Diana Davies photographs, 1963-2004
date: label: Date
content: 1963
label: Date
content: 1963-2004
name: label: photographer
content: Davies, Diana 1938-
label: performer
content: Rinzler, Ralph
label: performer
content: Koerner, John
label: musician
content: Bosco, John
label: performer
content: Chandler, Len
label: performer
content: Reagon, Bernice Johnson 1942-
label: performer
content: Kershaw, Doug
label: performer
content: Cameron, John A.
label: performer
content: Proffitt, Frank Jr. 1946-2005
label: performer
content: Traum, Happy
label: performer
content: Raim, Ethel
label: performer
content: Kennedy, Norman 1934-
label: performer
content: Traum, Artie
label: performer
content: Mitchell, Joni
label: performer
content: Watson, Doc
label: performer
content: Watson, Merle
label: performer
content: Kirkpatrick, Frederick Douglass
label: performer
content: Sykes, Roosevelt 1906-1983
label: performer
content: Rachell, Yank
label: performer
content: Sainte-Marie, Buffy
label: performer
content: Waters, Muddy 1915-1983
label: performer
content: Stabi, Björn
label: performer
content: Hjorth, Ole
label: performer
content: Bikel, Theodore
label: performer
content: Killen, Louis
label: performer
content: Guthrie, Arlo
label: performer
content: Wiseman, Mac
label: performer
content: Perkins, Carl
label: performer
content: Collier, Jimmy
label: performer
content: Seeger, Mike 1933-2009
label: Subject
content: Dunson, Josh 1941-
label: Subject
content: Young, Izzy 1928-2019
label: performer
content: Fuller, Jesse
label: performer
content: White, Elaine (Vocalist)
label: photographer
content: Gahr, David
label: performer
content: McGhee, Brownie 1915-1996
label: performer
content: Brand, Oscar
label: performer
content: Taylor, James
label: performer
content: Monroe, Bill 1911-1996
label: performer
content: Collins, Judy 1939-
label: performer
content: Joplin, Janis
label: performer
content: Ramsey, Frederic 1915-1995
label: journalist
content: Silber, Irwin 1925-2010
label: performer
content: Gerrard, Alice 1934-
label: performer
content: Hartford, John
label: Subject
content: Chandler, Nancy
label: Subject
content: King, Coretta Scott 1927-2006
label: Subject
content: Asch, Moses
label: performer
content: Ochs, Phil
label: performer
content: Andersen, Eric
label: performers
content: Bread and Puppet Theater
label: performers
content: The Young Tradition (Musical group)
label: performers
content: Pentangle (Musical group)
label: performers
content: New Lost City Ramblers
label: performers
content: Everly Brothers
label: performers
content: The Pennywhistlers (Musical group)
label: Subject
content: Newport Folk Festival
label: Subject
content: Philadelphia Folk Festival
notes: label: Notes
content: The online images represent only a selection of this collection.
label: Notes
content: 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.
label: Notes
content: 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.
label: Notes
content: 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."
label: Notes
content: Finding aid is available.
label: Notes
content: The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired portions of the Diana Davies photographs 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 that Ms. Davies wanted to donate to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives.
label: Organization
content: Arranged in 12 series: (1) Newport Folk Festival; (2) Philadelphia Folk Festival; (3) Broadside Magazine; (4) Sing Out! Magazine Concerts; (5) Miscellaneous Concerts and People; (6) Festival of American Folklife; (7) Recording Sessions; (8) Instruction Book Shots; (9) Jazz, Blues, and Salsa Musicians; (10) Georgia Sea Islands; (11) Social Justice: Peace Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Poor People's March, United Farm Workers, Women's Rights; (12) New York City Scenes; (13) Miscellaneous Papers and Correspondence; (14) Oversize Materials. The collection photograph formats include contact sheets, slides, prints, and negatives
label: Summary
content: 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 marches and outdoor performances, New York City, and the Georgia Sea Islands. The collection includes contact sheets, negatives, photographic prints, and slides.
label: Cite as
content: Diana Davies photographs, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution
label: Repository Loc.
content: Smithsonian Institution, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, 600 Maryland Ave., S.W., Suite 2001, Washington, D.C. 20024. Call 202-633-7322 for appointment. Fax: 202-633-7019. Email: rinzlerarchives@si.edu
place: label: Place
content: United States
label: Place
content: Saint Simons Island (Ga. : Island)
label: Place
content: New York (N.Y.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Civil rights
label: Topic
content: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963
label: Topic
content: Peace movements
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
objectType: label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Contact sheets
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Type
content: Black-and-white negatives
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 for additional information
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Copyright restrictions apply. Please contact the archives staff for further information
physicalDescription: label: Physical description
content: Contact sheets
label: Physical description
content: Slides
label: Physical description
content: Photographic prints
label: Physical description
content: Negatives
label: Physical description
content: 3.83 cubic feet