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 888 items.
Page 5 of 89
Rosario
- Description
- This string rosary, made from a local plant fiber, has knots instead of beads to represent the prayer cycle. Rosaries are strings of beads used by Catholics to repeat prayers such as the Hail Mary and the Our Father. Rosaries in the Vidal collection are made from a wide variety of materials such as silver, gold, horn, seed, wood, and coral.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1088.013
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1088.013
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Puyero de Güiro
- Description
- Known as a puyero or raspador, the pick or scraper used to play the güiro makes rhythmic patterns with combinations of downstrokes and upstrokes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1093
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1093
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Güiro Pick
- Description
- This güiro pick is in the shape of a cuatro, the national string instrument of Puerto Rico. Both the güiro and cuatro feature prominently in the instrumentation of traditional Puerto Rican genres like the seis and plena.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1094
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1094
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pandereta
- Description
- This large, hand-held drum, known in Puerto Rico as a pandereta, is an essential instrument in the musical genre known as plena. The plena was developed by agricultural workers at the end of the 19th century on the southern coast of the island, around the city of Ponce. Considered a national musical genre throughout the 20th century, the plena may have originally reflected musical traditions brought to Puerto Rico by immigrants from other Caribbean islands.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1095
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1095
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Puyero de Güiro
- Description
- In Puerto Rico, the güiro provides an essential rhythmic element in genres as distinct as the street-oriented plena, and the salon-oriented danza. This unusual güiro pick is in the shape of a human head.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1097
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1097
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Maracas
- Description
- This variety of maracas, made of cow leather and sinew, is used in musical genres like guaracha, son, and salsa. They are of different sizes, so that one is pitched higher and the other, lower. In contrast, the Afro-Puerto Rican musical tradition known as bomba uses a larger, single maraca in its performances.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 20th century
- maker
- Ramos, Ismael
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1098
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Barril de Bomba
- Description
- This is a miniature version of the barril de bomba, the kind of drum used in performances of the Afro-Puerto Rican musical tradition known as bomba. While bomba can be used as the generic name for a number of rhythms, its real meaning is about the encounter and creative relationship between dancers, percussionists, and singers. Bomba is a community affair that still thrives in its traditional centers of Loíza, Santurce, Mayagüez, Ponce, and New York City.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- early 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1100
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1100
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Carnival Mask
- Description
- Carnival celebrations featuring performers dressed as devils are found across Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America. The presence of these characters during Carnival is understood by many as an ancient reference to the contest between good and evil. This devilish mask shows the characteristic style of its maker, Leonardo Pagán. Born in 1929, Pagán was the student of a renowned mask maker, Juan Careta, who worked from the 1890s until the 1950s. After his mentor's death, Pagán masks became highly prized. Pagán died in 2000.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1997-04
- maker
- Pagan, Leonardo
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1215
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1215
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sampler
- Description
- Into the 20th century, many considered sewing an integral part of the education of all young girls, who used needlework samplers like this one to learn and master patterns and stitches. Needlework and the skilled handling of a sewing machine helped many women to support their families. Clara Rivera sewed this sampler in the city of Ponce in 1934, combining text with geometric and floral designs.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1934
- maker
- Rivera, Clara
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1227.009
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1227.009
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cuban Rumba Dress
- Description
- This is a Bata Cubana, or Cuban Rumba dress, donated to the Smithsonian by Celia Cruz, the great Cuban salsa singer in 1997. An adaptation of the traditional Cuban rumba dress, it was made in the United States by Cuban-born designer José Arteaga. The Bata Cubana has its roots in the 19th century, with origins as diverse as the multicultural makeup of the people of Cuba. It brings together influences from Spanish, French, and African culture and dress, combining theater, fiesta, and the spectacle of carnival with slave and gypsy dress. The Bata Cubana is a garment worn for performance on stage or cabaret. Celia Cruz's Bata Cubana is made of orange polyester satin, trimmed with white nylon eyelet along ruffle-edges and eyelet beading along seams with inserted orange ribbon. The Bata Cubana was Celia's preferred performance costume.
- Date made
- ca 1992
- date made
- 1973-1987
- designer
- Arteaga, Enrique
- ID Number
- 1997.0291.01
- accession number
- 1997.0291
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Next Page