content: mid 20th Century

content: This collection of paintbrushes and painting tools used by Alma Thomas includes a reed pen, palette and painting knives for mixing and applying paint, and natural bristle brushes. The paint splotches caked on the handles evidences their heavy use. Thomas sought inspiration from the city of Washington in her work, and was known to frequent the National Arboretum and the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials. These painting tools helped Thomas transform her impressions of the world around her into the colorful, fragmented abstract works of art for which she is best known.

content: Esta colección de pinceles y utensilios utilizados por Alma Thomas incluye una pluma de caña, espátulas para mezclar y aplicar pintura y pinceles de cerda natural. Las manchas de pintura que cubren los mangos evidencian su uso intensivo. Thomas buscaba inspiración para sus obras en la ciudad de Washington, y era conocida por frecuentar el Arboretum Nacional y los monumentos a Jefferson y Lincoln. Estos utensilios de pintura ayudaron a Thomas a transformar su percepción del mundo que la rodeaba en las coloridas y fragmentadas obras de arte abstracto por las que es más conocida.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: artist kit

content: metal, bamboo, paint, wood

content: Reed pen: 8 1/16 × 13/16 × 3/8 in. (20.5 × 2 × 1 cm)

content: Palette knife lanceolate : 9 1/8 × 13/16 × 3/8 in. (23.1 × 2.1 × 1 cm)

content: Palette knife oblong : 8 13/16 × 7/8 × 9/16 in. (22.4 × 2.2 × 1.5 cm)

content: Palette knife multi angle: 8 1/2 × 1 1/16 × 3/8 in. (21.6 × 2.7 × 1 cm)

content: Thin brush: 11 5/8 × 1/2 × 3/16 in. (29.5 × 1.3 × 0.5 cm)

content: Thick brush: 12 1/16 × 1 1/4 × 1/2 in. (30.7 × 3.1 × 1.2 cm)

content: Long brush: 13 9/16 × 7/8 × 1/2 in. (34.4 × 2.3 × 1.3 cm)

content: Alma Thomas's Painting Tools

title_sort: ALMA THOMAS'S PAINTING TOOLS

title: Alma Thomas's Painting Tools


unitCode: ACM

type: edanmdm

label: Date

label: Artist

content: Ira Blount

label: Caption

content: In this wood carving, artist and veteran Ira Blount pays tribute to the Great Seal of the United States. Like the national symbol, this features an eagle wielding a shield with thirteen stripes representing the original thirteen states. The bird holds an olive branch in its right talon and arrows in its left one, indicating peace and war respectively. Unlike the official seal, the eagle looks to the right toward war, perhaps a nod to Blount's service during World War II. The carving also lacks the scroll reading E Pluribus Unum (a Latin phrase meaning “out of many, one") and the field of stars.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following the conclusion of the war, 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: woodwork

label: Restrictions & Rights

label: Medium

content: wood, leather

label: Dimensions

content: 8 × 22 1/2 × 7/8 in. (20.3 × 57.2 × 2.2 cm)

label: Title

content: Wood Carving of the Great Seal of the United States

unit_code: ACM

title_sort: WOOD CARVING OF THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES

data_source: Anacostia Community Museum

type: Images

label: High-resolution TIFF

label: High-resolution JPEG

label: Screen Image

label: Thumbnail Image


content: Ira Blount

content: This brown, wood splint basket has a decorative handle bent in a rectangular shape. The rim is single-lashed and adorned with double plied twisted seagrass cord. The sturdy, rectangular shape complements the plaited weave.

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: reed wood splint, seagrass, dye

content: 10 13/16 × 11 1/8 × 13 1/4 in. (27.5 × 28.3 × 33.6 cm)

content: Plaited Basket with Rectangular-Shaped Handle

title_sort: PLAITED BASKET WITH RECTANGULAR-SHAPED HANDLE


content: Wearing this press pass, journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) witnessed the proceedings of the historic Asian-African Conference, which took place in April 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. The metal pin’s cream center box declares “Press,” while its blue border bears the conference’s name, date, and location. Payne’s stories in The Chicago Defender, the nation’s leading African American newspaper, explained the gathering’s importance. Representing half of the world’s population, delegates from twenty-nine countries collaborated on challenges facing Asia and Africa and on ways to work together for world peace. Notably, the United States and Soviet Union were not invited, nor was South Africa due to apartheid. Payne was among few Americans—and even fewer female reporters—to attend. The Capital Press Club honored Payne with its Journalist of the Year Award for reporting on the Bandung Conference, a prize she would win again more than a decade later for reporting on the Vietnam War.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Avis R. Johnson.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pin

content: metal, emanel, paint metal, enamel

content: 1 1/8 × 1 9/16 × 3/8 in. (2.9 × 4 × 1 cm)

content: Pin, "Press Pin 1955"

title_sort: PIN, "PRESS PIN 1955"

title: Pin, "Press Pin 1955"


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: In this busy print, green, purple, white, yellow, and blue plants are outlined by metallic gold. Though the print is identical to another origami crane folded by artist Ira Blount (2011.0004.0084), comparing the two paper sculptures draws the viewer’s attention to the way creases and folds highlight different elements of the print including shapes, colors, and patterns.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 4 1/8 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in. (10.5 × 9.2 × 5.7 cm)

content: Origami Crane with Ferns and Plants

title_sort: ORIGAMI CRANE WITH FERNS AND PLANTS

title: Origami Crane with Ferns and Plants


content: late 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) carves a string motif into this wooden box, creating the illusion of a parcel wrapped in double strands of twine and knotted at its center. The design spans the lid and extends over the small square’s sides, with indentations next to the “string” that give the impression of a tightly-wrapped package. The creatively-crafted container encourages viewers to imagine what might be inside.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: box

content: wood

content: Including Lid: 3 × 3 × 3/4 in. (7.6 × 7.6 × 1.9 cm)

content: Other (Lid Only): 3 × 3 × 5/8 in.

content: Carved Parcel Box

title_sort: CARVED PARCEL BOX

title: Carved Parcel Box


content: ca. 1982

content: This pinback button proclaims love for Fisk University, an historically Black university located in Nashville, Tennessee. The button, sporting the school’s emblematic blue and gold, belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991). Fisk honored Payne with an endowed professorship named for another pioneering journalist and activist, the Ida B. Wells Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication. As its first recipient, Payne taught classes and mentored students during the 1982-83 academic year. A Chicago native, Payne moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news. The lifelong civil rights activist reported from thirty countries over the course of her career, 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, plastic, paper

content: 5/16 × 2 15/16 in. (0.8 × 7.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "I Love Fisk"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "I LOVE FISK"

title: Pinback Button, "I Love Fisk"


content: This pinback button celebrates the election of Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago, in 1983. A diverse coalition of voters “punched eight” for Washington, the eighth candidate on the ballot in the primary. “We ‘8’ Um Up” playfully exults in victory. The white-and-blue button belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), a Chicago native who moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. She followed Washington’s mayoral campaign closely and collected pins that told the story: from grassroots campaign (1991.0076.0144) to victorious celebration (1991.0076.0172) to inauguration day (1991.0076.0170). Payne, a lifelong civil rights activist, reported from thirty countries over the course of her own pioneering career, becoming known as the First Lady of the Black Press.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 3/8 × 2 15/16 in. (0.9 × 7.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "We '8" Um Up"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "WE '8" UM UP"

title: Pinback Button, "We '8" Um Up"


content: Early 20th Century

content: This Dresden mesh purse hails from the early twentieth century, when the invention of mesh-making machines dramatically increased daily link production. Enamel coats the purse’s fine ring metal mesh, giving an impressionistic watercolor appearance in hues of yellow, pink, green, and blue. The color scheme continues on metal fringes that hang below the German-made bag. The bag’s gold-tone metal hand chain hangs from a metal frame with floral scrolling painted green and blue. The dual acorn-shaped clasps each have a blue glass bead set in metal. The evening bag is one of two Dresden mesh purses (1997.0020.0001) in the Anacostia Community Museum’s collection. Both 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: metal mesh purse

content: enamel on metal mesh, metal, glass beads

content: 11 1/8 × 4 15/16 × 3/16 in. (28.2 × 12.6 × 0.5 cm)

content: Dresden Mesh Purse

title_sort: DRESDEN MESH PURSE

title: Dresden Mesh Purse


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This melon-shaped basket is woven with light and dark brown wood splints and reeds in a plain weave. The darker brown reeds create two vertical stripes. The handle is covered with a plain weave with a reed weft and attached to the basket with a 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, dye

content: 11 13/16 × 13 × 12 7/8 in. (30 × 33 × 32.7 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Dark Brown Stripes

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH DARK BROWN STRIPES


content: Between 1985 and 2016

content: For chef and author Sandra Gutiérrez, a tortilla press is an essential tool for Southern-Latino cooking. She traces the development of this late twentieth-century culinary tradition to the growth of the Latinx population in the southeastern United States. As detailed in her cookbook, The New Southern-Latino Table, ingredients, tools, and cooking techniques of the American South and twenty-one Latin American countries fuse into new foods and flavors. Gutiérrez gives tortillas a new twist with this cast-aluminum press, labeled underneath with her first name in red. To form a tortilla, place a ball of dough between the press’s two round, flat plates. Close and pull the long-handled lever to flatten it into the Latin American staple. Along with her cast-iron skillet (2017.14.1) and biscuit cutters (2017.14.2a-c), Gutiérrez’s tortilla press was on display at the Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition, Gateways/Portales, from December 2016 to January 2018.

content: Para la chef y autora Sandra Gutiérrez, la prensa para tortillas es una herramienta esencial para la cocina sureña-latina. La autora atribuye el desarrollo de esta tradición culinaria de finales del siglo XX al crecimiento de la población latina en el sureste de Estados Unidos. Como detalla en su libro de cocina, The New Southern-Latino Table, los ingredientes, las herramientas y las técnicas culinarias del sur de Estados Unidos y de veintiún países latinoamericanos se fusionan en nuevos alimentos y sabores. Gutiérrez da un nuevo giro a las tortillas con esta prensa de aluminio fundido, que lleva escrito su nombre en rojo en la parte inferior. Para formar una tortilla, se coloca una bola de masa entre las dos placas redondas lisas de la prensa. Se cierra y se tira de la palanca de mango largo para aplanar la masa hasta convertirla en el alimento básico latinoamericano.

content: Junto con su sartén de hierro fundido (2017.14.1) y sus cortadores de galletas (2017.14.2a-c), la prensa para tortillas de Gutiérrez estuvo expuesta en la exposición del Anacostia Community Museum, 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: tortilla maker

content: metal

content: 9 1/8 × 6 7/16 × 3 11/16 in. (23.1 × 16.4 × 9.4 cm)

content: Other (Measurements with tortilla press and handle open): 7 9/16 × 14 15/16 in. (19.2 × 38 cm)

content: Sandra Gutiérrez’s Tortilla Press

title_sort: SANDRA GUTIÉRREZ’S TORTILLA PRESS

title: Sandra Gutiérrez’s Tortilla Press


content: late 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: A dove's silhouette graces the lid of this carved wooden box. A notch on the front of the vessel facilitates the lid’s easy removal. A semi-gloss coating highlights the woods' natural grains, which includes dark, straited lines on the decorated cover and different tones and hues on the bottom.

content: After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount (1918-2020) 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: box

content: wood

content: Including Lid: 6 × 4 × 2 1/4 in. (15.2 × 10.2 × 5.7 cm)

content: Other (Lid Only): 6 × 4 × 3/4 in.

content: Carved Box with Dove

title_sort: CARVED BOX WITH DOVE

title: Carved Box with Dove


content: Early 20th century

content: This Dresden mesh purse hails from the early twentieth century, when the invention of mesh-making machines dramatically increased daily link production. Recalling an impressionistic watercolor, enamel coats the purse’s fine ring metal mesh in hues of deep pink, green, and blue on a lighter pink background. Scallops serrate the bottom of the German-made bag. The purse’s golden metal hand chain hangs from a similarly-hued metal frame. An angular metal fastener embossed with scrollwork exemplifies the era’s Art Deco style. Pink silk lines the bag’s interior. The evening bag is one of two Dresden mesh purses (1997.0020.0003) in the Anacostia Community Museum’s collection. Both 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

content: metal mesh purse

content: enamel on metal mesh, metal, silk

content: 11 × 5 1/4 × 3/8 in. (28 × 13.3 × 0.9 cm)

content: Dresden Mesh Purse

title: Dresden Mesh Purse


content: 20th century

content: Stitches swirl into flowers on this embroidered clutch made of light yellow silk. On the purse’s front flap, which closes with a metal snap, two blue blooms bookend a beige one traced in blue. Similarly, one of each color sits next to the hand grab in the back. A mixture of green and brown leaves surrounds the flowers on the front and back. The bag’s back features a zippered compartment, and its interior is lined with silk moiré.

content: The clutch 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. Porter Wesley might have carried the clutch at a formal university event. Some news accounts described attendees’ clothing along with the occasion itself. Perhaps this clutch’s blue accents coordinated with the “summer frock of blue figured cotton crepe” that Porter Wesley wore to the Howard Faculty Wives’ Club annual dinner, as chronicled by the Baltimore Afro-American in 1942.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: purse

content: silk, cotton, metal

content: Open: 8 1/2 × 10 5/8 × 13/16 in. (21.6 × 27 × 2.1 cm)

content: Close: 8 1/2 × 6 1/8 × 13/16 in. (21.6 × 15.6 × 2.1 cm)

content: Embroidered Clutch

title_sort: EMBROIDERED CLUTCH

title: Embroidered Clutch


content: 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This wooden letter opener features a carved handle in the shape of wheat embellished with colorful seed beads in blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and black rows. The piece illustrates local artist Ira Blount’s interest in transforming everyday objects into works of art.

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: letter opener

content: Wood with plastic beads threaded on.

content: 1/2 × 8 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (1.3 × 21.6 × 3.2 cm)

content: Carved Letter Opener

title_sort: CARVED LETTER OPENER

title: Carved Letter Opener


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 journalist 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, Senate 1564. President Lyndon B. Johnson used this ceremonial pen to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law on August 6, 1965. The previous year, President Johnson presented Payne with a ceremonial pen at the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also in ACM’s Collection. The pens are treasured tokens of political favor.

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 Voting Rights Act

title_sort: CEREMONIAL PEN USED BY PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON TO SIGN THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT


content: Ira Blount

content: The twig rim of this wall basket produces a natural, uneven shape. Wood splints and round reeds are woven in a plain weave. The handle, also made of twig, attaches to the basket with a God’s Eye design. A macrame decoration made of red and mauve pony beads hangs below the rim on one side.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

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

content: 11 3/4 × 11 13/16 × 9 1/16 in. (29.8 × 30 × 23 cm)

content: Curved Basket with Beaded Design

title_sort: CURVED BASKET WITH BEADED DESIGN

title: Curved Basket with Beaded Design


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Glass and metal beads adorn the rim of this decorative, spherical gourd crafted by Ira Blount, a DC-based artist and craftsman. The pattern of the beads echoes the etched design below, with both featuring triangular shapes intersected by a line. The triangular motif highlights the different textures and media while unifying the object’s multiple elements. Though many different cultures have used plain and embellished gourds for utilitarian and aesthetic purposes—transforming the plant into dippers, bowls, rattles, and even musical instruments—this ornamental piece also served a practical function for the artist who found purpose and joy in crafting.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: gourd

content: gourd, glass, wood ,metal, paint, waxed linen cord, nylon thread

content: 3 1/4 × 4 1/8 in. (8.2 × 10.5 cm)

content: Decorative Gourd with Beads

title_sort: DECORATIVE GOURD WITH BEADS

title: Decorative Gourd with Beads


content: Ira Blount

content: By carving this wooden box in the shape of a leaf, artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) pays homage to its natural origins, a tree. The box’s lid etches the leaf’s stem and veins in three-dimensional detail. Like a sandwich, the lid fits onto a curvelinear container with two equal layers, the upper in deep brown and the lower matching the lid's medium brown. A glossy stain finishes the vessel.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: box

content: wood

content: Including Lid: 6 × 3 1/2 × 2 1/4 in. (15.2 × 8.9 × 5.7 cm)

content: Other (Lid Only): 6 × 3 1/2 × 3/4 in.

content: Carved Wood Leaf-Shaped Box

title_sort: CARVED WOOD LEAF-SHAPED BOX

title: Carved Wood Leaf-Shaped Box


content: Between 1950 and 1970

content: These ruffled sleeves shimmy and shimmer on the arms of a mambo dancer. The seven-layered sleeves repeat a pattern of black, gold lamé, and red fabric, with black on both elasticized ends. Mambo emerged from Afro-Cuban jazz in the 1940s and flourished in Mexico City and New York City in the 1950s. Dance leader Roland Kavé (1931-2017) introduced mambo to Washington, DC, donning these sleeves in performance during its peak popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. The native Washingtonian, known as DC’s “Mambo King,” taught hundreds of people to mambo on U Street Corridor dance floors, including the Casbah and the Tropical Room in the Dunbar Hotel.

content: Estas mangas con volantes brillan y se menean en los brazos de un bailarín de mambo. Compuestas por siete franjas de tela, las mangas repiten un patrón en negro, lamé dorado y rojo, con negro en los extremos elásticos. El mambo tuvo su origen en el jazz afrocubano de los años cuarenta y floreció en Ciudad de México y Nueva York en los cincuenta. El líder de danza Roland Kavé (1931-2017) introdujo el mambo en Washington, D.C., luciendo estas mangas en sus actuaciones durante su pico de popularidad en las décadas de 1950 y 1960. Este nativo de Washington, conocido como el "Rey del Mambo", enseñó a cientos de personas a bailar mambo en las pistas del corredor de la calle U, incluidas Casbah y Tropical Room en el hotel Dunbar.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Roland Kavé

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: sleeves

content: cotton and synthetic fabrics, elastic

content: Measurement of single sleeve (1995.0023.0010a): 19 5/8 × 12 13/16 × 3 3/8 in. (49.9 × 32.5 × 8.5 cm)

content: Measurement of single sleeve (1995.0023.0010b): 20 9/16 × 10 3/8 × 2 5/8 in. (52.2 × 26.4 × 6.6 cm)

content: Roland Kavé’s Ruffled Mambo Sleeves

title_sort: ROLAND KAVÉ’S RUFFLED MAMBO SLEEVES

title: Roland Kavé’s Ruffled Mambo Sleeves


content: circa 1967

content: This Panasonic Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder model RQ-705 was manufactured between 1964 and 1966 by the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. in Japan and exported to the United States.

content: Reel-to-reel audio tape recording used two magnetic tape reels, one to hold the virgin, unrecorded tape and one to receive the recorded tape. The supply reel, also known as the feed reel, was placed in a hub, the end of the tape was manually pulled out of the reel and threaded through mechanical guides and the tape head assembly and attached to the second take-up reel, which was initially empty. This new system of recording on tape revolutionized sound recording and reproduction. Inexpensive reel-to-reel tape recorders were widely used at home for voice recordings in the 1960s. The cassette tape was introduced in 1963 and eventually replaced reel-to-reel recorders for consumer use.

content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, a noted African American linguist, probably bought this recorder for entertainment at home. He last conducted fieldwork in the 1950s, so it is unlikely that he used this recorder for his research.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: tape recorder

content: metal, plastic, wire, and foam.

content: 6 7/16 × 13 7/8 × 14 1/2 in. (16.4 × 35.3 × 36.8 cm)

content: Panasonic Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder

title_sort: PANASONIC REEL-TO-REEL TAPE RECORDER

title: Panasonic Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder


content: Ira Blount

content: This egg basket uses a combination of natural-colored wood splints and round reeds to create a plain weave with subtle patterning. Artist Ira Blount creates a U-shaped design around the God’s Eye design by substituting three thin round reeds for one wood splint in the weave. The wood handle is covered by a plain weave with a reed weft.

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

content: 13 1/16 × 13 3/16 × 15 3/16 in. (33.2 × 33.5 × 38.5 cm)

content: Egg Basket with Handle

title_sort: EGG BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Egg Basket with Handle


content: c. 1994

content: Ira Blount

content: Longtime DC resident Ira Blount was born in Tennessee, but global influences inspired his work. Here, Blount has created an intricate cross-stich embroidery that depicts a woman wearing a floral kimono peering over a fan that partially covers her mouth. She crouches at the edge of water, her head framed by a ring of cascading flowers, while a dragonfly flutters nearby. The needlework piece is characterized by a pastel color palette featuring purples, yellows, and blues, and is notable for its intricate stitching and representation of Japanese culture.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton thread

content: 21 7/8 × 17 3/4 in. (55.6 × 45.1 cm)

content: Cross-Stitch of Woman in Kimono with Fan

title_sort: CROSS-STITCH OF WOMAN IN KIMONO WITH FAN


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: A black symbol enclosed in a rectangular black border is the central focus of this orange beadwork piece. A single blue seed bead is hidden in the top right of the black border. Viewers are encouraged to consider whether the artist simply ran out of supplies, or if the colorful addition was an intentional choice.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: beadwork

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 9 13/16 × 2 3/4 × 1/16 in. (25 × 7 × 0.2 cm)

content: Beadwork with Symbol

title_sort: BEADWORK WITH SYMBOL

title: Beadwork with Symbol


content: early 20th-mid 20th Century

content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, a linguist, bought this hand-cranked phonograph and a set of phonograph records and illustrated textbooks to learn the Portuguese language before traveling to Brazil in 1940-41. Ironically, the course taught Portuguese from Portugal, and Dr. Turner found upon arrival in Rio de Janeiro that he had to hire a local teacher to understand Brazilian Portuguese.

content: Linguaphone is the proprietary name of a language-learning program that sold the phonograph, along with records and textbooks. The Linguaphone Institute was founded in London in 1901, the first language training company to recognize the value of combining written lessons with sound recordings, recorded intially on wax cylinders, and later on phonograph records. The Portuguese language course purchased by Dr. Turner included 15 10-inch phonograph records, an illustrated textbook, and a supplementary booklet, none of which have been preserved.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: phonograph

content: leather metal cloth velvet

content: closed: 7 x 13 x 15 1/2 in.

content: closed with handcrank: 7 x 13 x 18 in.

content: open: 19 x 13 x 15 1/2 in.

content: Linguaphone Phonograph

title_sort: LINGUAPHONE PHONOGRAPH

title: Linguaphone Phonograph


content: Ira Blount

content: In this paper silhouette cutting, a woman sits in a ladder-back chair, hand-sewing a nine-patch quilt that covers her lap like a full skirt. While the form obscures the quilter’s identity, the image may pay homage to artist Ira Blount’s mother, a seamstress who taught her sons to sew and made quilts to keep their family warm. The piece invites viewers to consider how the domestic arts have changed over time. In our current moment, when advances in technology and mass-production have eliminated the need for many traditional home crafts, these media are transformed into pleasurable hobbies.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: papercutting

content: paper

content: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)

content: Paper Silhouette of Quilter

title_sort: PAPER SILHOUETTE OF QUILTER

title: Paper Silhouette of Quilter


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small egg basket is made with reeds and wood splints of roughly uniform size, shape, and color. The plain weave, also known as a tabby weave, highlights the basket’s simplicity and intricacy; the materials and weave create a repetitive pattern remarkable in its symmetrical balance. A God’s Eye design connects the rim and handle.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, adhesive

content: 3 3/8 × 3 3/4 × 4 3/8 in. (8.5 × 9.5 × 11.1 cm)

content: Egg Basket with God's Eye

title_sort: EGG BASKET WITH GOD'S EYE

title: Egg Basket with God's Eye


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This rectangular copper punch centers four leaves and flowers enclosed within a larger circle. Each of the shiny sheet’s corners contains a heart with a curvilinear design, and a single dotted row forms a border. The evenly-spaced punches and overall symmetry provide unity and cohesion to this contemporary example of the traditional American form made by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: tin punch

content: copper plate

content: 10 1/2 × 15 1/2 × 9/16 in. (26.7 × 39.4 × 1.4 cm)

content: Copper Punch

title_sort: COPPER PUNCH

title: Copper Punch


content: Ira Blount

content: A broad, undulating inlaid band decorates the lid of this carved wooden box. The lighter shade of wood sets the curvilinear design apart from the rest of the container’s dark stained wood. Embodying both aesthetic and practical storage functions, this box demonstrates artist Ira Blount’s ability to transform ordinary objects into works of art.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: box

content: wood

content: Including Lid: 6 × 3 × 2 in. (15.2 × 7.6 × 5.1 cm)

content: Other (Lid Only): 3 × 3 × 3/4 in.

content: Carved Inlay Box

title_sort: CARVED INLAY BOX

title: Carved Inlay Box


content: Late 20th century

content: This pinback button advocates for statehood for the District of Columbia. The red-and-white button proposes “New Columbia” as the potential 51st state’s name. It belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991). A longtime Washington, DC resident, political reporter, and activist, Payne became known as the First Lady of the Black Press for her pioneering career.

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, plastic, paper

content: 3/8 × 2 3/16 in. (1 × 5.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Free D.C."

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "FREE D.C."

title: Pinback Button, "Free D.C."


content: 20th century

content: When Casilda Luna moved from the Dominican Republic to Washington, DC in 1962, she brought this metal crucifix with her. Affectionately known as “Abuelita,” or Grandmother, to the District’s Latinx community, Luna became a social worker and an advocate for her Adams Morgan neighborhood and beyond. The Gothic-style crucifix features a metal ring at its top for hanging on a wall to use devotionally at home. It was first on view in the Anacostia Museum’s Black Mosaic exhibition (1994-95), which focused on immigrant communities of African descent who migrated from Central and South America and the Caribbean to the Washington, DC area after World War II. A subsequent exhibition, Gateways/Portales, featured the crucifix in its exploration of Latinx immigration experiences in four US cities (2016-2018).

content: Cuando Casilda Luna se mudó de la República Dominicana a Washington, D.C., en 1962, trajo consigo este crucifijo de metal. Conocida cariñosamente como "Abuelita" por la comunidad latina del distrito, Luna se convirtió en trabajadora social y defensora de su barrio de Adams Morgan y más allá. El crucifijo, de estilo gótico, tiene un anillo de metal en la parte superior para colgarlo en la pared y usarlo de forma devocional en casa.

content: Se presentó por primera vez en la exposición "Black Mosaic" del Anacostia Community Museum (1994-95), que se centró en las comunidades de inmigrantes de ascendencia africana que emigraron de América Central, Sudamérica y el Caribe a la zona de Washington, D.C. después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Una exposición posterior, "Gateways/Portales, incluyó el crucifijo en su exploración de las experiencias de inmigración de los latinos en cuatro ciudades estadounidenses (2016-2018).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: Crucifix

content: metal

content: 4 5/8 × 2 1/2 × 3/16 in. (11.8 × 6.4 × 0.5 cm)

content: Casilda Luna’s Crucifix

title_sort: CASILDA LUNA’S CRUCIFIX

title: Casilda Luna’s Crucifix


content: William N. Buckner

content: This eight-string marionette was made by William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984), a 1907 graduate of M Street High School, the renowned public school for African Americans in Washington, DC’s segregated system later renamed for poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dressed as a dancer, the marionette serves as an example of M Street’s innovative instruction, which produced prominent leaders in the District and beyond, from educator and activist Nannie Helen Burroughs to civil rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston. Integrated into the school’s academic and vocational offerings was an arts curriculum developed by visionary art educator Thomas W. Hunster (1851-1929) and supported by Principal Anna J. Cooper (1858-1964). Students learned not only to observe and draw their surroundings—from classrooms supplied with live plants and animals to buildings in the nation’s capital, but also to plan and then realize projects, such as laying a wooden floor or producing a puppet show.

content: Buckner continued to use skills honed at M Street throughout his life as an artist and educator. After graduating, he attended Minor Normal School, which trained teachers for the city’s Black public schools, and later earned degrees at Howard and Columbia universities. He served for forty-seven years as an educator, primarily in District schools, though also at Howard, before retiring as principal of Armstrong Vocational High School in 1957. His colleagues were also his artistic peers, including painters Kenn Simpson, a Dunbar graduate who taught at Kelly Miller Junior High as well as Roosevelt and Woodson High Schools (2014.0027.0001), and Alma W. Thomas, an Armstrong alum who taught art at Shaw Junior High School for thirty-five years before becoming the first African American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of Art (1990.0063.0002). Like them, Buckner participated continuously in the city’s art community, for example, by serving as an art show juror, or judge, alongside artists like Thomas, James A. Porter (2001.0003.0009), and James Lesesne Wells (2014.0018.0001).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: puppet

content: paper-mâché, wood, paint, wire, synthetic fiber, jute fiber, nails

content: puppet: 24 7/16 × 5 1/8 × 3 3/4 in. (62 × 13 × 9.5 cm)

content: from first controller to feet of puppet: 57 7/8 in. (147 cm)

content: Wooden marionette in ballerina tutu

title_sort: WOODEN MARIONETTE IN BALLERINA TUTU

title: Wooden marionette in ballerina tutu


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount creates a repeating pattern out of seed beads in this flat blue ladder necklace. White and light blue Greek key designs alternate with a white triangle and diamond pattern set against a dark blue background. Varying the length of the beaded fringe at the bottom creates a triangular shape, complemented by a blue and white chevron pattern.

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: 17 11/16 × 1 5/8 × 3/8 in. (45 × 4.1 × 1 cm)

content: Blue Beaded Necklace

title_sort: BLUE BEADED NECKLACE

title: Blue Beaded Necklace


content: 20th century

content: Shaped like Africa, this metal pin likely promoted donations to a dam building project on the continent. The lapel pin’s double meaning also urges people to care. The pin belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who cared greatly about Africa. In the late 1980s, for example, she served on the board of Africare, a nongovernmental organization partnering with African people on development and policy issues. The longtime Washington, DC resident and human rights activist became known as First Lady of the Black Press for her pioneering career reporting on national and international news.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pin

content: metal

content: 9/16 × 1/2 × 1/8 in. (1.4 × 1.2 × 0.3 cm)

content: Pin, “Give a Dam”

title_sort: PIN, “GIVE A DAM”

title: Pin, “Give a Dam”


content: The homemaker on the pocket of this white apron also stars in a coordinating days-of-the-week tablecloth and towel set (2008.0002.0006a-f). She wears the same yellow dress and red gingham apron on Tuesday’s “ironing” towel. A half apron like this one can be seen on her partner in domesticity, who brings her tea while she is resting per Sunday’s towel. Rather than plain white, however, this apron is adorned with red piping around the pocket and skirt of the apron. A single line of red cross stitching runs parallel to the apron’s bottom edge. The apron also carries a blue floral motif present on Thursday’s towel; each piece in the needlecraft kit features flowers, plants, or trees. Needlecraft kits were 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 the apron along with the towels and tablecloth.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

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

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: apron

content: linen, cotton embroidery thread, cotton bias tape, thread

content: Apron with ties: 19 3/4 × 50 13/16 in. (50.2 × 129 cm)

content: Apron without ties: 19 3/4 × 26 3/8 in. (50.2 × 67 cm)

content: Apron

title_sort: APRON

title: Apron


content: Mid-20th century

content: The woven fabric of this elegant jacket creates a checkerboard pattern in blue, white, and metallic gold thread. The jacket features a round neckline and three-quarter length sleeves. Vertical blue borders finish its front panels. On its horizontal edge, white thread and the checkerboard pattern yield to alternating rows of gold and blue. Fringe, also gold and blue, trims the bottom of the jacket, which falls at the hip.

content: The jacket 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. She might have acquired the jacket and its matching skirt (1997.0020.0060b) while in Lagos, Nigeria between 1962 and 1964 to develop the National Library of Nigeria’s collection, a project commissioned by the Ford Foundation.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: jacket

content: cotton and synthetic fabric, metal

content: 23 7/16 × 20 1/16 in. (59.5 × 51 cm)

content: Sleeve: 14 3/16 in. (36 cm)

content: Woman’s Suit Jacket

title_sort: WOMAN’S SUIT JACKET

title: Woman’s Suit Jacket


content: Early 20th century

content: This porcelain doll’s head, arms, and legs can move. Her features include painted brown eyes, rosy cheeks, and brown skin. The baby doll’s dark brown hair is a combination of curls painted and molded on the porcelain and yarn gathered into three ponytails on the top and sides of her head. She wears a beige dress and, underneath, a white tunic with thin brown stripes. The doll belonged to Jacqueline Griffith, a lifelong District resident and the only child of Allen and Delaphine Griffith. Born around 1927, she resided in her family’s northwest Washington home until her death in the early 1990s. Her clothing and dolls in the Anacostia Community Museum’s collection complement the Griffith Family Papers in the Museum’s Archives, together documenting three generations of this African American family.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: doll

content: plastic, cloth, yarn, paint

content: 12 × 6 in. (30.5 × 15.2 cm)

content: Moveable Porcelain Baby Doll

title_sort: MOVEABLE PORCELAIN BABY DOLL

title: Moveable Porcelain Baby Doll


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small, brown, melon-shaped basket is made with only a few round structural reeds connecting near the base of the handle. Wood splints are twisted to fit snugly around one another, creating a textured and varied surface.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, dye

content: 3 1/4 × 3 3/4 × 3 5/8 in. (8.3 × 9.5 × 9.2 cm)

content: Small Melon-Shaped Basket

title_sort: SMALL MELON-SHAPED BASKET

title: Small Melon-Shaped Basket


content: Between 1980 and 2011

content: This round basket uses brown, round reeds and wood splints woven in a plain weave. The wood handle is attached with a God’s Eye design and is covered with 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, dye

content: 11 13/16 × 12 1/2 × 12 3/4 in. (30 × 31.7 × 32.4 cm)

content: Basket with God’s Eye and Handle

title_sort: BASKET WITH GOD’S EYE AND HANDLE

title: Basket with God’s Eye and Handle


content: A dove of peace hovers over the globe on this pin from the World Assembly for Peace and Life, Against Nuclear War, a conference held in October 1983 to advocate for disarmament from nuclear weapons. Offset by a deep blue earth and a white dove, the sky blue pin denotes the massive meeting’s location and date as “Praha83.” Over 4,000 delegates from thirty countries gathered in Praha, or, in English, Prague, the capital of the nation then known as Czechoslovakia. The enameled metal pin, fittingly featuring golden lines and letters, belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991). In her syndicated newspaper column, she described the “Dialogue in Prague” as a “pageantry of peace,” likening it to the United Nations, whose meetings she also covered. A Chicago native, Payne moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to report on national and international news. The lifelong civil rights activist filed bylines from thirty countries over the course of her pioneering career, 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: pin

content: metal, resin

content: 9/16 × 1 5/8 × 3/4 in. (1.4 × 4.1 × 1.9 cm)

content: Pin, "World Assembly for Peace and Life"

title_sort: PIN, "WORLD ASSEMBLY FOR PEACE AND LIFE"


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Floral designs are enclosed in two circles and a rectangular border in this tin punch. Because tin was both portable and affordable during the American Colonial period, the material was commonly used for practical and aesthetic purposes. This decorative example illustrates the popularity of traditional folk arts among contemporary makers, including artist Ira Blount who found calm and sought to spread joy through crafting.

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: tin punch

content: tin plate

content: 11 × 14 1/8 × 9/16 in. (28 × 35.8 × 1.4 cm)

content: Tin Punch with Floral Design

title_sort: TIN PUNCH WITH FLORAL DESIGN

title: Tin Punch with Floral Design


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This quilt is pieced using off-white and brown polka-dot cloth in four-patch patterns, half-triangle patterns, and solid squares. It has a solid brown border on both the front and back, and was hand quilted along diagonal lines. The overall pattern comprises alternating blocks of triangles and squares with intersecting white and brown diagonal bands.

content: Although quilting is traditionally thought of as a woman’s art, artist Ira Blount rejects this narrow, gendered categorization. In his own words, “A lot of people think that because of a certain gender they should be doing this or that. This is a woman’s activity, this is a man’s activity, and I don’t think you should put labels on those things. I’ve gotten a lot of comments from males especially and I just keep sewing and ignore them.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting

content: 61 × 42 1/2 in. (154.9 × 108 cm)

content: Brown and White Quilt

title_sort: BROWN AND WHITE QUILT

title: Brown and White Quilt


content: This pinback button promoted participation in the Children’s March for Survival held on March 25, 1972 in Washington, DC. Sponsored by the National Welfare Rights Organization, thousands of protestors, half of them children, marched near the White House to protest the Nixon administration’s proposed welfare reform policies. On the round, white button, geometric shapes in orange and yellow represent five marchers. Each person holds a sign advocating for an issue embraced by a national coalition, including “Child Care,” “Food,” “Health,” “$6500 Now,” and a peace symbol. The latter two signs stand for a $6,500 guaranteed minimum income for a family of four, rather than the proposed $2,400, and for ending the war in Vietnam.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 3/16 × 1 3/4 in. (0.4 × 4.4 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Children’s March for Survival"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "CHILDREN’S MARCH FOR SURVIVAL"


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This wooden walking stick is carved in a twisted shape, and the top is decorated with purple and red beads. Cord is wrapped around the bottom of the beads to hold the design in place. The staff demonstrates local artist Ira Blount’s skill mixing multiple media, transforming everyday objects into works of art.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: staff

content: 36 3/8 × 1 3/4 × 2 1/16 in. (92.4 × 4.5 × 5.3 cm)

content: Staff with Beaded Top

title_sort: STAFF WITH BEADED TOP

title: Staff with Beaded Top


content: This basket is cylindrical in shape and lacks a handle. The wood splint rim is double-lashed and shows evidence of a slightly uneven resinous coating. The body combines wood splints, round reeds, and double plied twisted seagrass cord to create depth and texture. The weave and the shape suggest the storage possibilities for this basket. Artist Ira Blount has remarked that “nowadays, we’ll run to the store and buy something– which, I guess, has its benefits. But, if it’s something that you made, it has unlimited benefits.” This basket serves as a reminder of basketry’s utilitarian past, as well as the many uses of handmade items. Blount wrote his initials and the number “85” on the bottom, likely a reference to the year it was created.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: seagrass, wood splint, resinous coating

content: 5 1/2 × 5 1/8 in. (14 × 13 cm)

content: Cylindrical Reed Basket

title_sort: CYLINDRICAL REED BASKET

title: Cylindrical Reed Basket


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 planning session 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 yellow embossed labels, is almost identical to two other badges in Ethel L. Payne’s collection of press passes and political pins. Though best known as the First Lady of the Black Press for her remarkable reporting, Payne (1911-1991) worked for the Democratic National Committee at the time. The “DNC” and “Press” labels on the badge describe job duties that drew on her journalism experience, such as drafting news releases. Her role as assistant to the vice chair also included traveling around the country and giving speeches to mobilize voters, especially African American women. The conference and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were among the Johnson administration’s responses to demands by activists marching earlier in the year, including across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the infamous “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: press badge

content: plastic, metal

content: 2 5/16 × 2 3/4 × 5/16 in. (5.9 × 7 × 0.8 cm)

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

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


content: William N. Buckner

content: This nine-string marionette made of paper-mâché and wood wears a smile along with a grey tunic and shorts. The puppet’s creator, William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984), attended M Street High School, an esteemed school for African Americans in Washington, DC’s segregated public system, from 1903 to 1907. At the time, two pivotal educators outlined contrasting pathways to freedom for African Americans as Jim Crow legislation blanched Reconstruction’s reforms. Booker T. Washington advocated the merits of vocational training, agriculture, and business, while W.E.B. Du Bois contended that elite African Americans, or the “Talented Tenth,” must lead by intellectual achievement.

content: At M Street, Buckner experienced a robust mixture of academic, artistic, and vocational instruction due to an innovative curriculum envisioned by art educator Thomas W. Hunster (1851-1929) and supported by pioneering administrators, including Principal Anna J. Cooper (1858-1964), one of the first Black women to earn a four-year college degree. Buckner translated skills honed at M Street into a lifelong commitment to creativity and education. He remained a staunch supporter of trades, such as carpentry, as stable careers for African Americans while, like his mentors, seeing the arts and traditional academics as complementary to vocational training. Throughout his forty-seven-year career as an educator and administrator in the District’s public schools, he practiced many forms of artistic expression and actively participated in the city’s art community.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: puppet

content: paper-mâché, wood, cotton, paint, string, wire, nails

content: Puppet: 20 1/2 × 7 7/8 × 3 9/16 in. (52 × 20 × 9 cm)

content: From first controller to feet of puppet: 62 3/16 in. (158 cm)

content: Wooden marionette in grey shirt and shorts

title_sort: WOODEN MARIONETTE IN GREY SHIRT AND SHORTS


content: Ira Blount

content: A bright red kimono with a tapered waist and a full skirt is the central focus of this folded origami sculpture. The artist frames the top of the dress—featuring a floral pattern of blue and purple flowers, dark stems, and green leaves—within a red rectangle on a white background, creating a dynamic composition.

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, cardstock

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

content: Red Origami Kimono

title_sort: RED ORIGAMI KIMONO

title: Red Origami Kimono


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. Their discoveries included household objects, like this metal key. Though popularly known as a skeleton key, it is a “bit” or “barrel” key designed to open a singular lock, rather than a skeleton, or “master,” key. The bit is no longer attached to the barrel, either broken off or rusted away. The key might have fit a lock in one of the eleven residential buildings that once stood in the 1000-1100 block of Howard Road, SE. Prior to the Civil War, the area had been a plantation known as Barry Farm. The Freedman’s Bureau purchased the farm after the war and divided it into one-acre lots. Formerly enslaved African Americans bought parcels for $125-$300, which included lumber and an obligation to build a house. They worked, often by lantern light after returning from day-time jobs downtown, to construct homes in the neighborhood that came to be known as Hillsdale.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: key

content: Metal.

content: 3/8 × 3 1/16 × 1 in. (0.9 × 7.7 × 2.5 cm)

content: Metal Key Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: METAL KEY EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Metal Key Excavated in Anacostia


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 a metal figure, possibly used for outdoor décor. Pegs under the elfin man’s shoes could be secured to a gate, for instance. His outstretched hands appear to wrap around an object, now absent. A potential indoor role for the bearded gnome could be to heft a holder for matches, cigars, pipes, or toothpicks, feet affixed to a base. The figurine likely dates to the neighborhood’s most prosperous period, 1880-1920.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: figurine

content: brass (alloy)

content: 2 × 3 1/2 × 2 in. (5.1 × 8.9 × 5.1 cm)

content: Metal Figurine Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: METAL FIGURINE EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Metal Figurine Excavated in Anacostia


content: 20th century

content: Many Washingtonians danced to mambo rhythms driven by the bongo drum in the 1950s and 1960s. The double drum emerged about fifty years earlier in eastern Cuba with roots in African drumming traditions. Bongo players, or bongoseros, typically sit and hold the yoked pair of small drums between their legs, rapping rhythms with fingers and palms. Strips of wood form the shells of these drums, accented by carved grooves. The hembra, or female, drum is slightly larger than the macho, or male, drum. Metal tacks secure the drums’ heads onto brown plastic bands that also ring their open-ended bases. This bongo drum belonged to Roland Kavé (1931-2017), who first brought mambo from New York 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: Muchos washingtonianos bailaron mambo al son de este tambor bongó en las décadas de 1950 y 1960. El tambor doble surgió unos cincuenta años antes en el este de Cuba, con raíces en las tradiciones de percusión africanas. Los bongoseros se sientan y sostienen el par de pequeños tambores entre las piernas, marcando ritmos con los dedos y las palmas de las manos. Los cuerpos de este bongó están formados por tiras de madera, con surcos tallados. El tambor hembra es ligeramente más grande que el tambor macho. Unas tachuelas metálicas sujetan los parches de los tambores a una bandas de plástico marrón, que rodean sus cuerpos huecos. Este tambor 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: bongos

content: wood, leather, plastic, metal

content: 6 5/16 × 14 1/4 × 7 1/2 in. (16.1 × 36.2 × 19 cm)

content: Roland Kavé’s Bongo Drum

title_sort: ROLAND KAVÉ’S BONGO DRUM

title: Roland Kavé’s Bongo Drum


content: 20th century

content: This set of dinner table accessories belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991). The set includes eight napkin rings, a pair of salt and pepper shakers, and a toothpick holder. Malachite covers each lacquered piece, accented by cobalt enamel and mother-of-pearl inlay. Gold leaf lines the interiors. All sit in a satin-lined cardboard box. A Chicago native, Payne moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news. She reported from thirty countries over the course of her career, becoming known as the First Lady of the Black Press. While the set’s maker and country of origin are unknown, one can imagine it among the mementos that Payne collected on assignment.

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: table setting

content: metal, plastic

content: 1 1/2 × 11/16 × 1 1/2 in. (3.8 × 1.7 × 3.8 cm) [napkin rings]

content: 2 3/16 × 1 15/16 × 1 15/16 in. (5.5 × 5 × 5 cm) [salt and pepper shakers]

content: 1 7/8 × 1 1/2 × 1 1/2 in. (4.7 × 3.8 × 3.8 cm) [toothpick holder]

content: Napkin Ring Set Used by Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: NAPKIN RING SET USED BY ETHEL L. PAYNE

title: Napkin Ring Set Used by Ethel L. Payne


content: William N. Buckner

content: Painted by William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984) at just twenty-one, this colorful parrot exemplifies his skill and eye for detail. In oil paints and oil pastels, he illuminates the bird’s feathers and crest, as well as the many crooks of its perch, a leafy branch. Buckner, who was African American, developed a passion for art at the city’s renowned M Street High School, where he excelled at woodworking. After graduating in 1907, he completed Miner Normal School’s teacher training program. He earned additional degrees from Howard and Columbia universities and served as an educator for forty-seven years, both within the District’s public schools and at Howard. Throughout his career, he remained a practicing artist and actively engaged in the city’s art community. As president of the Society of the Friends of Art, for example, he spoke at the Twelfth Street YMCA’s ceremony celebrating its renovation in 1934, at which James A. Porter, who chaired Howard University’s Art Department, presented his painting, Tribute to YMCA (2003.0019.0008), in honor of the branch’s commitment to community service.

content: Pintado por William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984) con sólo veintiún años, este colorido loro es una muestra de su habilidad y ojo para el detalle. Utilizando óleos y pasteles al óleo, Buckner ilumina las plumas y la cresta del ave, así como los numerosos recodos de su percha, una rama frondosa. El artista afroamericano desarrolló su pasión por el arte en la prestigiosa M Street High School de Washington D.C., donde se destacó trabajando la madera. Tras graduarse en 1907, completó el programa de formación de profesores de la Miner Normal School. Posteriormente, se diplomó en las universidades de Howard y Columbia y ejerció como profesor durante cuarenta y siete años, tanto en las escuelas públicas del Distrito como en Howard. A lo largo de su carrera, siguió ejerciendo como artista y participó activamente en la comunidad artística de la ciudad. Como presidente de la Sociedad de Amigos del Arte, por ejemplo, fue orador en la ceremonia de renovación de la Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes (YMCA) de la calle Doce en 19934, en la que James A. Porter, que presidía el Departamento de Arte de la Universidad Howard, presentó su cuadro tributo a la YMCA (2003.0019.0008), en honor al compromiso de la asociación con el servicio a la comunidad.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: painting

content: Oil paint and oil pastel on paper

content: 18 5/8 × 11 in. (47.3 × 27.9 cm)

content: Parrot

title_sort: PARROT

title: Parrot


content: Ira Blount

content: This basket, which resembles a jar, tapers inward toward the wood splint rim. Natural-colored splints, round reeds, and double plied twisted seagrass cord are woven in a plain weave. The rim is decorated with seagrass cord.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: seagrass, wood splint, reed

content: 6 11/16 × 6 11/16 in. (17 × 17 cm)

content: Jar-Shaped Basket

title_sort: JAR-SHAPED BASKET

title: Jar-Shaped Basket


content: William N. Buckner

content: Made by artist and art educator William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984), this marionette embodies the legacy of African American educators in Washington, DC’s segregated public schools from the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. Bucker attended the renowned M Street High School, where he excelled at woodworking and developed a love of art that he explored throughout his life in forms ranging from painting to puppetry. His instructors included art educator Thomas W. Hunster (1851-1929), who designed a multidisciplinary arts curriculum for all grade levels of the District’s African American public schools.

content: Like Professor Hunster, Buckner became a teacher (and later a counselor and principal), who empowered students through a rigorous blend of hands-on learning and traditional academics, such as when his carpentry students laid a new floor at the O Street Vocational School in 1915, a first in the public schools. As the project progressed, pupils worked out problems in class. In 1936, his Armstrong Vocational High School students performed a puppet show written by student Serena Randall in consultation with historian Carter G. Woodson, who taught at M Street before receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard.

content: While the marionette’s identity is unknown, she recalls another mentor, M Street Principal Anna J. Cooper, one of the first African American women to earn a four-year college degree and the first to earn a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne. The marionettes were on display at the Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition honoring Dr. Cooper from February 1981 through September 1982.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: puppet

content: paper-mâché, wood, synthetic fabric, plastic buttons, plastic beads, paint, wire, jute fiber, nails, metal

content: Puppet: 24 7/16 × 6 5/16 × 3 3/4 in. (62 × 16 × 9.5 cm)

content: From first controller to feet of puppet: 47 5/8 in. (121 cm)

content: Wooden marionette wearing dress and tiara

title_sort: WOODEN MARIONETTE WEARING DRESS AND TIARA


content: c. 1994

content: Ira Blount

content: A white and pink orchid grows out of a celadon bowl in this cross-stitch by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020). A smaller brown bowl holds a single orchid blossom. Next to the floral composition, bold calligraphy echoes the black rocks in the larger bowl. The Chinese characters hé and an, meaning “with peace,” encourage viewers to consider global influences on the Washington, DC artist’s work. A green leaf and orchid petals break the symmetry of a window-like brown border surrounded by lighter brown bamboo leaves.

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: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton thread

content: 16 × 13 in. (40.6 × 33 cm)

content: Orchid Cross-Stitch

title_sort: ORCHID CROSS-STITCH

title: Orchid Cross-Stitch


content: 20th century

content: This drum shares its name with a musical genre, dance, and poetry; all are known as bomba, which means drum. The handmade drum voices the rhythms of afrochoteños, or Ecuadoreans of African descent living in Valle del Chota, the valley where the Chota and Mira rivers converge. Bomba del chota is the full name of the musical style and its signature dance. The drum’s construction reflects its rural roots—literally. Local vines, goat hide, and balsa wood traditionally comprise the drum. Metal wire and rope in various hues and widths add support to the vines, hide, and wood used to make this bomba. Written by hand on the drum’s head is a local musical group’s name and location, Grupo Gara Chimeo, and Chota, respectively. A player typically holds the bomba between the knees while patting the drum with the palms of the hands.

content: Este tambor comparte nombre con un género musical, una danza y un género de poesía, todos ellos conocidos como bomba. Bomba del chota es el nombre completo del estilo musical y su baile característico. Este tambor hecho a mano evoca los ritmos afrochoteños, o ecuatorianos de ascendencia africana, que viven en el Valle del Chota, donde confluyen los ríos Chota y Mira. En la cabeza del tambor están escritos a mano el nombre y la ubicación de un grupo musical local, Grupo Gara Chimeo y Chota, respectivamente. La construcción del tambor refleja sus raíces campesinas. El tambor se construye tradicionalmente con parras locales, cuero de cabra y madera balsa. En esta bomba, se utilizaron alambres metálicos y cuerdas de varios colores y espesores para añadir soporte a las vides, el cuero y la madera. El músico usualmente sostiene la bomba entre las rodillas y la golpea con las palmas de las manos.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drum

content: wood, leather, plastic

content: 8 9/16 × 13 × 11 5/16 in. (21.8 × 33 × 28.8 cm)

content: Bomba Drum

title_sort: BOMBA DRUM

title: Bomba Drum


content: The Talking Drum is an hourglass-shaped pressure drum so-named because it can imitate spoken language's intonations and rhythms. At either end of the drum’s body, the drum's heads are made of animal hide, fish skin, or another membrane wrapped around the drum's wooden hoop. Leather cords or thongs run the length of the drum's body and are bound around both hoops. The drum player holds the drum under the arm so as to squeeze the cords. When the cords are pressed and the head is tightened, the drum's pitch changes.

content: Skilled talking-drum drummers can imitate African tonal languages' sounds and cadence, and reproduce proverbs and praise songs. The use of the talking-drum was forbidden in the United States during the enslavement era because of its ability to "speak" in an unknown language and possibly incite rebellion. This kind of drum is known as Dundun in Yoruba and Kalangu in the Hausa language.

content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner collected this drum in Nigeria in 1951. He was interested in music and language tonalities and how they carry meaning within communities and cultures.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drum

content: wood, animal skin, cloth, leather

content: 16 × 7 5/16 × 7 1/16 in. (40.6 × 18.5 × 18 cm) [talking drum]

content: 2 3/8 × 1 1/4 × 10 1/16 in. (6 × 3.2 × 25.5 cm) [mallet]

content: Talking Drum

title_sort: TALKING DRUM

title: Talking Drum


content: 20th century

content: White wooden beads cover this rectangular clutch. Linen thread stitches the beads into a grid held by a cotton support. The lining’s three seams are machine-stitched, as is the metal zipper spanning the purse’s top. The clutch belonged to renowned scholar-librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995). After finishing high school, Porter Wesley attended Miner Normal School, which trained teachers for the District’s then-segregated African American schools. However, Miner’s librarian, Lula Allen, encouraged her to pursue library science. Porter Wesley graduated from Howard University in 1928 and became the first African American to earn a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1932. For over four decades, she worked to organize and develop 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

content: purse

content: wooden beads, cotton, linen thread, metal zipper

content: 3 15/16 × 6 1/4 × 13/16 in. (10 × 15.8 × 2 cm)

content: White Wooden Beaded Clutch

title_sort: WHITE WOODEN BEADED CLUTCH

title: White Wooden Beaded Clutch


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 in a red apron ironing, the housekeeping task scheduled for “Tuesday.” 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. Behind the woman at the ironing board, red-and-yellow flowers with green leaves grow in a yellow flowerpot at an open window. A matching floral border extends on either side of the window, whose blue gingham valance billows in the breeze. 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, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Theresa Allen

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: towel

content: linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread

content: 27 9/16 × 17 in. (70 × 43.2 cm)

content: Kitchen Towel, Tuesday, Ironing

title_sort: KITCHEN TOWEL, TUESDAY, IRONING

title: Kitchen Towel, Tuesday, Ironing


content: This press pass admitted journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) to the Republican National Convention held August 16-19, 1976 in Kansas City, Missouri. The two-part pin resembles a military medal worn on a uniform. Suspended by a white grosgrain ribbon, a metal rectangle hangs below a narrow bar. Embossing etches the word “Press” on the upper bar, while the lower one features a stylized flag honoring the U.S. Bicentennial: thirteen stars encircle “76” above vertical stripes. At the convention, Payne covered the nomination of Gerald R. Ford as the party’s pick for the next presidential race. The longtime Washington, DC resident and political reporter became known as First Lady of the Black Press for her pioneering career.

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, synthetic fabric

content: 3 1/8 × 1 15/16 × 3/8 in. (8 × 5 × 0.9 cm)

content: Press Badge Worn By Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: PRESS BADGE WORN BY ETHEL L. PAYNE

title: Press Badge Worn By Ethel L. Payne


content: Ira Blount

content: This carved box is remarkable for its wooden construction, which includes a functional wood swivel latch and hinges. Utilizing wood and varnish, artist and craftsman Ira Blount (1918-2020) realizes his philosophy on resourcefulness. A glossy coating highlights the wood’s natural grain and showcases minor variations in color.

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: box

content: wood

content: 5 3/4 × 2 1/4 × 3 1/2 in. (14.6 × 5.7 × 8.9 cm)

content: Carved Box with Hinged Lid and Latch

title_sort: CARVED BOX WITH HINGED LID AND LATCH

title: Carved Box with Hinged Lid and Latch


content: Ira Blount

content: The rim of this large melon-shaped basket is made of a sinuous twig doubled and bent into an oval shape. The handles are simply exposed, unwoven sections of the rim. Round reeds run the length of the basket, crossed with wood splints woven in a plain weave. A stripe of round red-dyed reeds accents the ends of the basket.

content: The blue ribbon commemorates the fact that the basket won First Prize at the Maryland State Fair in 1995. It also won Third Premium at the St. Mary’s County Fair, Maryland. These awards not only recognize artist Ira Blount’s skill, they likely mean the basket was on display to a wider audience. As such, they fulfill his greatest hope: “that I can inspire others to create, to challenge themselves.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, twig, dye

content: 7 3/8 × 18 3/8 × 16 1/4 in. (18.8 × 46.6 × 41.2 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Side Handles

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH SIDE HANDLES

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with Side Handles


content: Ira Blount

content: This small egg basket uses a combination of wood splints and round reeds woven in a plain weave. Strings of blue and green glass beads adorn the top of the handle and the area directly beneath the rim. These decorative elements contrast with the basket’s original, utilitarian form. Typical of egg baskets, a God’s Eye design connects the handle to the body.

content: As a member of the greater Washington, D.C. craft guild, The Basket Bunch, artist Ira Blount taught others and learned new basket-making techniques. He has observed that the shape of egg baskets is both attractive and practical: to protect eggs from cracking. 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, glass, waxed linen cord

content: 6 3/8 × 8 3/8 × 7 in. (16.2 × 21.3 × 17.8 cm)

content: Beaded Egg Basket

title_sort: BEADED EGG BASKET

title: Beaded Egg Basket


content: Ira Blount

content: A bright red paper background highlights the red and mauve designs in this origami kimono. The white, pink, purple, and beige patterned garment features gold metallic embellishments along with cherry blossoms and brown twigs. The continuity of the twig that curves from the top left of the waist down to the center of the skirt’s bottom, evidencing the artist’s skillful ability to manipulate the paper’s patterns and folds to create a compelling design.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, cardstock

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

content: Origami Kimono on Red Background

title_sort: ORIGAMI KIMONO ON RED BACKGROUND

title: Origami Kimono on Red Background


content: c. 1994

content: Ira Blount

content: Pink orchids bloom in a blue pot on this cross-stitch bordered in brown. Invoking the conventions of still-life paintings, a single flower has fallen off the plant in a memento mori. Between the detached blossom and the three still clinging to their stem is the Chinese character for good fortune, “fú”. These details, deftly rendered in an index card-sized space, reflect artist Ira Blount’s (1918-2020) interests in both the natural world and in Asian cultures, while drawing attention to the universality of nature’s fleeting beauty.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton embroidery floss

content: 5 1/2 × 3 7/8 in. (14 × 9.9 cm)

content: Pink Orchid Cross-Stitch

title_sort: PINK ORCHID CROSS-STITCH

title: Pink Orchid Cross-Stitch


content: Ira Blount

content: This small round reed and wood splint basket is characteristic of much of artist Ira Blount’s basketry work—it is natural-colored, woven, and has a God’s Eye design at the handle.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed,

content: 4 3/16 × 4 13/16 × 4 3/4 in. (10.7 × 12.3 × 12 cm)

content: Small Round Basket with God’s Eye

title_sort: SMALL ROUND BASKET WITH GOD’S EYE

title: Small Round Basket with God’s Eye


content: Ira Blount

content: A botanical alphabet blooms on this colorful cross-stitch sampler bordered in green. As early as the fifteenth century, needlework samplers served as ways to teach and practice sewing, an important domestic skill. They often doubled as academic instruction, like this alphabet sampler made by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020). Each letter features a flower that starts with that letter. For example, an iris stitched in purple, light blue, and gold stands next to a purple letter “I”. At the top, an alphabetical list identifies each flower by name in matching thread colors. Though this sampler does not conform to utilitarian purposes of the past, the intricate stitching demonstrates Blount’s command of a traditional sewing technique.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton thread

content: 20 1/8 × 16 in. (51.1 × 40.6 cm)

content: Botanical Alphabet Cross-Stitch

title_sort: BOTANICAL ALPHABET CROSS-STITCH

title: Botanical Alphabet Cross-Stitch


content: Between 1920 -1930

content: Metal beads form a silver spiral on the front of this round chatelaine purse. Loops of silver beads dangle below the evening bag. Roses line the purse’s curved metal frame, which fastens in a kiss clasp with metal spheres. The purse hangs by a chain from a chatelaine, or metal clip that can be hooked to a belt, thereby freeing the wearer from carrying the bag. The chatelaine is made of German silver and embellished with a floral motif. The purse’s interior is suede.

content: 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: German silver, metal beads, suede

content: 12 15/16 × 7 5/16 × 1/2 in. (32.8 × 18.5 × 1.3 cm)

content: Silver Beaded Metal Chatelaine Purse

title_sort: SILVER BEADED METAL CHATELAINE PURSE

title: Silver Beaded Metal Chatelaine Purse


content: Ira Blount

content: The rim and handle of this basket are made of intertwined twigs. The artist intentionally leaves a section of twig jutting down from the basket’s body to draw the viewer’s attention to his materials’ organic forms. The plain weave structure accommodates the curves and variations in the twigs, creating a natural feel. A purple, vertical stripe made of dyed reeds adorns the middle of the otherwise undyed basket.

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, twig, dye

content: 10 11/16 × 12 1/8 × 11 1/4 in. (27.2 × 30.8 × 28.5 cm)

content: Basket with Handle and Mauve Stripe

title_sort: BASKET WITH HANDLE AND MAUVE STRIPE

title: Basket with Handle and Mauve Stripe


content: mid 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This quilt offers a variation on a traditional Dresden Star pattern repeated four times in block quadrants. The fabric for all four stars features the same floral print with green and metallic gold leaves and pink, yellow, and violet flowers on a dark blue background. Each star is created from twelve identical sections of the fabric print, carefully cut out and arranged in a circle. This results in four unique, highly distinct stars. The solid blue sashing accentuates the patterned stars.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting

content: 38 1/2 × 38 7/8 in. (97.8 × 98.7 cm)

content: Dresden Star Quilt

title_sort: DRESDEN STAR QUILT

title: Dresden Star Quilt


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: A stylized bird perches on a branch in this tin punch crated by Ira Blount (1918-2020). Its head is turned toward its wing, recalling the "Distelfink,” or goldfinch, of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. Flowers and leaves surround the bird and decorate the background. In addition to hearts in the lower right and upper left corners, a third heart is “hidden” in the bird’s tailfeathers.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: tin punch

content: tin plate

content: 14 15/16 × 10 7/16 × 7/8 in. (38 × 26.5 × 2.2 cm)

content: Bird and Flowers Tin Punch

title_sort: BIRD AND FLOWERS TIN PUNCH

title: Bird and Flowers Tin Punch


content: Ira Blount

content: Clear skies and a green sea form the background for this painted relief carving of a square-rigged ship with large white sails keeling to the left. Artist Ira Blount demonstrates his woodcarving and painting skills in this piece, utilizing the natural texture of the wood to mimic the ship’s hull, while vibrant colors are used to represent the quality of the undulating waves.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: woodwork

content: painted relief carving

content: 16 5/16 × 18 1/8 × 1 3/8 in. (41.5 × 46 × 3.5 cm)

content: Wood Carving of a Tall Ship

title_sort: WOOD CARVING OF A TALL SHIP

title: Wood Carving of a Tall Ship


content: Mid-20th century

content: Leslie J. Payne

content: These aviator goggles were once part of artist Leslie Payne’s “flights of imagination.” The self-taught artist wore goggles and handcrafted flight suits while piloting airplanes that he made across fields and along local roads. Originally, the two lenses linked across the nose, and a strap held them on the wearer’s head. The goggles were genuine, made by Willson Products of Reading, Pennsylvania, a company noted for its protective eyewear. Payne (1907-1980), who was African American, grew up during segregation in rural Virginia. He used ordinary, or “found,” objects to transform his environment and find freedom on his own terms.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Leslie Payne Collection, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Leslie Payne, Jr.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: goggles

content: plastic, glass, textile, metal

content: 2 3/8 × 2 15/16 × 2 1/16 in. (6.1 × 7.5 × 5.3 cm)

content: Leslie Payne’s Aviator Goggles

title_sort: LESLIE PAYNE’S AVIATOR GOGGLES

title: Leslie Payne’s Aviator Goggles


content: ca. 1970

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. Among their discoveries was a glass bottle that once held Old Taylor, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The bottle’s design features “Old Taylor” in curved capital letters on the front and a plastic cap. It hails from the early 1970s, as the “bourbon boom” was ending, forty years past Prohibition.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: bottle

content: glass, liquid, paint, plastic

content: 4 × 3 1/2 × 2 1/4 in. (10.2 × 8.9 × 5.7 cm)

content: Whiskey Bottle Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: WHISKEY BOTTLE EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Whiskey Bottle Excavated in Anacostia


content: Ira Blount

content: This decorative oval basket is mounted to a wooden base. The body is woven in a plain weave with reeds, wood splints, and double plied twisted seagrass cord. The seagrass cord creates a stripe down each side. The handle, which is attached to the basket with an adhesive and artificial sinew, is a thick brown twig that juts out beyond the basket’s body. Two short matching twigs cradle the bottom of the basket, where they are attached with wood splints. Created in 1998 when artist Ira Blount was 80 years old, this piece represents the artist’s progression towards more experimental, decorative basketry. In 2010, this basket was featured in an article in The Washington Informer about senior citizens who have remained active later in life.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass, twig, wood, artificial sinew, stain, adhesive

content: 7 1/4 × 11 9/16 × 8 1/16 in. (18.4 × 29.3 × 20.5 cm)

content: Decorative Basket with Base

title_sort: DECORATIVE BASKET WITH BASE

title: Decorative Basket with Base


content: Ira Blount

content: This wall hanging is made of three pieces of woven cloth. The central section is painted with a white lizard surrounded by four symbols, with three interspersed brass ornaments and a carved wood pendant. The lizard’s tail, neck, and body are beaded. The top and bottom sections of the hanging are made of a rust-colored cloth printed with a row of black chevrons and notched lines. Artist Ira Blount stated that he was aiming for an African aesthetic.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, batting, wood, beads, paint, ink, metal

content: 15 15/16 × 11 7/16 in. (40.5 × 29 cm)

content: Lizard Wall Hanging

title_sort: LIZARD WALL HANGING

title: Lizard Wall Hanging


content: Between 1929 and 1979

content: This sable jacket’s label identifies it as made by Gartenhaus Furs of Bethesda, Maryland. The initials monogramed in yellow script on the hip-length jacket’s brown satin lining belong to Dorothy Burnett Porter (1905-1995). The scholar-librarian graduated from nearby Howard University in 1928 and became the first African American to earn a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1932. For over four decades, she worked to organize and develop 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: jacket

content: fur, synthetic fabric, metal

content: 23 13/16 × 20 7/8 in. (60.5 × 53 cm)

content: Sleeve: 20 7/8 in. (53 cm)

content: Sable Fur Jacket

title_sort: SABLE FUR JACKET

title: Sable Fur Jacket


content: Ira Blount

content: The handle of this round “hen” basket is continuous with the body, creating a circular shape. Green, brown, and natural-colored reeds and wood splints are woven in a plain weave. Some of the splints have been twisted to provide further texture to the basket. The colors and textures offer a nod to the name and history of this type of basket, which was said to be used to transport chickens: the shape prohibited the animals from flapping their wings and escaping.

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, dye

content: 12 1/2 × 12 3/16 × 8 1/4 in. (31.7 × 31 × 21 cm)

content: Green and Brown Hen Basket

title_sort: GREEN AND BROWN HEN BASKET

title: Green and Brown Hen Basket


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small egg basket is made from tightly woven round reeds. Artist Ira Blount’s eye for color is evidenced in the way he varies light brown, dark brown, and reddish-brown reeds. The contrast between the variations in color and the uniformity of the plain weave illustrates Blount’s ability to skillfully experiment with form, materials, and color. A God’s Eye design connects the basket’s rim and handle.

content: In a 2011 interview with the The Afro-American, Blount told a reporter that he’s especially proud of his egg baskets because of the intricacy involved in making them. He was also interested in the practical shape of egg baskets which is both attractive and a reflection of their function: to protect the eggs from cracking.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: reed, wood splint, dye

content: 3 3/4 × 3 15/16 × 4 7/16 in. (9.5 × 10 × 11.3 cm)

content: Brown Egg Basket

title_sort: BROWN EGG BASKET

title: Brown Egg Basket


content: 20th century

content: This hat box belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who filed reports from thirty countries in her pioneering career. The blue, circular case has a zippered, hard shell to protect a hat or wig inside. The fabric-lined interior has a pocket and ribbons to secure objects. A label on the pocket identifies the model and make as CarryAll by Munro, an American shoe and luggage company. Outside, brass rings secure a translucent handle. The train case, as it is also known, can stand vertically on four metal knobs. Additional testimony to Payne’s extensive travel include a North American Van Lines sticker and a paper tag for an Eastern Airlines flight on December 22, 1976 bound for Washington, DC, where Payne covered national and international news for the Chicago Defender. Hat boxes were common in the mid-twentieth century, as hats were essential wardrobe elements. Payne, in particular, chose hats to accent her fashionable attire. Hats might have further distinguished the first African American female member of the White House Press Corps from male colleagues, who removed them while indoors. However, Payne commanded presidential recognition at press conferences entirely on her own moxie.

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: hat box

content: plastic, metal, textile, paper

content: 17 11/16 × 17 15/16 × 6 7/8 in. (45 × 45.5 × 17.5 cm)

content: Other (handle): 5 7/8 × 4 5/16 × 13/16 in. (15 × 11 × 2 cm)

content: Hat Box Used by Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: HAT BOX USED BY ETHEL L. PAYNE

title: Hat Box Used by Ethel L. Payne


content: 20th century

content: This metal bookmark belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who grew up in a family that loved to read. Engraved on the golden marker’s center tab are Payne’s initials, encircled by elegant scrolling. The bookmark’s Art Deco style emerged in Payne’s youth. A Chicago native, she aspired to write novels and took creative writing classes before becoming a reporter. In 1952, Payne moved to Washington, DC to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. The longtime civil rights activist reported from thirty countries over the course of her career, becoming known as the First Lady of the Black Press.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: bookmark

content: metal

content: 1 15/16 × 1/8 in. (5 × 0.3 cm)

content: Engraved Metal Bookmark Belonging to Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: ENGRAVED METAL BOOKMARK BELONGING TO ETHEL L. PAYNE


content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) layered and glued alternating strips of light and dark stained wood before carving it into the flat-bottomed egg form, resulting in a pattern of concentric stripes. Utilizing natural materials and classic woodworking techniques, Blount’s egg is notable for its colors and simple form.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: sculpture

content: wood

content: 3 × 5 1/4 in. (7.6 × 13.3 cm)

content: Handmade Wooden Egg

title_sort: HANDMADE WOODEN EGG

title: Handmade Wooden Egg