Sheila Cogan describes life growing up during segregation in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Schooling and white flight are described from the perspective of a Jewish "tween."
Guests comment about their visit to the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum via the Shuttle Anacostia, the free round trip transportation service from the National Mall to the museum. It's available until Labor Day Monday. Get on board! Visit anacostia.si.edu/shuttle for schedule and more info.
Sperryville Documentation Project: James D. Russell Interview, Part 1
Creator:
Anacostia Community Museum
Type:
Youtube videos
Uploaded:
2013-08-09T19:03:42.000Z
Video Title:
Sperryville Documentation Project: James D. Russell Interview, Part 1
Description:
James D. Russell's Sperryville Documentation Project is an audiovisual collection produced and housed by the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum Archives documenting the Sperryville, VA community. It contains video interviews with Russell about his books and other work that he undertook to preserve the history of the community, his family, and particularly his great grandmother Sister Caroline Terry, who was born into slavery in Rappahannock County, VA. For more information on this collection, see the catalog record: http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=sperryville&image.x=-783&image.y=-229.
29th Annual Martin Luther King jr. Program featuring Kayla Rosemond
Creator:
Anacostia Community Museum
Type:
Youtube videos
Uploaded:
2014-02-24T17:51:45.000Z
Video Title:
29th Annual Martin Luther King jr. Program featuring Kayla Rosemond
Description:
Miss Kayla Rosemond, a bright and talented 12-year old former student of the ACM's Museum Academy Program, who attends Hart Middle School in southeast Washington. Kayla wrote an original poem specifically for the program, "Mandela, A Courageous Soul," for which she received a standing ovation. Anacostia Community Museum's 29th Annual Martin Luther King jr. Program celebrating the legacies of MLK jr. and Nelson Mandela.
In the wake of the sudden loss of Chuck Brown, a touching day of tribute was held celebrating his life and music during "Citified: Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River," the Anacostia Community Museum program featured at the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The final segment of a three- part museum project examining community and creativity, "Citified" showcased the various forms of artistic expression shown in the community including traditional and non-traditional art forms such as tattoo art, hand dancing, mural painting, found object sculpture and, of course, Go-Go music. This video documents the event paying homage to the "Godfather of Go-Go" with interviews of key artist protégés and promoters of the distinctly southeast DC music form.
FoxDC story about the ACM Cultural Diversity Festival on 9-11-15 featuring Fox personalities Tucker Barnes and Erin Como interviewing museum education director Paul Perry and fest performers Civil War Black Union Soldier re-enactor Mel Reid and Pan Lara Youth Steel Orchestra (Trinidad).
Patent Model for Multiple Effect Vacuum Evaporator
Creator:
Rillieux, Norbert, 1806-1894
Medium:
tin, wood, paint, and red cloth ribbon
Type:
Model
Date:
August 25, 1843
Description:
Norbert Rillieux (1806-1894), a free black man, invented the first successful multiple effect vacuum process for producing sugar. Born and raised in New Orleans, Rillieux was sent by his wealthy parents to engineering school in Paris. Young Rillieux was an outstanding student and after graduating from L'Ecole Centrale, taught at the school. Rillieux soon became interested in the processes of thermal dynamics and steam power. By 1830 he was already experimenting with a multiple effect vacuum evaporator. He returned to New Orleans from France and developed a vacuum evaporator specifically designed for processing sugar from sugar cane.
It took him several years to convince local planters to try it. A first effort at the plantation of Zenon Ramon in 1834 never got off the ground, but in 1843 Rillieux installed his system on the "Myrtle Grove" plantation owned by Theodore Packwood. By 1844 the widely known manufacturers Merrick & Towne in Philadelphia were offering planters a selection of three different vacuum evaporator systems. Planters were able to select systems capable of producing 6000, 12,000, or 18,000 pounds of sugar per day. In 1846 Rillieux was able to convince several planters to install them on the sugar factories on their plantations. The vacuum evaporators proved so efficient that planters were able to cover the costs of the new equipment with the expanded profits from the sugar cane processed under Rillieux's system. Promotional testimonials included those from planters Judah P. Benjamin and Theodore Packwood.
This patent model shows two vacuum containers or pans. In practice three or even four could be used with Rillieux's system. Today multiple effect vacuum evaporation is used in processing food products and other industrial products.
Finely wrought and full of information, patent models are educational and fun to collect, but hard to find. The first U.S. patent law passed in 1790 required that each inventor submit a detailed model of the invention along with the patent drawing and application. In the late 1800s a series of patent laws eliminated the models. But even before that time two major fires in the Patent Office (1836 and 1877) destroyed almost a hundred thousand of the models. This Rilliuex model is one that survived.
The item was donated by Bert Vorchheimer and Carol Wertheimer Vorchheimer in 1993.
The Panasonic reel-to-reel tape recorder and player represents another step on the evolution of personal sound recording technology. As oxidized magnetic tape replaced steel wire as the optimal means of achieving accurate sound reproduction, and as the home market expanded for personal, portable audio electronics equipment, companies like Panasonic created devices for personal consumer use. The RQ-705 was introduced around 1967, and was produced until about 1969, so it must be assumed that Dr. Turner acquired this machine during that period.
The RQ-705 operates with a vacuum tube amplifier, and can be used as a PA system as well as a tape recorder and player. It is not known if Dr. Turner ever used this machine for anything other than recording and playing tapes in the course of his linguistics studies. The RQ-705 is a two-speed recorder, meaning it records sound at both 7 ½" per second and 3 ¾" per second.
The RQ-705 was considered the apex of Panasonic's consumer products line for reel-to-reel machines, as well as its workhorse model during the run of its manufacture. The RQ-705 utilized technology that built upon previous versions of Panasonic recorders, as well as other companies' research and innovation.
Ebony Bust/Head with half moon etched design on base
Medium:
ebony, ivory
Type:
Bust/Head
Description:
This carved bust of ebony wood uses bits of ivory to represent the subject's eyes. It was photographed and featured in a 1952 interview with Turner in the Chicago Daily Tribune (Latin American Music Traced to Origin-Africa: Professor Describes the Year's Research; Gladys Priddy, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 1, 1952, part 5 page 10W.) The sculpture was created by Yoruba craftsmen in Nigeria.
This carved bust of ebony wood uses bits of ivory to represent the subject's eyes. It was photographed and featured in a 1952 interview with Turner in the Chicago Daily Tribune (Latin American Music Traced to Origin-Africa: Professor Describes the Year's Research; Gladys Priddy, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 1, 1952, part 5 page 10W.) The sculpture was created by Yoruba craftsmen in Nigeria.
This feather fan might be considered both decorative and functional, as its intricate handiwork in no way interferes with its innate functionality. In addition, it possibly could have served as a symbol denoting the bearer's status within the community, as it could be carried as a token of rank or standing.
As a functional object it could be waved to provide a cooling breeze; it may also be used to ward off flying insects. It could be decoration for the home, or a portable accoutrement to an outfit of clothing. It could be carried as a personal talisman or an indicator or rank or standing.
Decorative and design elements of its construction seem to indicate an origin in Africa, which is where Dr. Turner likely acquired it during his studies there in 1951-1952.
This bible, containing Dr. Turner's mother's name inscribed twice upon the title page, was published by the American Bible Society in New York in 1901. Founded in 1816, the American Bible Society continues to this day in its mission to make bibles available to everyone, in formats that are affordable and understandable.
It is not known when or how Elizabeth Turner came into possession of this volume
Not much can be determined as to the origin of this red leather whip, nor as to when or how Dr. Turner acquired it. It seems likely that it is Nigerian, and therefore that Turner would have acquired it during his travels in West Africa in 1951-52. Numerous religious celebrations in Yoruban culture employ the use of ceremonial whips, in particular festivities that honor the orisha Shango. Veneration of this deity survived the Middle Passage of the colonial slave trade intact, and provided the basis for orisha initiation in the West.
Not much can be determined as to the origin of this black leather whip, nor as to when or how Dr. Turner acquired it. It seems likely that it is Nigerian, and therefore that Turner would have acquired it during his travels in West Africa in 1951-52. Numerous religious celebrations in Yoruban culture employ the use of ceremonial whips, in particular festivities that honor the orisha Shango. Veneration of this deity survived the Middle Passage of the colonial slave trade intact, and provided the basis for orisha initiation in the West.
