The Anacostia Community Museum has a long history of exploring arts and creativity through arts exhibitions and installations, museum collections, and community-focused programs. A small selection of Anacostia Community Museum historical and administrative records are kept by the archives and supplement the institutional records held by Smithsonian Institution Archives. His works in the museum’s collection show a keen sense of color and texture, and an interest in experimenting with form. Early exhibits such as the 1969 exhibition The Rat: Man’s Invited Affliction, which explored rodent infestation, reflected the interests of an urban neighborhood battling an increasing problem. Anacostia Community Museum Monday, Wednesday, Friday It actively collects materials relating to the preservation of family and community history through education, advocacy, and documentation. Daily Hours: CLOSED 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed December 25th. ACM did not have a permanent collection until the late 1970s. Soon thereafter, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley formed a committee to plan "an experimental store-front museum" in a Washington, DC, neighborhood. Appointment Required, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art, Assistant Secretary for Communications and External Affairs. The collection also includes works by historical and contemporary celebrated photographers. In 1996 Armstrong was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and now serves the local community as the Armstrong Adult Education Center. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. The theater was renamed the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, and opened to the public on September 15, 1967. It wasn't until 1992 that ACM create… The museum’s focus on education led to the creation of the Museum Academy Program, which works with local school children both during the school year and the summer. Established in 1967 as the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, it served first as a Smithsonian outreach museum situated in one of the Washington, D.C.’s largely African American neighborhoods and later evolved into a museum which documented, preserved, and interpreted African American history from local and community history perspectives. Among these photographers are Arthur P. Bedou, Prentice Herman Polk (P. H. Polk), Addison N. Scurlock, Carl Van Vechten, Ernest C. Withers, Robert H. McNeill, Titus Brooks Heagins, Kerry Coppin, Dennis C. Calhoun, and Fern Logan. In 2006, the name was changed to the Anacostia Community Museum to reflect the change from ethnic themes to broader social and cultural issues faced within urban communities. Recent Submissions. The images depict mostly African-American men in scenes of daily life in the Washington, D.C. area. From family archives of 19th-century African American locals to works from black DC artists, the artifacts highlight how inextricably linked the museum is to its local surroundings. Anacostia Community Museum Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Designed by Keyes Condon Florance, Architrave, and Wisnewski Blair Associates in the cultural expressionism style, the museum takes advantage of its park-like setting with large picture windows at the entrance and side galleries. . Most of the collections are on-site at the museum's main Fort Place facility but some materials are in off-site storage. 10am to 12pm and Library Catalog . (Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, gift of Ira Blount) Ira Blount was a self-taught maker whose art ranged from basketry, quilting, and woodwork to cross-stitch, origami, beadwork and more. Welcome to the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Other exhibitions have examined such subjects as urban problems, the history of Anacostia, African American art and heritage, and African culture. The archives house over 50,000 images, with the strength residing in the visual documentation of the community, exhibitions, programs, educational, and outreach material spanning the museum's forty-three years. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. The Anacostia Community Museum has collected art, objects, archives and associated stories almost from the moment it opened in 1967. Even though the museum has broadened its focus in recent years, its collections contain thousands of unique artifacts related to the local African American community. Join Anacostia Community Museum registrar Sarah Loudin as she gives a presentation on one of the rarely seen treasures from the museum’s permanent collection. Dates: 1996-04 - 1996-12 Size: 2.42 Linear feet (3 boxes) Collection ID: ACMA.03-019 Repository: Anacostia Community Museum Archives The red brick building uses African motifs suggestive of woven kente cloth. Concrete cylinders punctured with glass blocks and blue tile surround the entryway, designed to evoke the conical towers of the 11th century city of Great Zimbabwe, the largest complex of ruins in Africa. The museum implemented an acquisition program in 1977, and first used original artifacts in the 1979 exhibition Out of Africa: From West African Kingdoms to Colonization. Environmental Issues and Concerns East of the Anacostia River: Justice or Just Us? About Located in the Anacostia neighborhood, this museum examines, documents, and interprets the impact of historical and contemporary social issues on urban communities. The museum relied largely on special grants for support until 1970, when it became a line item in the Institution's federal budget. It looks like this is your first visit to a collection page. Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley is the earliest publication in the collection. The Anacostia Community Museum grew out of an idea that was first discussed at a conference on museums and education sponsored by the Smithsonian in August 1966. Soon thereafter, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley formed a committee to plan "an experimental store-front museum" in a Washington, DC, neighborhood. The museum also established an archives to document the communities east of the Anacostia River. . Search millions of objects in the collections including photographs, artworks, artifacts, scientific specimens, manuscripts, sound records, and transcripts. FREE ADMISSION FREE PARKING. Highlights from the collection include: The Anacostia Story: 1609–1930; The Real McCoy: African-American Invention and Innovation, 1619–1930; Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740–1877; The Harlem Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties; Banding Together: School Bands as Instruments of Opportunity; and Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. 1901 Fort Place SE This facility served as the core for a larger museum building that was completed in 1987. Here you can discover more than a million resources, create personal collections and educational experiences, and share your work. Anacostia Community Museum Staff Publications [4] Anacostia Community Museum staff publications. In the Museum’s next phase as the “Anacostia Museum,” a change made in 1987, staff continued to engage with local communities and grapple with complex questions about exhibiting Black history, though on a slightly larger scale. In March 1967, the Smithsonian secured the Carver Theater on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Southeast, in Anacostia as the site for the project. You are welcome to make an appointment via email, telephone, or fax. In 1995, the museum was renamed Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, and served as a planning site for the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was established in 2003. Porcelain Plate Pieces Excavated in Anacostia | Anacostia Community Museum Collections si.edu. Catalog records are available on SIRIS. Find out more about the Learning Lab. Was a musician, too collection by the Smithsonian to 100 periodical titles in various formats ), did. 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