Cultures & Communities - Overview

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.
"Cultures & Communities - Overview" showing 3 items.
Johnson Mountain Boys
- Description
- The Johnson Mountain Boys was a traditional bluegrass band formed in the Washington, D.C. suburbs in the 1970s. Its members were vocalist, banjoist, and guitarist Dudley Connell, David McLauglin, fiddler Eddie Stubbs, and bassist Larry Robbins. Connell worked for Smithsonian Folkways for a time and Stubbs went on to host the Grand Ole Opry.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1981
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.030
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.030
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
EmmyLou Harris
- Description
- Working on assignment, Henry Horenstein photographed EmmyLou Harris (b. 1947) at her home. In the 1970s, Harris represented the generation of musicians who were influenced by traditional country, rock, and folk music. Over the years, Harris has had a profound impact on contemporary popular and country music.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1980
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.034
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.034
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Kitty Wells
- Description
- The "Queen of Country Music," Kitty Wells, (Ellen Muriel Deason, b. 1918) emerged in 1952 as the first female country vocalist to win and sustain major stardom. Her release, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,"--a lyrical response to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life"--was a hit. Wells and her husband, Johnny Wright, continued to work a full schedule well into the 1990s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1983
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.073
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.073
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

