content: After 1867

content: In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, D.C. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Their discoveries included household objects, like this broken bottle. At the bottom, the clear glass is ringed with raised glass bands, in between which are small ovals. The pattern repeats above, though most is missing. It likely dates to the neighborhood’s most prosperous period, 1880-1920.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: bottle

content: glass

content: 5 × 3 3/4 in. (12.7 × 9.5 cm)

content: Broken Glass Bottle Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: BROKEN GLASS BOTTLE EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA


unitCode: ACM

type: edanmdm

label: Date

content: late 20th-early 21st Century

label: Artist

content: Ira Blount

label: Caption

content: This round basket is decorated with a purple and white beaded design underneath the lip. The reeds vary in hue from natural-colored to mauve, and are woven in a plain weave (also referred to as a tabby weave). The simple form of the basket focuses attention on the decorative beading and matching tones of the dyed reeds.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

label: See more items in

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

label: Cite As

content: Gift of Ira Blount

label: Data Source

content: Anacostia Community Museum

label: Accession Number

label: Type

content: basket

label: Restrictions & Rights

label: Medium

content: reed, glass, thread

label: Dimensions

content: 6 3/8 × 7 in. (16.2 × 17.8 cm)

label: Title

content: Basket with Beaded Design

unit_code: ACM

title_sort: BASKET WITH BEADED DESIGN

data_source: Anacostia Community Museum

type: Images

label: High-resolution TIFF

label: High-resolution JPEG

label: Screen Image

label: Thumbnail Image

title: Basket with Beaded Design


content: 20th century

content: This brown leather satchel with a brass lock belonged to Charles E. Qualls (1912-1984), a pharmacist and civic leader in Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C. “Doc Qualls” advocated ardently for Anacostia, though he was not a resident. For example, he helped to establish the Anacostia Business and Professional Association in 1949. He campaigned for community health initiatives like southeast Washington’s first hospital, which opened in 1966. A founding member of the Anacostia Historical Society, he successfully petitioned the National Park Service to preserve Frederick Douglass’s Anacostia home, Cedar Hill. This sturdy briefcase might have held his papers as he traveled to and from Anacostia.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: bag

content: leather, metal

content: 11 9/16 × 14 3/16 × 7/8 in. (29.3 × 36 × 2.2 cm)

content: Satchel Used by Charles E. Qualls

title_sort: SATCHEL USED BY CHARLES E. QUALLS

title: Satchel Used by Charles E. Qualls


content: Ira Blount

content: In this brown and cream-colored quilt, square and rectangular patches are arranged to form framed checkerboards and crosses. The eye constantly oscillates between these two patterns; sometimes the checkerboards are dominant, other times the crosses are. The quilt’s tassel ties are made visible by the use of contrasting thread colors. The backing is made of pieced sections of natural, undyed cloth.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting, ink

content: 58 11/16 × 46 7/16 in. (149 × 118 cm)

content: Checkerboard and Cross Block Quilt with Tassels

title_sort: CHECKERBOARD AND CROSS BLOCK QUILT WITH TASSELS


content: Ira Blount

content: Three dark-patterned origami kimonos are mounted to a plain white background. The examples on the left and in the center contain a floral pattern while the traditional Japanese dress on the right shows a landscape with trees. The piece demonstrates artist Ira Blount's interest and skill in the Japanese art of folding paper.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, cardstock

content: 8 × 10 1/16 in. (20.3 × 25.5 cm)

content: Three Origami Kimonos

title_sort: THREE ORIGAMI KIMONOS

title: Three Origami Kimonos


content: Between 1980 and 1984

content: This pinback button endorsed Ronald Reagan for president, though its owner did not. The red, white, and blue button belonged to political reporter Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who collected campaign memorabilia. A Chicago native, Payne moved to the nation’s capital in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. Over the course of her pioneering career, she met every president, from Eisenhower to Reagan. The lifelong civil rights activist filed stories from thirty countries, becoming known as the First Lady of the Black Press.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, ink

content: 3/16 × 1 3/4 in. (0.5 × 4.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "President Reagan"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "PRESIDENT REAGAN"

title: Pinback Button, "President Reagan"


content: Between 1985 and 2016

content: These stainless-steel biscuit cutters nest in three concentric circles, each with a semi-circular handle for pressing a round blade into dough. Twist and lift to release a biscuit ready for the oven. Biscuits are a staple food in the American South, just as tortillas are in Latin America. This set of biscuit cutters belonged to chef and author Sandra Gutiérrez, for whom a tortilla press is an equally essential kitchen tool, as detailed in her cookbook, The New Southern Latino Table. Born in the United States and raised in Guatemala, cooking was a way to find community when Gutiérrez moved to Durham, North Carolina in the mid-1980s. In her words, “When I moved to the South, I wanted to learn how to make the best biscuits possible. I took every opportunity to learn from my friends and their mothers, who took turns teaching me the right way to handle biscuits.” Along with her tortilla press (2017.14.3) and cast-iron skillet (2017.14.1), Gutiérrez’s biscuit cutters were on display at the Museum’s exhibition, Gateways/Portales, from December 2016 to January 2018.

content: Estos cortadores de galletas de acero inoxidable pueden agruparse en tres círculos concéntricos, cada uno con un mango semicircular para hacer presión sobre la masa con una cuchilla redonda. Al girar y levantar, se obtiene una galleta lista para el horno. Las galletas son un alimento básico en el sur de Estados Unidos, al igual que las tortillas en América Latina. Este juego de cortadores de galletas perteneció a la chef y escritora Sandra Gutiérrez, para quien una prensa para tortillas es una herramienta de cocina igualmente esencial, como se detalla en su libro The New Southern Latino Table. Nacida en Estados Unidos y criada en Guatemala, la cocina fue una forma de encontrar comunidad cuando Gutiérrez se trasladó a Durham (Carolina del Norte) a mediados de los años ochenta. En sus palabras, "Cuando me mudé al sur, quería aprender a hacer las mejores galletas posibles. Aproveché todas las oportunidades para aprender de mis amigos y de sus madres, que se turnaban para enseñarme la forma correcta de abordar las galletas."

content: Junto con su prensa para tortillas (2017.14.3) y su sartén de hierro fundido (2017.14.1), los cortadores de galletas de Gutiérrez estuvieron expuestos en la exposición del Museo, Gateways/Portales, de diciembre de 2016 a enero de 2018.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Sandra A. Gutierrez, author of The New Southern-Latino Table

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: set of biscuit cutters

content: stainless steel

content: Set Of Three Biscuit Cutters Used By Sandra Gutierrez

title_sort: SET OF THREE BISCUIT CUTTERS USED BY SANDRA GUTIERREZ


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount created multiple origami cranes nearly identical in shape and form, achieving variety by selecting sheets of paper with a diversity of colors and designs. Here, metallic gold embellishments overlay red and orange paper featuring flowers and plants in purple, red, white, and green. Viewers are encouraged to reflect on how identical forms can highlight differences between the cranes.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 3 5/16 × 3 5/16 × 2 5/8 in. (8.4 × 8.4 × 6.6 cm)

content: Red and Orange Origami Crane

title_sort: RED AND ORANGE ORIGAMI CRANE

title: Red and Orange Origami Crane


content: ca. 1972

content: This multi-sided concrete brick interlocked with others to pave the rear plaza of Waterside Mall, an office building and shopping center in Washington, DC’s Southwest quadrant. Designed by I.M. Pei, the modernist mall faced opposition when it opened in 1972 as part of an urban renewal project that displaced local businesses and longtime residents as early as the 1950s. Community members complained that, rather than meeting their needs or providing adequate services, as promised by developers, it catered to the federal agency that rented offices in the complex. Waterside Mall stood as a relic of failed urban redevelopment and a physical reminder of the disconnect between government plans and local realities until its demolition in 2007.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: brick

content: concrete

content: 4 5/8 × 5 × 2 1/4 in. (11.8 × 12.7 × 5.7 cm)

content: Brick from the Waterside Mall development in Southwest neighborhood of Washington, DC

title_sort: BRICK FROM THE WATERSIDE MALL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHWEST NEIGHBORHOOD OF WASHINGTON, DC


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Multicolored stripes and diamonds alternate in this symmetrical beaded necklace made by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020). Parallel rows of seed beads begin narrow at the clasp, then widen and ultimately merge. The geometric designs materialize from blue, green, yellow, red, white glass beads, which also form a fringe at the flat necklace’s apex.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: necklace

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 16 7/8 × 2 1/2 × 5/16 in. (42.8 × 6.4 × 0.8 cm)

content: Colorful Beaded Necklace

title_sort: COLORFUL BEADED NECKLACE

title: Colorful Beaded Necklace


content: Ira Blount

content: By varying wood splints of different thicknesses, artist Ira Blount creates a rectangular-shaped, flat bottomed basket. The splints differ in color, with some exhibiting a pink hue, while others are a warm light-brown. The handle and rim are accented with a matching cross design, and the rim comprises a single reed.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career. Created in 1983, this is an early example of Blount’s work in basketry, a medium in which he began to work in 1980.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, dye

content: 6 7/8 × 11 × 10 3/16 in. (17.5 × 28 × 25.8 cm)

content: Rectangular-Shaped Basket with Handle

title_sort: RECTANGULAR-SHAPED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Rectangular-Shaped Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: Butterflies and flowers decorate this origami kimono, notable for its gray and pink color palette. The traditional Japanese garment is mounted on a solid blue background, drawing attention to the blue undertones in the pattered paper. Both the subject matter of the kimono and the origami form evidence of artist Ira Blount’s (1918-2020) interest in incorporating different cultural traditions into his work.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: paper, cardstock

content: 4 15/16 × 3 9/16 in. (12.5 × 9 cm)

content: Gray Origami Kimono

title_sort: GRAY ORIGAMI KIMONO

title: Gray Origami Kimono


content: Between 1920 -1930

content: In a study of symmetry, this purse presents sleek lines and geometric shapes on a canvas of metal. The black, white, and grey purse’s bag is made from metal mesh painted with large inverted chevrons and smaller diamonds subdivided into sections of color. The points of five pentagons along the purse’s bottom pick up the diamond theme, as does the double row of diamonds on the purse’s shiny silver frame. Ingeniously, the clasp fits into a geometric steppe, whose shape is echoed in the holders for its serpentine metal chain. A synthetic, satin-weave fabric lines the purse’s interior. The evening bag belonged to renowned scholar-librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995), who organized and developed an unparalleled collection rooted in African American history that would become the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: purse

content: metal mesh, metal chain strap, synthetic fabric

content: 6 5/16 × 14 3/16 × 3/8 in. (16 × 36 × 0.9 cm)

content: Art Deco Metal Mesh Purse

title_sort: ART DECO METAL MESH PURSE

title: Art Deco Metal Mesh Purse


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This oval container is made of two pieces of tree bark joined together with wire. A circular-cut piece of bark is attached to the bottom with adhesive. The handle, which is also fastened with wire, retains some of the original nodes of the twig from which it was shaped. The artist collected the materials from a local construction site he visited with fellow members of the Basket Bunch, a Prince George’s County, Maryland group of basket makers. As such, this basket speaks to the interconnection of human creativity and the social and natural environments in which it is deployed.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood bark, twig, wire, adhesive

content: 14 × 8 5/16 × 3 9/16 in. (35.6 × 21.1 × 9 cm)

content: Tree Bark Container with Handle

title_sort: TREE BARK CONTAINER WITH HANDLE

title: Tree Bark Container with Handle


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: In this punched tin design, three flowers sprout from two concentric hearts. A single dotted row borders the rectangular sheet, which also features four smaller hearts in each corner. Commonly used in the American colonies, punched tin served both practical and aesthetic functions. The patterned holes punched into a tin insert on a pie safe door, for example, could provide both air flow and exterior decoration. Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) achieves uniformity with evenly-spaced punches in his revival of the craft.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: tin punch

content: tin plate

content: 10 1/16 × 8 1/16 × 3/8 in. (25.5 × 20.4 × 0.9 cm)

content: Hearts and Flowers Tin Punch

title_sort: HEARTS AND FLOWERS TIN PUNCH

title: Hearts and Flowers Tin Punch


content: Between 1950-1959

content: In the mid-twentieth century, smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework, offering some women more time for creative endeavors. Middle-class women of all races took great pride in decorating their homes with their own handiwork. This cotton pillowcase features an embroidered floral pattern along its scalloped edge. Bold blue blossoms and petite pink petals, both with French-knotted yellow centers, grow from leafy, green stems on white fabric. Pillowcases like this one crafted by Therese Withington Ford are among the textiles (2008.0002.0006a-i) made by the college-educated African American women of the Ford family to adorn their Jersey City, NJ home.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Theresa Allen

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pillowcase

content: cotton, embroiderd

content: 31 3/16 × 22 1/8 in. (79.2 × 56.2 cm)

content: Embroidered Pillowcase

title_sort: EMBROIDERED PILLOWCASE

title: Embroidered Pillowcase


content: Ira Blount

content: A horse leaps gracefully in this rectangular relief carving by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020). The natural grain of the wood suggests the animal’s coat, while its color is reminiscent of a bay or chestnut. Blount creates a sense of movement through the horse’s bent front legs, outstretched haunches, and windswept tail.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: woodwork

content: wood

content: 9 1/4 × 12 × 3/8 in. (23.5 × 30.5 × 1 cm)

content: Wood Carving of a Horse

title_sort: WOOD CARVING OF A HORSE

title: Wood Carving of a Horse


content: Ira Blount

content: Constructed in the shape of a butterfly, this basket includes double plied twisted seagrass cord, wood splints, and round reeds woven in a plain weave. This variety of materials gives the piece texture and provides a slight variation in color, as the seagrass cord is darker than the splints and round reeds. The handle is covered with a plain weave and reed weft.

content: The basket has won numerous awards in local county fairs, including the Calvert County Fair (Champion), Prince George’s County Fair (First Place, Open Class), St. Mary’s County Fair (Second Place), Anne Arundel County Fair (First Premium), and Calvert County Fair (First Premium). In addition to basketry, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass

content: 12 3/16 × 16 3/8 × 13 7/8 in. (31 × 41.6 × 35.3 cm)

content: Butterfly Basket

title_sort: BUTTERFLY BASKET

title: Butterfly Basket


content: Ira Blount

content: A blue origami kimono features a pattern of flowers and butterflies with metallic gold accents. Light blue beads form a necklace around the collar of the traditional Japanese garment. To the right, the artist has written kimono in script above his signature and the date. On the left, he included the Kanji character for "good fortune" above the word "happiness." This mounted origami work draws on mixed materials, techniques, and cultural signifiers to visually honor a Japanese traditional craft.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, plastic beads, cardstock

content: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)

content: Happiness

title_sort: HAPPINESS

title: Happiness


content: Norbert Rillieux (1806-1894) sent this scale model of the Multiple Effect Vacuum Evaporator to the US Patent Office when he applied for, and received, his first patent in 1843. Reillieux’s invention would revolutionize the sugar industry. The model’s two cylinders represent enclosed vacuum chambers in which to boil sugarcane. Steam captured from the boiling syrup provided power to boil more sugarcane. As production grew, prices dropped and white sugar went from a luxury to a staple. However, demand for sugar sparked a massive increase in another system, slavery. More enslaved Africans came to labor in the cane fields. Born in New Orleans to a free African American woman and a wealthy white engineer, Rillieux designed the multiple-effect vacuum evaporation system while studying engineering in Paris in 1830. His method remains in use for processing food and industrial products. Patent models are rare due to two major fires at the US Patent Office. Rillieux’s model survived and was featured in The Real McCoy, an exhibition on African American inventions designed to encourage creativity in young people in 1989.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: model

content: tin, wood, paint, and red cloth ribbon

content: 13 3/8 × 8 1/2 × 5 5/16 in. (34 × 21.6 × 13.5 cm)

content: Patent Model, Multiple Effect Vacuum Evaporator

title_sort: PATENT MODEL, MULTIPLE EFFECT VACUUM EVAPORATOR


content: When a U.S. President signs a bill, a select number of people receive pens used for the occasion. This ceremonial pen was given to Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) in recognition for her civil rights activism. The fountain pen’s metal nib connects to a black, plastic feed followed by a tapered, translucent barrel, also plastic. A black and gold frame holds the pen above a summary of the bill, House Resolution 7152. President Lyndon B. Johnson used this ceremonial pen to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. In the White House’s East Room on July 2, 1964, Payne became one of seventy-five honorees to receive a pen. The following year, President Johnson presented Payne with a second ceremonial pen at the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, also in ACM’s Collection. The pens are treasured tokens of political favor. Indeed, Payne attended the event in her role as a Democratic Party official, though the pioneering journalist was also the second African American female member of the White House Press Corps.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: framed pen

content: Frame: metal, wood, black velour; Pen: metal, plastic; Label: ink on paper

content: Frame: 6 5/16 × 10 3/8 × 1 3/16 in. (16 × 26.3 × 3 cm)

content: Ceremonial Pen Used By President Lyndon Johnson To Sign The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

title_sort: CEREMONIAL PEN USED BY PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON TO SIGN THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964


content: The Anacostia Museum created this pinback button for program participants to wear. The rectangular button displays the logo for a museum program on teenagers and AIDS. The program’s title declares its intent to dispel ignorance about AIDS, a disease first identified in 1981. The button’s bold design follows suit. “Straight Up!” appears in purple, slanted script accented by orange dots spattered diagonally across the button. On its top edge are the name of the museum and the year. In 1991, stigma surrounded people with AIDS and their caregivers. However, in the same year, the Red Ribbon Project launched the now-iconic symbol of AIDS awareness to encourage empathy and advocate for medical research.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: paper, plastic, metal

content: 2 5/16 × 3 9/16 × 1/4 in. (5.9 × 9 × 0.7 cm)

content: Pinback Button, ""Straight Up!"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, ""STRAIGHT UP!"

title: Pinback Button, ""Straight Up!"


content: 20th century

content: Glass beads spiral into a white whorl on this oval clutch. In contrast to the tiny seed beads, a larger plastic bead resembling a freshwater pearl pulls a zipper on the fabric pouch that supports the beading. A simple ladder stitch in undyed thread secures the beads to the pouch. Beige silk lines the purse’s interior. The purse belonged to renowned scholar-librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995), who organized and developed an unparalleled collection rooted in African American history that would become the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC. The elegant clutch provides a contrast to aspects of Porter Wesley’s persistent pursuit of archival materials, which included purchasing books, but also rescuing records destined to be discarded in the trash.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: purse

content: glass beads, plastic bead, metal zipper, silk

content: 5 7/8 × 7 × 11/16 in. (15 × 17.8 × 1.7 cm)

content: White Beaded Oval Clutch

title_sort: WHITE BEADED OVAL CLUTCH

title: White Beaded Oval Clutch


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: In Japan, the crane symbolizes good luck, longevity, and fidelity. This origami crane is folded on a red sheet of paper featuring a metallic gold geometric design known as the asanoha, or hemp leaf pattern. Here, traditional symbolism and artist Ira Blount’s hope—that his artwork will “lift…spirits”—combine to create a delicate and graceful origami bird.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 4 13/16 × 3 7/16 × 2 9/16 in. (12.3 × 8.8 × 6.5 cm)

content: Red and Gold Origami Crane

title_sort: RED AND GOLD ORIGAMI CRANE

title: Red and Gold Origami Crane


content: The embroidered design on this linen towel reserves it for kitchen décor rather than for drying dishes. Stitched in cotton thread on a white towel is a woman sitting in bed wearing a blue gingham robe. A man wearing a white apron bears a tray with a blue-and-white teapot and cup, while a child next to the bedside touches the woman’s hand. All look at the viewer, rather than one another. The towel is part of a days-of-the-week set made from a needlecraft kit, a popular creative endeavor in the 1940s, when smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework for middle-class women. In contrast to housekeeping tasks such as ironing, baking, and sewing depicted on the Monday through Saturday towels, the woman rests on “Sunday.” Blanche Ford Hart (1897-1992) likely embroidered these towels for use in the family’s kitchen. Her mother, Mary Thompson Ford (1861-1960), was both college-educated and a proud homemaker in Jersey City, NJ. An apron and a tablecloth complete the days-of-the-week collection (2008.0002.0006a-g).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Theresa Allen

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: towel

content: linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread

content: 27 13/16 × 17 3/16 in. (70.6 × 43.6 cm)

content: Kitchen Towel, Sunday, Resting

title_sort: KITCHEN TOWEL, SUNDAY, RESTING

title: Kitchen Towel, Sunday, Resting


content: Ira Blount

content: This natural-colored, plaited wood splint basket has a flat bottom. The splints vary in thickness, and the repetition of the weave achieves a formal balance. Coatings on the splint handle highlight the natural grain of the wood. The single-lashed rim includes a round reed. Pencil marks remain as evidence of the artist’s process.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, coating, adhesive

content: 10 3/4 × 11 5/16 × 17 13/16 in. (27.3 × 28.8 × 45.3 cm)

content: Plaited Basket with Handle

title_sort: PLAITED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Plaited Basket with Handle


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: A God’s Eye design connects the handle to the body of this egg basket. While most of the wood splints are uniform in shape and size, smaller coated splints create a U-shape surrounding the God’s Eye. The handle is covered in a plain weave with a reed weft.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, coating

content: 11 15/16 × 13 × 14 7/16 in. (30.4 × 33 × 36.7 cm)

content: Handmade Egg Basket

title_sort: HANDMADE EGG BASKET

title: Handmade Egg Basket


content: Ira Blount

content: This small, wood splint basket is woven in a plain weave that creates a unified, balanced composition. The undecorated handle contrasts with the single-lashed rim of the basket, which has a flat, rectangular-shaped bottom.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, coating

content: 4 5/16 × 4 3/8 × 5 1/8 in. (10.9 × 11.1 × 13 cm)

content: Flat-Bottomed Basket with Handle

title_sort: FLAT-BOTTOMED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Flat-Bottomed Basket with Handle


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This container, with its curved, concave base, is made of tree bark. Green waxed linen cord adorns the wood splint rim and the handle. The blue ribbon marks the First Premium award from the Calvert County Fair held in Prince Frederick, Maryland. The award denotes local recognition of artist Ira Blount’s work, and enabled him to reach a wider audience, in hopes of, as he expressed it, “lifting [the] spirits” of those who have had a “down day,” and inspiring others to create.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: tree bark, wood splint, waxed linen cord

content: 15 9/16 × 9 7/16 × 6 7/8 in. (39.5 × 24 × 17.5 cm)

content: Tree Bark Container

title_sort: TREE BARK CONTAINER

title: Tree Bark Container


content: The embroidered design on this linen towel reserves it for kitchen décor rather than for drying dishes. Stitched in cotton thread on a white towel is a woman rolling out dough on a table. Behind her, a child sneaks a treat from the cookie jar. The woman wears a ruffled white apron over a red gingham dress as she bakes, the housekeeping task scheduled for “Saturday.” The towel is part of a days-of-the-week set made from a needlecraft kit, a popular creative endeavor in the 1940s, when smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework for middle-class women. Mary Thompson Ford (1861-1960) was both college-educated and a proud homemaker in Jersey City, NJ. Her daughter Blanche Ford Hart (1897-1992) likely embroidered these towels for use in their family kitchen. An apron and a tablecloth complete the days-of-the-week collection (2008.0002.0006a-g).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: towel

content: linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread

content: 27 3/4 × 17 1/4 in. (70.5 × 43.8 cm)

content: Kitchen Towel, Saturday, Baking

title_sort: KITCHEN TOWEL, SATURDAY, BAKING

title: Kitchen Towel, Saturday, Baking


content: Ira Blount

content: With carefully chosen woods of various hues, artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) seamlessly layered and rounded them into this subtly striped egg. At its apex, thin blond wood trims a wider band of deep brown. Ornamental eggs have origins in Russian and Ukrainian Easter traditions, though they are typically painted or decorated. In allowing natural colors and grains to serve as the egg’s decoration, Blount demonstrates his appreciation for wood’s inherent beauty.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: sculpture

content: wood

content: 3 × 5 3/4 in. (7.6 × 14.6 cm)

content: Handmade Wooden Egg

title_sort: HANDMADE WOODEN EGG

title: Handmade Wooden Egg


content: Late 20th century

content: As a writer strikes keys on a typewriter, an inked, nylon ribbon turns, moving from a full spindle onto an empty one. When the ribbon reaches its end, the typewriter must be opened, and the ribbon replaced. These replacement ribbons fit the Olivetti Studio 46 typewriter in the Anacostia Community Museum’s Collection that once belonged to science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006). It appears that Butler, a Los Angeles native, purchased the ribbons locally. The office supply company listed on the boxes had locations in Los Angeles and nearby Beverly Hills, California. Butler’s novels focus on the future, so it seems apropos to imagine what could be written with the six replacement ribbons accompanying the typewriter. The exhibition, All the Stories Are True: African American Writers Speak, featured the typewriter ribbons in 2004.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: typewriter ribbon

content: cardboard, plastic, ink

content: 2 1/2 × 2 9/16 × 7/8 in. (6.4 × 6.5 × 2.2 cm)

content: Olivetti Studio 46 Typewriter Ribbons

title_sort: OLIVETTI STUDIO 46 TYPEWRITER RIBBONS

title: Olivetti Studio 46 Typewriter Ribbons


content: This porcelain pin box not only holds pins for sewing, but also the story of middle-class African Americans who commuted across the Anacostia River to jobs in downtown Washington, DC in the early 1900s. The First Lady of the United States, Edith Wilson, gave the pin box to her dressmaker, Lillian “Lillie” Green, who traveled to the White House from her home on Elvans Road in the city’s southeastern neighborhood of Anacostia. A sprig of flowers blooms in pastel colors on the center of the pin box’s textured lid. Flecks of gold decorate the edges of the lid and container underneath. A maker’s mark on the bottom of the pin box identifies it as a fairly common item, readily available for purchase in the District in the early 1900s, despite being made in Austria. After Green passed away at the age of thirty-five in 1917, the box remained a prized family possession for over fifty years. Green’s niece, Rosa Ware Jones, donated it to the Museum, where it was on display for the 1977 exhibition, “The Anacostia Story: 1608-1930.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: container with lid

content: porcelain

content: 1 5/8 × 3 13/16 × 2 1/4 in. (4.2 × 9.7 × 5.7 cm)

content: Other (Body): 1 1/8 × 3 13/16 × 2 3/16 in. (2.9 × 9.7 × 5.5 cm)

content: Other (Lid): 11/16 × 3 13/16 × 2 1/4 in. (1.8 × 9.7 × 5.7 cm)

content: Lillian Green’s Porcelain Pin Box

title_sort: LILLIAN GREEN’S PORCELAIN PIN BOX

title: Lillian Green’s Porcelain Pin Box


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Outlined in metallic gold against field of red, black vines wind among silver and cream flowers on this origami paper crane. Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) called Washington, DC home, though his work embraced international influences, including origami. The Japanese art of paper folding dates to the country’s Muromachi period, which spanned the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. While the crane is a common origami design, it recalls a longer tradition that connects Blount to a global community of practitioners.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 4 7/16 × 3 1/4 × 1 15/16 in. (11.3 × 8.3 × 4.9 cm)

content: Floral Origami Crane

title_sort: FLORAL ORIGAMI CRANE

title: Floral Origami Crane


content: The Molo is a three-stringed lute (a lute is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body). The Molo is made of a wooden resonator and a wooden neck from which the strings are attached. The resonator is hollowed out from a solid piece of wood. There is a skin soundboard bound to the back of the resonator with leather thongs. The three strings are attached to the wooden neck of the instrument and are made of plaited fiber.

content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, a linguist, collected this object from the Hausa people of Nigeria during a research trip to West Africa in 1951. Dr. Turner was interested in the tonalities of music and language and how they carry meaning within communities and cultures.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: string instrument

content: wood, hide, sinew, leather strings

content: 26 × 4 5/16 × 4 11/16 in. (66 × 10.9 × 11.9 cm)

content: Molo Musical Instrument

title_sort: MOLO MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

title: Molo Musical Instrument


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small basket resembles a traditional Shaker basket. The handle is small and thin, the rim has double-lashing, and the wood splints vary in thickness.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career. As a self-taught maker and member of the Basket Bunch, a basket-making guild in Prince George’s County, Maryland, artist Ira Blount found inspiration in multiple styles of basketry with unique aesthetics and histories. Part of what may have attracted Blount to this style of basketry was the Shaker tradition of simplicity and self-sufficiency, which mirrors his own beliefs and habits.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint

content: 2 1/2 × 2 3/8 in. (6.4 × 6 cm)

content: Small Basket with Handle

title_sort: SMALL BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Small Basket with Handle


content: Between 1950-1959

content: In the mid-twentieth century, handmade goods began taking on new significance amidst an increasingly industrialized and consumer-oriented society. This cotton pillowcase features two kinds of needlework along its scalloped edge. Embroidery and eyelet create a daisy-like pattern that follows the scallop’s contours, while crocheted lace forms a filigree border. The texture, rather than color, of the embroidery and lace contrasts with the pillowcase, as all are in shades of cream. In addition to offering homemade touches to interior décor, linens also served as emblems of respectability and upstanding citizenship. Pillowcases like this one crafted by Therese Withington Ford are among the textiles (2008.0002.0006a-i) made by the college-educated African American women of the Ford family to adorn their Jersey City, NJ home.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Theresa Allen

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pillowcase

content: cotton, embroidered

content: 33 5/16 × 22 7/16 in. (84.6 × 57 cm)

content: Needlework Pillowcase

title_sort: NEEDLEWORK PILLOWCASE

title: Needlework Pillowcase


content: ca. 1973

content: In bold red-and-black lettering, this pinback button urged Washington, DC voters to support the creation of Advisory Neighborhood Councils (now Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, or ANCs), following the District of Columbia Home Rule Act passed by Congress in 1973. This new form of government subdivided the city’s eight wards into smaller units, some only a few city blocks. Each ANC still consists of elected representatives who live locally, listen to their neighbors, and advocate for their needs. Perceived as a radical experiment in urban self-government, the system was modelled on a mode of community organizing already operating in the city’s Adams Morgan neighborhood.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, ink

content: 1 5/8 in. (4.2 cm)

content: 1 5/8 × 1 5/8 × 1/8 in. (4.2 × 4.2 × 0.3 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Advisory Councils Yes!"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "ADVISORY COUNCILS YES!"


content: ca. 1972

content: These colorful clogs lift the wearer as if standing on a six-inch-high plateau. Contrasting double stitching joins leather panels in rich red (heel and tongue), cream (toecap), goldenrod (upper and square-toed sole), and light avocado (vamp), akin to the connected, chromatic blocks of a Mondrian painting. As explorations of gender expression expanded in the late 1960s, platform shoes gained popularity among women and men in the United States, a fad that persisted for the next decade. Their height also helped hems of the era’s bell-bottom pants hover above the ground. This pair belonged to former Anacostia Community Museum staff member Pearline Waldrop, whose colleagues remember the stylish graphic designer wearing them at work.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Pearline Waldrop

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: shoes

content: leather, wood

content: Right shoe: 9 1/4 × 2 1/2 × 5 11/16 in. (23.5 × 6.4 × 14.5 cm)

content: Left shoe: 9 3/16 × 2 9/16 × 5 11/16 in. (23.4 × 6.5 × 14.5 cm)

content: Women's Plateau Clogs

title_sort: WOMEN'S PLATEAU CLOGS

title: Women's Plateau Clogs


content: Mid-20th century

content: In the mid-twentieth century, handmade goods began taking on new significance amidst an increasingly industrialized and consumer-oriented society. This crocheted blanket provides a colorful example of how craft can transform an ordinary household object. Resembling a quilt, brown yarn binds individual squares together in rows of fourteen by twenty-four. Sometimes known as “Granny squares,” a stereotype referring to grandmothers who crochet, each square features a flower, mainly in hues of green, pink, yellow, and blue yarn. The blanket is part of a collection of household items, including textiles, (2008.0002.0002-2008.0002.0012) and archival materials (ACMA.06-062) that tell the story of the Ford Family of Jersey City, NJ.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: blanket

content: synthetic fiber

content: 38 7/8 × 66 15/16 in. (98.8 × 170 cm)

content: Crocheted Granny Square Blanket

title_sort: CROCHETED GRANNY SQUARE BLANKET

title: Crocheted Granny Square Blanket


content: The Cuíca is a friction drum of African origin played in the batucada (an ensemble of instruments used for the samba) during the Brazilian carnival. It is a membranophone, which is an instrument that produces its sound by the vibration of a stretched membrane. A rod is fixed in the center of the drumskin and projects inside the shell. The sound is produced by rubbing the rod between the thumb and forefinger with a damp sponge or leather piece. The rubbing action makes the drumskin vibrate, producing a grunting sound. Pitch is changed by applying pressure to the drumskin. The body of the Cuíca contributes little to the sound. The Cuíca was introduced to Brazil by enslaved people coming from Bantu speaking areas of Central and Southern Africa and primarily from Angola. One of the interesting theories of its origins is that the drum was used in Africa for lion hunting. The hunters were able to lure the lions with it because the sound of the drum imitates that of a wounded animal. Nowadays, the body of the instrument is made of metal instead of wood. Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, a linguist known for his research among the Gullah communities of South Carolina and Georgia, in Bahia, Brazil, and West Africa, collected this object during a research trip to Brazil in 1940-41. He was interested in the tonalities of music and language and how they carry meaning within communities and cultures.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drum

content: wood, hide, metal

content: 10 5/8 × 5 7/8 × 5 11/16 in. (27 × 15 × 14.5 cm)

content: Cuíca

title_sort: CUÍCA

title: Cuíca


content: Early 20th century

content: The vibrant colors of a parrot’s plumage would have been bold and clear to art students observing a real bird in their classroom at the M Street High School in early twentieth-century Washington, DC. The bird is just one example of actual flora and fauna incorporated into the art curriculum by educators like Thomas W. Hunster (1851-1929) in his role as Director of Drawing for the Black public schools in the District’s segregated system. The living creatures served not only as subjects for students’ portraits, but also to teach drawing and painting as avenues to critical thinking. Professor Hunster taught students to use their eyes in conjunction with their hands to see, draw, and analyze their environment. He encouraged them to find inspiration in ordinary objects, whether a building within a streetscape, or local plants and animals. The parrot is thought to have been painted by a classmate of career educator and artist William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984), a pupil and friend of Professor Hunster, Both sides of the paper were painted, a common practice due to the expense of materials. The opposite side depicts the season’s last red berries clinging to a seed pod on a leafy magnolia branch.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: painting

content: Watercolor, oil paint, oil pastel on paper

content: 17 1/2 × 14 9/16 in. (44.4 × 37 cm)

content: Parrot Painted by M Street High School Student

title_sort: PARROT PAINTED BY M STREET HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT


content: The embroidered design on this linen towel reserves it for kitchen décor rather than for drying dishes. Stitched in cotton thread on a white towel is a woman biking to the “Super Market” to shop for groceries. The housekeeping task is scheduled for “Wednesday” on this towel, part of a days-of-the-week set made from a needlecraft kit, a popular creative endeavor in the 1940s, when smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework for middle-class women. Colorful fruits and vegetables fill the bicyclist’s basket, perhaps prompting her smile. She rides a red bicycle in blue checked pants and a yellow top. A large tree with green branches towers above the Super Market, and an American flag waves atop the grey-and-red trimmed building. Mary Thompson Ford (1861-1960) was both college-educated and a proud homemaker in Jersey City, NJ. Her daughter Blanche Ford Hart (1897-1992) likely embroidered these towels for use in their family kitchen.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: towel

content: linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread, thread

content: 26 5/8 × 17 3/16 in. (67.6 × 43.6 cm)

content: Kitchen Towel, Wednesday, Super Market

title_sort: KITCHEN TOWEL, WEDNESDAY, SUPER MARKET

title: Kitchen Towel, Wednesday, Super Market


content: The Anacostia Museum created this pinback button for visitors to wear. It “artfully” announces an exhibition focusing on “the arts in public places.” The button’s design includes diamonds in blue, red, and yellow, connecting to the building blocks of color and to diamond patterns on the Museum’s facade. The Museum’s name and the exhibition year, 1990, encircle the bottom. The exhibition encouraged visitors to explore the role of art in their communities and to participate in deciding how funds for public arts projects should be spent. Drawing from all four quadrants of Washington, D.C., it featured a variety of public art forms, including murals and sculptures; musical and theatrical performances; and, wearable art, such as hairstyles, clothes, jewelry, and…buttons.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 1/4 × 2 1/2 in. (0.6 × 6.3 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Anacostia Museum 1990"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "ANACOSTIA MUSEUM 1990"

title: Pinback Button, "Anacostia Museum 1990"


content: 20th century

content: In the 1950s and 1960s, many Washingtonians danced to the güiro’s raspy rhythms, as essential to mambo as conga and bongo drums. Originally made from hollow, open-ended gourds by indigenous Caribbean musicians, the percussion instrument became beloved in Latin music. To play the güiro requires placing fingers in the two large holes on the güiro’s body and rubbing a stick or brush over carved notches, like those in the darker section of this wooden güiro. Scales painted on this Mexican-style güiro emphasize its fishlike shape. The güiro belonged to Roland Kavé (1931-2017), who first brought mambo from New York City to Washington, DC in the 1950s. The lifelong Washingtonian led several Latin jazz bands, most notably Los Diablos, and taught hundreds of people to mambo on U Street Corridor dance floors, including the Casbah and the Tropical Room in the Dunbar Hotel.

content: En las décadas de 1950 y 1960, muchos washingtonianos bailaron al ritmo ronco del güiro, tan esencial en el mambo como la conga y el bongó. Fabricados originalmente por músicos indígenas caribeños con calabazas ahuecadas, estos instrumentos de percusión se hicieron muy populares en la música latina. Para tocar el güiro hay que colocar los dedos en los dos grandes agujeros de su cuerpo y frotar un palillo o escobilla sobre las muescas talladas, como las de la sección más oscura de este güiro. Las escamas pintadas en este güiro de madera de estilo mexicano acentúan su forma de pez. El güiro perteneció a Roland Kavé (1931-2017), quien trajo por primera vez el mambo de Nueva York a Washington, D.C., en la década de 1950. Este washingtoniano de toda la vida dirigió varias bandas de jazz latino, la más notable de ellas Los Diablos, y enseñó a bailar mambo a cientos de personas en las pistas de baile del corredor de la calle U, incluidas Casbah y Tropical Room en el hotel Dunbar.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Roland Kavé

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: guiro

content: wood, ink, metal

content: 16 1/4 × 3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in. (41.2 × 8 × 7.9 cm)

content: Roland Kavé’s Güiro

title_sort: ROLAND KAVÉ’S GÜIRO

title: Roland Kavé’s Güiro


content: William N. Buckner

content: In autumnal yellows and reds, William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984) created this expressionist-style portrait of oak leaves on a branch in 1909, a year before he began teaching woodworking at Lincoln Elementary School in Washington, DC. Buckner had developed a passion for art and honed his woodworking expertise at the city’s renowned M Street High School, a public school for African Americans under the District’s segregated system. After graduating in 1907, he studied at Miner Normal School, which trained teachers for the city’s African American schools. He later earned bachelor and master’s degrees, respectively, from Howard and Columbia universities. Buckner served as an educator at Howard and, for forty-seven years, in the District’s public schools, retiring as principal of Armstrong Vocational High School in 1957. Throughout his life, he remained actively involved in the city’s art community and pursued a range of artistic expression, including silversmithing, photography, and puppetry. This painting, created with oil stick on paper, attests to Buckner’s affinity for art and his love of working with his hands.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: painting

content: oil stick on paper

content: Frame: 22 1/4 × 12 5/16 × 7/8 in. (56.5 × 31.3 × 2.3 cm)

content: Leaves

title_sort: LEAVES

title: Leaves


content: This pin served as a press pass for journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who traveled to Zaire to report on the First Ordinary Congress of the Popular Revolution Movement in May 1972. The plastic pin replicated the flag of the country known at the time as Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). On a field of green, an arm bears a flaming torch encircled by yellow. The Popular Revolution Movement, or, in French, Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (M.P.R.), was the sole political party permitted by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The Congress took place in N’Sele, about 25 miles from the country’s capital, Kinshasa. The rural area-turned-political outpost would become the site for the legendary boxing match, Rumble in the Jungle, in 1974.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pin

content: plastic, metal, adhesive

content: 1 3/16 × 3 9/16 × 3/8 in. (3 × 9 × 1 cm)

content: Pin, " Zaire Convention"

title_sort: PIN, " ZAIRE CONVENTION"

title: Pin, " Zaire Convention"


content: ca. 1972

content: This black-and-white pinback button celebrates the Adams Morgan Organization (AMO, pronounced ‘ammo’) and affirms self-governance in urban communities. Founded in 1972, AMO developed a participatory democracy in Washington, DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, where all residents shared an equal vote. AMO tackled urgent issues of gentrification and mass evictions by providing information and support to maintain community control. This model of self-government was a precursor to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act passed by Congress in 1973 and set the standard for the formation of Advisory Neighborhood Councils (now Advisory Neighborhood Commissions) and tenancy ownership legislation. Although based in a small neighborhood, AMO brought structured power to the people.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic , paper

content: 1 7/16 × 1 7/16 × 1/4 in. (3.7 × 3.7 × 0.6 cm)

content: Pinback Button, " AMO Power"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, " AMO POWER"

title: Pinback Button, " AMO Power"


content: Ira Blount

content: A colorful origami crane is mounted on watercolor paper with a natural deckle edge. Gold metallic cord attaches to the bird’s back, a feature which could have enabled the object to be hung and displayed. The upward streaming of the cord creates a sense of motion and flight. This detail draws attention to the various methods of viewing and exhibiting origami.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, blotting paper

content: 4 13/16 × 3 3/4 in. (12.3 × 9.5 cm)

content: Mounted Origami Crane with Gold Ribbon

title_sort: MOUNTED ORIGAMI CRANE WITH GOLD RIBBON

title: Mounted Origami Crane with Gold Ribbon


content: c. 1994

content: Ira Blount

content: This cross-stitch by Ira Blount (1918-2020) contains colorful flowers, including roses, sunflowers, thistles, daffodils, and pansies. A green square frames each of the twelve blossoms, arranged in a grid of three rows and four columns. The muted color palette and off-white background create an old-fashioned aesthetic, recalling an earlier time when needlework was both practical and decorative.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton thread

content: 12 5/8 × 16 3/16 in. (32 × 41.1 cm)

content: Floral Cross-Stitch

title_sort: FLORAL CROSS-STITCH

title: Floral Cross-Stitch


content: c. 1989

content: Ira Blount

content: The variation of light brown reeds and wood splints creates a visual pattern and sense of texture. The handle is covered with a plain weave. A string of colorful glass millefiori beads adorns the basket below the rim. Their bright colors and designs contrast with the simple plain weave, adding an element of whimsy.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, glass, waxed linen cord, dye, adhesive

content: 8 1/8 × 8 15/16 × 9 1/2 in. (20.6 × 22.7 × 24.2 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Millefiori Beads

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH MILLEFIORI BEADS


content: 20th Century

content: These heavily used paintbrushes—featuring paint splotches on the handles and tape to reinforce some of the ferrules—belonged to artist John Robinson. The tools enabled the lifelong D.C. resident, who worked full-time as a cook at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, to escape to his “secret place” where “all the cares and troubles of the day just melt away.” Robinson painted people and places in his Anacostia community, documenting and preserving the history of his neighborhood.

content: Estos pinceles intensamente utilizados -con manchas de pintura en los mangos y cinta adhesiva para reforzar algunas de las virolas- pertenecieron al artista John Robinson. Estos instrumentos permitían a Robinson, que trabajaba a tiempo completo como cocinero en el hospital St. Elizabeths en Washington D.C., escaparse a su "lugar secreto", donde "todas las preocupaciones y los problemas del día desaparecían". Robinson pintaba personas y lugares de su comunidad de Anacostia, documentando y preservando de esa manera la historia de su barrio.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of John N. Robinson

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: paint brush

content: bristles, wood, metal, paint

content: smallest: 1 5/8 × 1/4 in. (4.2 × 0.7 cm)

content: largest: 11 3/8 × 7/16 in. (28.9 × 1.1 cm)

content: John Robinson's Paintbrushes

title_sort: JOHN ROBINSON'S PAINTBRUSHES

title: John Robinson's Paintbrushes


content: Ira Blount

content: This basket resembles a traditional Shaker basket without a handle. The rim is single-lashed, while the weave of the wood splints is extremely uniform and tight, providing symmetrical balance and unity. The flat bottom of the basket has artist Ira Blount’s initials and the number “98,” likely the date when he made the basket.

content: Journalist Deidre R. Gantt has noted that Blount’s philosophy on crafting aligns with the Shaker proverb “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Shaker beliefs about resourcefulness and self-sufficiency mirror Blount’s, and Shaker design influenced the form, style, and shape of this basket.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, adhesive

content: 4 3/8 × 5 1/2 in. (11.1 × 14 cm)

content: Basket with Single-Lashed Rim

title_sort: BASKET WITH SINGLE-LASHED RIM

title: Basket with Single-Lashed Rim


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Local artist Ira Blount designed this beadwork strap in a repeating pattern of rectangles, geometric shapes, and stripes in alternating red and green seed beads. When viewed from a distance, the central design resembles a diamond with small green embellishments in each corner. When viewed up close, the diamond shape becomes a cross. The elongated strap demonstrates how perspective shapes a work of art.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: beadwork

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 16 1/4 × 1 3/16 × 1/4 in. (41.3 × 3 × 0.7 cm)

content: Red and Green Beadwork Strap

title_sort: RED AND GREEN BEADWORK STRAP

title: Red and Green Beadwork Strap


content: 20th century

content: Many Washingtonians danced to rhythms played on this Haitian conga drum. Hide stretched taut across the drum forms its head, held by ropes wound around pegs that pierce the hide and jut out of the drum’s sides at a 45-degree angle. The cylindrical drum tapers into three increasingly narrow tiers carved at the base. In Haiti, it is known as a boula drum, one of three used in Vodou’s Rada rite, in which practitioners communicate with African ancestors. Used as a conga drum in Washington, DC, it belonged to percussionist, bandleader, and dancer Paul Hawkins, one of the founders of Latin jazz. The lifelong Washingtonian, who was African American, fused bebop and Latin rhythms into a musical style that united people in an era when race, class, and national origin typically segregated the city.

content: Muchos washingtonianos bailaron al ritmo de esta conga haitiana. La cabeza del tambor, formada por un parche de cuero tensado, está sujeta con cuerdas enrolladas alrededor de unas clavijas que atraviesan el cuero y sobresalen los lados del tambor en un ángulo de 45 grados. El cuerpo cilíndrico se afina en la base del tambor formando tres niveles cada vez más estrechos. En Haití es conocido como tambor boula, uno de los tres utilizados en el rito Rada del vudú, en el que los practicantes se comunican con sus antepasados africanos. Esta conga perteneció al percusionista, director de banda y bailarín Paul Hawkins, uno de los fundadores del jazz latino. Este ciudadano afroamericano, residente de Washington, D.C., de toda la vida, fusionó el bepop y los ritmos latinos creando un estilo musical capaz de unir a la gente en una época en la que la raza, la clase social y el país de origen segregaban la ciudad.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drum

content: wood, hide, and rope

content: 27 3/4 × 16 13/16 × 16 5/8 in. (70.5 × 42.7 × 42.3 cm)

content: Conga Drum Played by Paul Hawkins

title_sort: CONGA DRUM PLAYED BY PAUL HAWKINS

title: Conga Drum Played by Paul Hawkins


content: Ira Blount

content: Round reeds make up much of the body of this small basket, while thicker wood splints create a U-shaped design at the base of the splint-covered handle. Artist Ira Blount’s initials and the number “86” indicating the year are written in pen on the bottom.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, adhesive

content: 3 1/4 × 3 5/8 × 3 11/16 in. (8.2 × 9.2 × 9.4 cm)

content: Small Basket with Handle

title_sort: SMALL BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Small Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount uses round reeds and wood splints woven in a plain weave in this melon-shaped basket. Double plied twisted seagrass cord creates two vertical stripes along the sides of the basket. Seagrass cord also decorates the handle.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass

content: 8 1/4 × 8 11/16 in. (21 × 22 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Handle

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: This round basket has a double-lashed rim decorated with double plied twisted seagrass cord. The bottom is made of round reeds, while the sides are made of wood splints woven in a plain weave. Light pencil markings are visible inside the basket. The coated wooden handle is bent in a rectangular shape. The shape and style of the basket give it heft and functionality.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass

content: 10 5/8 × 10 3/8 in. (27 × 26.4 cm)

content: Round Basket with Handle

title_sort: ROUND BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Round Basket with Handle


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: The soft pink dots are a focal point in this ornately patterned origami crane featuring red flowers, green leaves, and blue, white, and gold designs. In Japanese, the term origami translates to folding paper. Here, artist Ira Blount transforms a simple square of paper into a graceful bird.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 3 7/16 × 3 3/8 × 2 5/8 in. (8.8 × 8.6 × 6.7 cm)

content: Origami Crane with Leaves and Flowers

title_sort: ORIGAMI CRANE WITH LEAVES AND FLOWERS

title: Origami Crane with Leaves and Flowers


content: Between 1974 and 1979

content: This Olivetti Studio 46 Typewriter belonged to Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006), who wrote science fiction when few black writers did. Butler began writing at age 10 and eventually used a computer to compose, but noted, “I didn’t always. I wrote my first ten books on a manual typewriter of one kind or another….She [my mother] did day work; she made not very much money….here she had a daughter begging for a typewriter.” Butler’s blue typewriter dates to the 1970s. It is manual, not electric; fingers must make metal letters leap to leave an inky imprint on paper rolled into the machine by hand. Though this model was made in Spain, Olivetti is an Italian company known for design. The red “Tab” key, for instance, stands solo in a field of creamy white. A case protects the machine from dust; its handle makes the typewriter portable. The exhibition, All the Stories Are True: African American Writers Speak, featured the typewriter in 2004.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: typewriter

content: plastic, metal

content: case: 6 1/4 × 17 1/8 × 17 1/2 in. (15.8 × 43.5 × 44.5 cm)

content: typewriter: 6 1/2 × 16 9/16 × 14 1/4 in. (16.5 × 42 × 36.2 cm)

content: Olivetti Studio 46 Typewriter Used by Octavia Butler

title_sort: OLIVETTI STUDIO 46 TYPEWRITER USED BY OCTAVIA BUTLER


content: Entering her fourth year as The Chicago Defender’s Washington correspondent, Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) wore this blue-and-white press pass when covering the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A paper badge hanging below the pinback button is punctuated with tiny blue elephants in a nod to political party. This badge granted Payne access to the Inaugural Ball, held January 21, 1957 at the D.C. National Guard Armory. Perhaps it was here that a famous Broadway performer inscribed “Love, Pearl Bailey” on the back of Payne’s press pass.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: press badge

content: paper, plastic, metal, cotton string

content: 8 9/16 × 3 7/16 × 3/8 in. (21.8 × 8.7 × 0.9 cm)

content: Press Pass Worn by Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: PRESS PASS WORN BY ETHEL L. PAYNE

title: Press Pass Worn by Ethel L. Payne


content: 20th century

content: Animal hide stretches across carved wood to form this tall drum made in Haiti. Thin ropes holding the hide are tautly secured to a wider rope tied around the drum’s middle. Wooden wedges fit snugly between ropes and drum. The drum tapers to a smaller cylinder at the bottom.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drum

content: hide wood string

content: 23 3/4 × 15 3/8 × 14 9/16 in. (60.4 × 39 × 37 cm)

content: Haitian Drum

title_sort: HAITIAN DRUM

title: Haitian Drum


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This basket is woven from wood splints and natural-colored and dyed purple reeds woven in a plain weave. Most of the purple reeds surround the God’s Eye design connecting the handle to the body of the basket. One purple wood splint is situated below the rim, while two round purple reeds accent the handle. Purple glass beads also decorate the handle.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, glass, dye, waxed linen cord

content: 4 5/8 × 5 1/16 × 4 3/4 in. (11.8 × 12.8 × 12 cm)

content: Handmade Basket with Purple Design and Handle

title_sort: HANDMADE BASKET WITH PURPLE DESIGN AND HANDLE


content: Brightly colored African batik and printed fabrics are set within a matrix of black cloth, rendering vividly the effect of a stained-glass window. Viola Canady, a gifted quilter, often applied her skill to spiritual themes, and used quilting to build community. She founded the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons, a Washington, DC quilting guild that taught and shared a love of quilting in local schools, hospitals, and civic centers. This piece visually honors the communities that form around African American religious practices and quilting traditions.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting

content: 28 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. (72.4 × 62.2 cm)

content: Cathedral Window Quilt

title_sort: CATHEDRAL WINDOW QUILT

title: Cathedral Window Quilt


content: Late 19th century

content: This friendship quilt typifies Victorian-era crazy quilts whose fine fabrics exhibit rich arrays of colors and embroidered embellishments, often with floral motifs. Blooming with daisies and raspberries on the vine, a red silk border frames four vertical and five horizontal blocks pieced from velvet, corduroy, linen, and silk. Baskets of flowers continue the botanical theme in several blocks. Feather, cretan, and other embroidery stitches outline patches, while embroidered figures feature children, sailing ships, leaves, acorns, birds, a butterfly, and interlocking rings that, in pairs, suggest wedding bands and, in threes, the Trinity. Unusually, a pair of purple scissors spans two squares. Near a moon and star, daisies grow beneath the initials “M.E.T.”, which belong to Martha Etta Custalow, an African American woman born in King William, Virginia in 1870. She wed John Samuel Taylor in King William in 1887, and they settled in Hartford, Connecticut. A friendship quilt often incorporates blocks made by others, which are then assembled and presented as a keepsake, often to a friend planning to move, but also to celebrate a marriage. Perhaps this quilt was made by, for, or with the newlywed Martha Etta Taylor as she prepared to move to Hartford, where she resided until her passing in 1955. A tan twill fabric serves as the quilt’s backing.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: silk, cotton, linen, batting

content: 76 × 62 7/8 in. (193 × 159.7 cm)

content: Friendship quilt

title_sort: FRIENDSHIP QUILT

title: Friendship quilt


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount uses a plain weave made of round reeds and wood splints in this melon-shaped basket. Double-plied twisted seagrass cord creates two vertical stripes along the sides of the basket. The seagrass cord also decorates the handle, which is attached to the body of the basket with a woven God’s Eye design.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass

content: 11 5/8 × 13 3/16 × 11 5/8 in. (29.5 × 33.5 × 29.5 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with God’s Eye

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH GOD’S EYE

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with God’s Eye


content: 20th century

content: Percussionist Paul Hawkins played this conga drum for Melvin Deal’s African Dance and Drumming classes at The New Thing Art and Architecture Center. The community-based arts center thrived in Washington, DC’s Adams Morgan Neighborhood between 1966 and 1973. Conga drums are a blend of West and Central African and Cuban drums. Stretched across the head of this tall, wooden drum are two layers of hide. Metal nails secure the top layer to the drum’s side, while hide strings in taut twists anchor the bottom layer to additional metal nails near the drum’s base, spanning the length of the drum. Like Deal, Hawkins was an African American dancer, drummer, and educator from Washington, DC. The bandleader also helped to found Latin jazz, a musical style that fused bebop and Latin rhythms and united people in an era when race, class, and national origin typically segregated the city.

content: El percusionista Paul Hawkins tocaba esta conga en las clases de danza y tambores africanos de Melvin Deal en el New Thing Art & Architecture Center. Este centro cultural comunitario floreció en el barrio Adams Morgan de Washington, D.C. entre 1966 y 1973. Las congas son una mezcla de tambores de África occidental y central y tambores de Cuba. La cabeza de este tambor de madera está cubierta por dos parches de cuero superpuestos. Unos clavos fijan la capa superior a los lados del tambor, mientras que unas cuerdas de cuero tensadas sujetan la capa inferior a otros clavos cerca de la base del tambor. Al igual que Deal, Hawkins fue un bailarín, percusionista y educador afroamericano de Washington, D.C. El también director de banda fue uno de los fundadores del jazz latino, un estilo musical que fusionó el bepop y los ritmos latinos y logró unir a la gente en una época en la que la raza, la clase social y el país de origen segregaban a la ciudad.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Paul Hawkins

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drum

content: wood, hide, metal

content: 25 7/8 × 14 3/4 × 14 15/16 in. (65.8 × 37.5 × 38 cm)

content: Conga Drum Played by Paul Hawkins

title: Conga Drum Played by Paul Hawkins


content: After 1867

content: In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, DC. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Their discoveries included household objects, such as this small glass bottle, which might have been used for medicine. It likely dates to the neighborhood’s most prosperous period, 1880-1920.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: bottle

content: Glass and tape

content: 3 7/16 × 1 9/16 × 7/8 in. (8.8 × 4 × 2.3 cm)

content: Glass Bottle Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: GLASS BOTTLE EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Glass Bottle Excavated in Anacostia


content: Ira Blount

content: This work incorporates quilting, cross-stitch, and stencil. The center panel’s stitching depicts a schoolhouse, two children, and two trees, along with a meandering row of letters of the alphabet. Animals are scattered throughout the letters, including a bird near the “B,” a dog or deer near the “D,” and a turtle near the “T.” The green fabric border is stenciled with a geometric design in white paint and the quilt layers are tied with cream and green embroidery thread. The backing of the quilt is pieced from the same dark green as the border, and a dark calico cloth.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilted wall hanging

content: cotton, batting, paint, ink

content: 11 7/8 × 18 7/8 in. (30.2 × 47.9 cm)

content: School Days

title_sort: SCHOOL DAYS

title: School Days


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This tin punch features the outline of a pineapple enclosed in an oval. During the Colonial era, the rare fruit was often displayed by members of the upper class and it came to represent hospitality. Perhaps artist Ira Blount intended to invoke a symbol of welcoming in his modern take on the traditional, eighteenth-century craft.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: tin punch

content: tin plate

content: 16 1/4 × 11 × 1 1/2 in. (41.2 × 28 × 3.8 cm)

content: Pineapple Tin Punch

title_sort: PINEAPPLE TIN PUNCH

title: Pineapple Tin Punch


content: Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) wore this press pass to cover the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower for The Chicago Defender, the nation’s leading African American newspaper. The blue-and-white button admitted Payne to the inauguration ceremony on January 20, 1953 and to related events. Payne also attended an inaugural ball held the following evening at the D.C. National Guard Armory, which featured renowned musicians Lionel Hampton and W.C. Handy.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: press badge

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 5/16 × 3 7/16 in. (0.8 × 8.7 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Working Press Pass" Worn By Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "WORKING PRESS PASS" WORN BY ETHEL L. PAYNE


content: Ira Blount

content: This small melon-shaped basket is made of wood splints and round reeds woven in a plain weave. Reeds dyed purple, pink, and brown are woven into a U-shape that accents the God’s Eye design at the base of the handle.

content: Blount made this basket in 1980, the year he began crafting baskets. He recalls how his first attempt “was a total disaster. The basket wouldn’t sit up…But, I kept trying and trying and finally I made a few that were presentable.” This perseverance is a hallmark of Blount’s process.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, dye

content: 5 7/8 × 6 11/16 × 6 5/16 in. (15 × 17 × 16 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Dyed Reed Design

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH DYED REED DESIGN


content: Ira Blount

content: This nine-square block quilt has four large blue and white checkboard blocks interspersed with five white blocks. The white blocks are stenciled with a feather-like design reminiscent of Delftware ceramic patterns in blue ink or paint. The outline of the curvy shapes of this design have been hand-quilted with off-white thread, giving the appearance of applique. The remainder of the quilting is done following a diagonal line through the corners and centers of each of the squares.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, acrylic paint

content: 25 1/2 × 26 in. (64.8 × 66 cm)

content: Blue and White Quilt

title_sort: BLUE AND WHITE QUILT

title: Blue and White Quilt


content: mid 20th Century

content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner used this recorder for his research on languages in Africa in 1951. The Webster Chicago Electronic Memory Wire Recorder appeared in the late 1940s and significantly improved on earlier recorders. It could record for up to 60 minutes without interruption. Although heavy, it was portable, and cost half the price of older recorders. It used stainless steel wires that had been put to regular use by the United States military in World War II. The wires could be erased and re-used, which made this equipment more economical, though on occasion, the wires tangled in the winding process.

content: The Webster Company was based in Chicago, and its products were of high quality. Nevertheless, the company did not keep up with the fast pace of change in recording technology in the 1950s and 1960s. They were purchased by another company, and its brand name, WebCor, disappeared in the 1960s.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: recorder

content: metal, plastic

content: 8 3/4 × 10 1/2 × 12 in. (22.2 × 26.7 × 30.5 cm)

content: Webster Chicago Electronic Memory Recorder

title_sort: WEBSTER CHICAGO ELECTRONIC MEMORY RECORDER


content: Ira Blount

content: Here, artist Ira Blount showcases his origami and calligraphy skills, as well as his sense of humor. Text on the left reads “In case you ever lose your shirt…” inscribed in green ink. On the right, Blount transforms a dollar bill into a collared short sleeved shirt. Blount works with the design of the dollar to create a white collar, and the Seal of the United States is prominently displayed on the chest. The piece illustrates how everyday objects can be converted into works of art, embodying the artist's humor and philosophy of resourcefulness.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: greeting card

content: ink and pencil on paper

content: Frame: 10 1/16 × 12 1/4 × 1 in. (25.6 × 31.1 × 2.5 cm)

content: In Case You Ever Lose Your Shirt

title_sort: IN CASE YOU EVER LOSE YOUR SHIRT

title: In Case You Ever Lose Your Shirt


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Uniformity, symmetry, and precision are the defining characteristics of this beaded strap. In the center of the piece, a small green diamond is surrounded by yellow, orange, white, and black borders. Other shapes, including chevrons and triangles, draw attention to the geometry underpinning this beadwork. A delicate thread fringe on each short end completes the decorative craft.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: beadwork

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 14 15/16 × 2 9/16 × 1/16 in. (38 × 6.5 × 0.2 cm)

content: Long Beaded Strap

title_sort: LONG BEADED STRAP

title: Long Beaded Strap


content: This shield-shaped badge admitted reporters to a planning session for the White House Conference on Civil Rights promised by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. In his commencement address at Howard University on June 4, he pledged to convene scholars, government officials, and civil rights activists so that African Americans could “fulfill the rights, which, after the long time of injustice, he [sic] is finally about to secure.” The historic speech became known by the same name as the conference, “To Fulfill These Rights.” The first of several planning sessions took place in July 1965, culminating in a public planning session in November 1965. At the Washington Hilton, 240 leaders debated how to realize full equality for African Americans in a prelude to a conference that would draw 2,500 delegates from across the country in June 1966. The blue-and-white badge, punctuated by a yellow embossed label, is almost identical to two other badges in Ethel L. Payne’s collection of press passes and political pins. The longtime Washington, DC resident and political reporter became known as the First Lady of the Black Press for her pioneering journalism career, but Payne (1911-1991) attended the planning session(s) in her press-like role as an employee of the Democratic National Committee.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Ethel Lois Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: press badge

content: plastic, metal

content: 2 5/16 × 2 3/4 × 3/8 in. (5.9 × 7 × 0.9 cm)

content: White House Conference Badge Worn By Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE BADGE WORN BY ETHEL L. PAYNE


content: c. 1850

content: This overshot coverlet is woven in a variation on a pattern known as Tennessee Trouble. The bedcovering’s warp is linen, while its green and red weft is wool. A grid of squares in six horizontal and six vertical rows composes the boldest elements of the reversible, geometric pattern. The overshot weave is typical of coverlets made in the South, which could be woven at home on a four-shaft loom. This coverlet might have been made by enslaved African Americans near Fayette, Mississippi in the mid-nineteenth century. In addition to weaving the coverlet, it is possible that the makers also cultivated the flax and spun it into linen as well as carded, spun, and dyed the wool.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: coverlet

content: cotton, wool

content: 101 3/16 × 91 9/16 in. (257 × 232.5 cm)

content: Woven Overshot Coverlet

title_sort: WOVEN OVERSHOT COVERLET

title: Woven Overshot Coverlet