cataloged with the following information: date, if known; company name; collection name and location; type of ephemera (i.e., sheet music, greeting card); and keywords for a visual subject. A more thorough cataloging of images is currently underway involving more detailed information about type of ethnic imagery. A smaller interim database is available focusing on Latino images. The slides are currently available in notebooks in the Archives Center. Cataloging data sheets are also available in notebooks. Planning is underway to make this database available on-line.

The Princeton Poster Collection Research Database Project

The Princeton Poster Collection contains approximately 10,000 World War I and II posters and other materials, donated by the Princeton University Library to the Smithsonian in 1963 and 1967. About 40% of the posters originated in the United States, and about 60% originated in other countries, mostly Western Europe. The World War I posters are for the most part American, with a smaller number from France, Great Britain, and Germany. Only about 10% date from between World Wars I and II; most of these are from the United States, with a smattering from France, Great Britain and Germany. Of the World War II posters, more than 85% are British, with a much smaller number from the United States and Canada. 

The purpose of the database project is to catalog information about the posters in the form of a searchable database.  Although all of the posters have been cataloged, information on only approximately 2,500 is contained in the database.  Information contained in the database includes: country in which the poster was issued; issuing organization; date; purpose; title; and other information about the language, printing, and artist.

Notebooks containing cataloging information are currently available in the Archives Center. Access to the computerized database is available through SIRIS (Smithsonian Institution Research Information System) or through the Archives Center's World Wide Web site.  Plans are underway to add more entries to this database beginning in February 2000.

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, Videodisc Project

The Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection contains nearly 28,000 photographic negatives and inter-positives on glass, which were used primarily to print "three-dimensional" stereographs for educational use and home entertainment from about 1895-1921. The stereographs, produced and distributed by Underwood & Underwood and other firms, were sold both individually and in boxed sets, usually intended to simulate travel in the United States and around the world. A typical stereograph "tour" would document the landscape, architecture, and people of a region or country. This collection contains a portion of Underwood & Underwood's files; additional glass plates from the company's stereoscopic files are in the Keystone-Mast Collection at the California Museum of Photography, Riverside.

Because the glass plates in the Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection are fragile and difficult to use, a videodisc containing all the images was produced to provide swift, secondary access to the images, all of which are shown as positives. The project included a searchable database linked to the videodisc, which permits keyword access through titles, subject descriptors, geographical names, etc.  The videodisc is available in the Archives Center, and the database has been loaded into the Smithsonian's online SIRIS catalog.  The videodisc's analog images have been digitized and linked to the SIRIS records.  These records and linked images can be viewed in SIRIS.

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