5

NEW

Additions

to the

NATIONAL

COLLECTIONS
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From top:

Community History Collection/Anacostia Community Museum

Anacostia Community Museum is pleased to announce the donation of the Dale-Patterson Collection to 

the museum’s permanent collection. The collection of neighborhood and family history materials were 

recently donated by Mrs. Diane Dale, a teacher and community historian with long ties to many families, 

religious congregations, and social and community organizations in the area. 

The initial donation is comprised of two binders containing approximately 100 photographs, 50 

ephemeral materials, letters, and other items. Most photographs have positive identification; all have 

extensive contextual information based on a neighborhood history book, The Village that Shaped Us, 

authored by Dale. The book is a history of Anacostia and the surrounding neighborhoods during the 

middle to late 20th century. This donation is the first of several planned gifts, as Mrs. Dale has offered 

the museum a larger collection of historic materials related to Anacostia and neighborhoods east of the 

Anacostia River. Consisting of somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 linear feet of manuscripts, 

pamphlets, correspondence, photographs, and audio tapes with transcripts, the collection includes the 

remaining papers of Charles Qualls, community activist and business leader; the records of the 

Anacostia Coordinating Council from the late 1950s to the early 1970s; records of the Hillsdale Civic 

Association, the Garfield Civic Association, and the Barry Farm Civic Association; and the personal and 

family papers of Mrs. Dale. Mrs. Dale has arranged the entire collection in approximately 22 binders and 

boxes. She has also agreed to assist museum staff with arranging and describing the collection as part of 

cataloguing efforts. 

Gabrielle Douglas Artifacts/National Museum of African American History and

Culture

The field of sports is a powerful lens on American democracy. Despite the odds that they faced, African

American athletes such as Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali have used sports both to achieve success

and to carry the hopes of many African Americans. Like Robinson and Ali, Olympic gymnast Gabrielle

“Gabby” Douglas is an inspiration to young people around the world. In the 2012 London Olympics,

sixteen-year-old Douglas, known for her signature uneven bar routines, became the first African

American woman to win gold in the individual all-around gymnastics competition. She also became the

first U.S. gymnast to receive both the individual all-around gold and team gold medals in a single

Olympic Game. Douglas and her family donated personal artifacts associated with her career, including

family photographs; the leotard she wore during her first competitive seasons in 2003 and 2004; the

grip bag, wrist tape, and uneven bar grips she used at the 2012 Olympics; the ticket to the Olympics

used by Douglas’ mother, Natalie Hawkins; the all-access credential used by Douglas to gain admittance

to Olympic venues; and an autographed copy of her 2012 book Grace, Gold & Glory: My Leap of Faith. 

To celebrate African American History Month, these artifacts were showcased in a February 2013 display

in front of the National Museum of African American History and Culture gallery at the National

Museum of American History. They will be incorporated into the museum’s inaugural exhibition Sports

when the museum opens in 2015.
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Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Collection/National Air and Space Museum

Yale University Library has donated a collection of flight and personal clothing and artifacts circa 1927–

1945 that belonged to Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, as well as members of their family. 

Originally housed in the Lindbergh home in Darien, Connecticut, the wide variety of objects includes

Charles Lindbergh’s World War II military clothing and memorabilia; Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Smith

College mortarboard, gown, and hoods (and the gown of her mother, Elizabeth Morrow); civilian flying

clothing; “country” clothes; and photographic, drafting, and aeronautical equipment. More eclectic

artifacts include Chinese embroidery, Turkish textiles, and an evening gown and dresses worn by

Charles’s mother, Evangeline Land Lindbergh. This collection complements an extant collection of

aircraft and artifacts of the Lindberghs’ famous flights and the Stanley King Collection of Lindbergh

memorabilia.

Rainbow Serpent/National Museum of African Art

The National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) recently purchased Rainbow Serpent, a spectacular work

of art by contemporary artist Romuald Hazoumè, who resides in Benin. The artist fashioned a

monumental, predatory creature—the rainbow serpent—out of recycled jerry cans that are typically

used to carry gasoline. The work addresses the exploitation of human and natural resources and how

this affects communities around the world and over time, including the horrors of the transatlantic slave

trade centuries ago and its economic equivalents today. In addition, the circular image of the rainbow

serpent swallowing its tail is a powerful symbol among Fon and Yoruba peoples in Benin and Nigeria,

where it refers to spiritual forces and positive ideas about fertility, prosperity, and the eternal cycle of

life. This artwork was on loan to the museum for its successful 2012 exhibition African Cosmos: Stellar

Arts, which is now on view at the Newark Museum through August 11, 2013. It is no exaggeration to say

that Rainbow Serpent has been the sensation at both venues of this popular exhibition. The artwork

captured the hearts of every member of the museum’s staff and docent corps, as well as been featured

prominently by the press in their positive reviews of the exhibition. 

Ethnographic Collection from Ulthi Atoll/National Museum of Natural History

The National Museum of Natural History has acquired 60 ethnographic and archival artifacts collected

by Francis B. Wilson on the islet of Fassarai, Ulthi Atoll, between January 1945 and May 1946. Mr.

Wilson served as a medical assistant to Dr. Marshall Paul Wees, who was dubbed “the King Doctor of

Ulithi”; both were placed on the island by the U.S. Navy to attend to the health needs of the Ulithians. 

Objects include baskety purses and boxes, mats, carved wooden figures, hair brushes, a suede

drawstring bag containing cowrie shells, and a basketry fan. Associated documentation of the collection

is included in Francis Wilson’s diary, a photographic scrapbook, and Dr. Wees’s publication “King Doctor

of Ulithi.” Archival materials include the diary and scrapbook, nine rolls of 35mm negatives, letters from

Francis Wilson, and a handwritten Fassarain-English dictionary compiled by Wilson. The archival

materials will be deposited in the National Anthropological Archives (NAA). The collection provides

insight into the material culture of Ulithians at the middle of the 20th century, and is notable for its

extensive and thorough degree of documentation.