Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-2009
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Diana Davies photographs, 1963-2009 Stephanie Smith, Joyce Capper, Jillian Foley, and Meaghan McCarthy 2004-2005 Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 600 Maryland Ave SW Washington, D.C. [email protected] https://www.folklife.si.edu/archive/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 3 Biographical/Historical note.............................................................................................. 2 General note.................................................................................................................... 3 Arrangement note............................................................................................................ 3 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 4 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 6 Series 1: Newport Folk Festival, 1964-1992, undated............................................. 6 Series 2: Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1967 - 1987.................................................. 46 Series 3: Broadside Magazine, 1964-1967, undated............................................. 49 Series 4: Sing Out! Magazine Concerts, 1973, undated........................................ 56 Series 5: Miscellaneous Concerts and People, 1963-1997, undated..................... 58 Series 6: Festival of American Folklife, 1969-1972, undated................................. 74 Series 7: Recording Sessions, 1966-1967............................................................. 75 Series 8: Instruction Book Shots, 1968, undated................................................... 76 Series 9: Jazz, Blues and Salsa Musicians, 1973-1995, undated.......................... 78 Series 10: Georgia Sea Islands, 1966-1978, undated........................................... 81 Series 11: Social Justice: Peace Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Poor People's March, United Farm Workers, Women's Rights, 1966-1998, undated................... 86 Series 12: New York City Scenes, 1960s-1970s, undated.................................... 96 Series 13: Miscellaneous Papers and Correspondence, 1987-2009..................... 99 Series 14: Oversize Materials, 1966-1998, undated............................................ 100 Diana Davies photographs CFCH.DAVIE Collection Overview Repository: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections Title: Diana Davies photographs Identifier: CFCH.DAVIE Date: 1963-2009 Creator: Davies, Diana, 1938- (Photographer) Extent: 3.83 Cubic feet (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.) Language: English . Summary: The Diana Davies photographs consist of images taken by Diana Davies at various stages of her career. Locations include the Festival of American Folklife, the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Poor People's Campaign, various peace and protest marches and outdoor performances, New York City, and the Georgia Sea Islands. The collection includes contact sheets, negatives, photographic prints, and slides. Original photographs, negatives, and color slides taken by Diana Davies. Materials date from 1963-2009. Bulk dates: Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1969, 1987, 1992; Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1967-1968, 1987. Administrative Information Acquisition Information 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 and Collections. These two more recent donations of additional photographs (contact sheets, prints, and slides) consisted of documentation 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. 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 provison that her work be credited in any use. Processing Information The records were processed in 2004-2005 by Stephanie Smith, Joyce Capper, Jillian Foley, and Meaghan McCarthy. Encoded by Brittany Dunton, December 2011. Page 1 of 100 Diana Davies photographs CFCH.DAVIE Preferred Citation Diana Davies photographs, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution. Restrictions Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or [email protected] for additional information. 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. Conditions Governing Use Copyright restrictions apply. Please contact the archives staff for further information. Biographical Note 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. 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." Page 2 of 100 Diana Davies photographs CFCH.DAVIE Scope and Contents The Diana Davies photographs, 1963-2009, consist of black and white negatives, contact sheets and prints, as well as color slides and negatives. The bulk of materials depict major festivals and protest movements (including the Poor People's March of 1968) documented by Diana Davies (located in Series 1: Newport Folk Festival, Series 2: Philadelphia Folk Festival, Series 6: Festival of American Folklife, and Series 11: Social Justice). Also well-represented are non-festival performances (in locations such as clubs, concert halls, and homes), recording sessions, and other music-related images, mainly of notable figures in the American folk music revival (located in Series 3: Broadside Magazine, Series