Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid
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Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid Collection summary Prepared by Stephanie Smith, Joyce Capper, Jillian Foley, and Meaghan McCarthy 2004-2005. Creator: Diana Davies Title: The Diana Davies Photograph Collection Extent: 8 binders containing contact sheets, slides, and prints; 7 boxes (8.5”x10.75”x2.5”) of 35 mm negatives; 2 binders of 35 mm and 120 format negatives; and 1 box of 11 oversize prints. Abstract: Original photographs, negatives, and color slides taken by Diana Davies. Date span: 1963-present. Bulk dates: Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1969, 1987, 1992; Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1967-1968, 1987. Provenance The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired portions of the Diana Davies Photograph Collection in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Ms. Davies photographed for the Festival of American Folklife. More materials came to the Archives circa 1989 or 1990. Archivist Stephanie Smith visited her in 1998 and 2004, and brought back additional materials which Ms. Davies wanted to donate to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives. In a letter dated 12 March 2002, Ms. Davies gave full discretion to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to grant permission for both internal and external use of her photographs, with the proviso that her work be credited “photo by Diana Davies.” Restrictions Permission for the duplication or publication of items in the Diana Davies Photograph Collection must be obtained from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Consult the archivists for further information. Scope and Content Note The Davies photographs already held by the Rinzler Archives have been supplemented by two more recent donations (1998 and 2004) of additional photographs (contact sheets, prints, and slides) of the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Poor People's March on Washington, the Civil Rights Movement, the Georgia Sea Islands, and miscellaneous personalities of the American folk revival. Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid Page 1 of 38 Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution Biographical Note Photo of Diana Davies by Stephanie Smith, April, 2004. Diana Davies is a well-known photographer of folk performers and festivals. Davies photographed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in its earlier years. Born in 1938, Davies grew up in Maine, the Catskills, New York City, and Boston. Her grandparents were local union organizers and Debs socialists; one grandfather was a gandy dancer with the railroad, and her grandmother was a textile worker in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. Davies finds that her family background was later expressed in her own activist efforts. Davies left high school at 16, and worked sweeping out coffeehouses, which gave her the opportunity to listen to music while she worked. She became interested in theater and music. In Greenwich Village, she began doing some sound technician work, and then got interested in photography. She taught herself how to develop and print photographs in a darkroom, and began photographing in theaters, shooting from behind the scenes. Her theater photos are at Smith College in Northampton, where she presently lives. In the early 1960s, she began working with the editors of Broadside Magazine, Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen. She developed an interest in human rights work, which grew from her contact with Sis and Gordon, and also her own family background. She also worked as a photographer in a wide range of settings, including night clubs, weddings, and doing portrait photography. This led her to work for major national and international media including the New York Times, covering such events as the war in Biafra, and traveling to Mexico, Cuba, and Portugal on assignment. Davies' folk photographs represent about one-quarter of her body of work; her other major photographic work includes the Civil Rights Movement, the Peace Movement, and theater. Davies began photographing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, which she covered for a number of years. She knew Ralph Rinzler, and found him a vibrant, alive person excited by all aspects of culture. He introduced her to Bessie Jones from the Georgia Sea Islands, and in 1966 she made a photographic journey to the islands. Her work from this trip is included in the collection. Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid Page 2 of 38 Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution Davies has also been a musician. She became involved with the punk rock movement of the 1970s, and felt that there was a connection between the hard-hitting songs from the punk world and the songs being published in Broadside Magazine. In 1975, she became part of a folk/punk women’s band in Boston, and later moved to Western Massachusetts. In addition to being a photographer and musician, Davies is also a writer. She wrote a play entitled “The Witch Papers” in 1980, which was produced in Boston and other locations. The play was a vehicle for her human rights activism, comparing the technology of inquisition with labor sweatshops. In 1998, her play “The War Machine” was produced in Amherst, Mass. She lives in Northampton, and enjoys and participates in street performance, which she describes as the “most essentially communicative stuff you can come up with.” Processing Notes and Arrangement Each item in the Diana Davies Photograph Collection has been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been put together such as the Newport Folk Festival photographs. Materials in the two recent donations (1998 and 2004) was numbered and absorbed into the collection. In some series, the accession numbers are in numerical order, and in others, the numbers are random because like items with different number sequences were pulled together in a series for subject coherence. The best way to find occurrences of a particular subject is to use the PDF search function. Please consult the archivists if you have any questions about the collection contents. Collection Index Series I Newport Folk Festival Series II Philadelphia Folk Festival Series III Broadside Magazine Series IV Sing Out! Magazine concerts Series V Miscellaneous concerts and people Series VI Festival of American Folklife Series VII Recording Sessions Series VIII Instruction Book Shots Series IX Jazz, Blues, and Salsa Musicians Series X Georgia Sea Islands Series XI Social Justice: Civil Rights Movement, Peace Movement, Poor People’s March, United Farm Workers, Women's Rights Series XII New York City Scenes Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid Page 3 of 38 Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution Series I: Newport Folk Festival 1964 [finding aid index] FP-DAVI-COSL-0471-1 Newport Folk Festival 1964: Gaither Carlton and Doc Watson FP-DAVI-COSL-0471-2 Newport Folk Festival 1964: The Stanley Brothers FP-DAVI-BWNE-0472 Newport Folk Festival 1964: Bessie Jones, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and Hobart Smith (120 mm) FP-DAVI-BWNE-0473 Newport Folk Festival 1964: Bessie Jones, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and Hobart Smith (120 mm) FP-DAVI-BWNE-0474 Newport Folk Festival 1964 (?): Hedy West, others not identified FP-DAVI-BWNE-0475 Newport Folk Festival 1964 (?): Mark Roth, Mimi and Richard Fariña FP-DAVI-CONE-0476 Newport Folk Festival, n.d., probably mid-1960s: someone shooting 16 mm film at the Festival under an umbrella 1965 [finding aid index] FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-1 Newport Folk Festival 1965: John Koerner FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-2 Newport Folk Festival 1965: The Pennywhistlers FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-3 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mark Spoelstra FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-4 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Hedy West FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-5 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Audience shot FP-DAVI-BWNE-0150 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mark Spoelstra, Hamilton Camp, John Koerner, Tony Glover, Bess Hawes, New Lost City Ramblers FP-DAVI-BWPR-0150-14 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Hamilton Camp FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Paul Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield, Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151-33 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan; creator caption: Bob Dylan goes electric FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151A Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-11 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan (2 copies available) FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-13 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-14 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-22A Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan (3 copies available) FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151B Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151C Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151D Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151D-21 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan (oversize: 9 7/16” x 13 7/16”) FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151E Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan, Peter Yarrow, Mary Travers, Pat Sky, and Donovan FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151F Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan FP-DAVI-BWNE-0152 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Paul Butterfield Blues Band FP-DAVI-BWNE-0153 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Paul Butterfield Blues Band FP-DAVI-BWNE-0154 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid Page 4 of 38 Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution FP-DAVI-BWPR-0154-33 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House (high quality photocopy) FP-DAVI-BWPR-0154-36 Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House (high quality photocopy) FP-DAVI-BWPR-0154-36A Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House (high quality photocopy) FP-DAVI-BWNE-0155 Newport Folk