Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1994 Festival of American Folklife
odd: label: Introduction
content: The 1994 Festival featured four programs. In The Bahamas program, Americans could find intriguing connections to a shared history embodied in the traditions of the descendants of Africans, free and enslaved, British Loyalists, Seminoles, and many other immigrants. More than just beautiful sun, sea, and sand, The Bahamas, and especially its Family Islands, are home to a rich diversity of cultural communities and practices. Also on the Mall, yet half a world away, was Thailand, a nation that never acceded to colonial rule and whose ancient traditions are very much alive in contemporary households, temples, and the royal court. Given the growing economic and political importance of Asia and the Pacific Rim, visitors had the opportunity to better understand Thailand's cultural traditions. The program on Culture and Development, a collaborative effort with the Inter-American Foundation, recognized the value of local cultural resources and practitioners and their role in development efforts. A strategy of appropriately utilizing a community's cultural resources often succeeds not only in stimulating economic growth, but also in promoting self-worth and popular participation in civic life. The program on Masters of Traditional Arts paid tribute to National Heritage Fellowship awardees from 17 states representing a broad range of American traditions. The awards, made annually by the National Endowment for the Arts, honor our human national treasures, those exemplary folk artists whose work expresses the history, identity, beliefs, and values of their communities.

These programs were seen by Smithsonian organizers as more than just separate living exhibits. As a whole, they demonstrated convincingly that across the United States and around the world, traditional culture was with us, not just as atomistic survivals, but as part of social fabrics woven by individuals, communities, and nations. The folks at the Festival live contemporary lives. They are just as contemporary as the genetic engineer, cable television network shopper, or government bureaucrat. The traditions they carry are embedded in modern life. Yes, sometimes we find these traditions are on the margins, but most often they are in an ongoing, creative tension with new innovations and technical and social changes. These traditional ways of doing, making, and being are continually, sometimes even daily, reinvented and applied to the circumstances of individual and institutional life. Innovation and tradition are not opposites, but are processually related to how we use our cultural inheritance - whether that be in music or the museum, handicraft or statecraft - to define and shape the future. The dialogue created at the Festival, in which cultural traditions were respectfully presented, discussed, and even passed along, was therefore considered to be vital to our continued civic health.

On the second day of the 1994 Festival, its founder Ralph Rinzler passed away after a long illness. On July 7, 1994, a memorial service was organized by Ralph's friends and associates (see the recordings in the Masters of Traditional Arts program). Clydia and Reeves Nahwooksy provided a Comanche Baptist invocation. Mile Seeger, Guy Carawan, and Bill Monroe played and sang. Bernice Reagon sang, as did the Bahamians. Bess Hawes, Jeffrey LaRiche, Ann Romano, and James Early spoke of his legacy. Memorial messages were read from Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, Henry Glassie, Roger Abrahams, Rajeev Sethi, and others. Lucille Dawson spoke about the profound effects the Festival's Native American programs had had on Indian education and civil rights, and Mike Thomas spoke for the Smithsonian custodians who always found in Ralph a friend and supporter. Other impromptu memorials were conducted by the Bahamian and Thai participants.

The 1994 Festival took place during two four-day weeks (July 1-4 and July 7-10) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 12th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History (see site plan). 

The 1994 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; essays provided background on the Festival and each of the four programs.

The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies.

Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies

Richard Kurin, Director; Diana Parker, Festival Director; Anthony Seeger, Director, Smithsonian/Folkways Recordngs; Peter Seitel, Senior Folklorist; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist; Richard Kennedy, Program Analyst; Carla Borden, John Franklin, Program Managers; Olivia Cadaval, Amy Horowitz, Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Folklorists/Curators; Betty Belanus, Education Specialist; Arlene L. Reiniger, Program Specialist; Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Kenneth M. Bilby, Roland Freeman, Ivan Karp, Alan Lomax, Worth Long, Research Collaborators

Folklife Advisory Council

Roger Abrahams, Jacinto Arias, Jane Beck, Pat Jasper, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Bernice Reagon, John Roberts, Carol Robertson, Gilbert Sprauve, Jack Tchen, Ricardo Trimillos, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez

National Park Service

Roger Kennedy, Director; Robert G. Stanton, Regional Director, National Capital Region
label: Shared Stewardship of Collections
content: The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
name: label: Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
label: Names
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival
place: label: Place
content: Caribbean Area
label: Place
content: Latin America
topic: label: Topic
content: World music
label: Topic
content: Folklore
label: Topic
content: Food habits
label: Topic
content: Folk art
label: Topic
content: Folk festivals
label: Topic
content: arts and crafts
label: Topic
content: Folk music
creator: label: Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1994 Festival of American Folklife
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
bioghist: label: Historical note
content: The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. 

The 1994 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies and cosponsored by the National Park Service.

For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (approximate)
phystech: label: Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note
content: The Rinzler Archives is continually engaged in digitization of archival materials to facilitate preservation and ready access by users. However, given the diversity of legacy formats of the originals, some older materials may not be available. Notably, certain older audio recordings cannot be played because of deterioration of the tape stock, and the Archives has no playback equipment for EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) or multi-track audio recordings. Where listening or viewing copies are available, this is generally indicated for each item. Users are encouraged to contact Archives staff to verify that the materials of interest to them are already accessible, or to determine if they can be digitized as needed.
unitdate: label: Date
content: July 1-10, 1994
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1994
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Digital images
label: Type
content: Audiocassettes
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Plans (drawings)
label: Type
content: Memorandums
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Negatives
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Videotapes
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Arranged in 5 series.

Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera

Series 2: The Commonwealth of The Bahamas

Series 3: Culture and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Series 4: Masters of Traditional Arts: The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows

Series 5: Thailand: Household, Temple Fair & Court
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Digital images
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiocassettes
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Contracts
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
label: Genre/Form
content: Plans (drawings)
label: Genre/Form
content: Memorandums
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records
label: Genre/Form
content: Negatives
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Videotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs)
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1994 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
relatedmaterial: label: Forms Part Of
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1994 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers

1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
label: Related Archival Materials note
content: Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.