unitCode: ACM

type: edanmdm

label: Date

label: Artist

content: Ira Blount

label: Caption

content: Two delicately folded origami kimonos are presented to the viewer in a dark teal window mat and frame. The kimono on the left was made with a blue and white decorative paper featuring white and blue pine needles and blossoms. A much darker color palette characterizes the example to the right, with its mixture of floral, bird, and lotus leaf patterns arranged in blacks, blues, reds, and greens. Metallic gold embellishments unify the two origami sculptures, nearly identical in shape and the quality of their crisp, neat folds.

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

label: See more items in

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

label: Cite As

content: Gift of Ira Blount

label: Data Source

content: Anacostia Community Museum

label: Accession Number

label: Type

content: origami

label: Restrictions & Rights

label: Medium

content: origami paper, cardstock

label: Dimensions

content: 8 1/16 × 10 in. (20.4 × 25.4 cm)

label: Title

content: Origami Kimonos

unit_code: ACM

title_sort: ORIGAMI KIMONOS

data_source: Anacostia Community Museum

type: Images

label: High-resolution TIFF

label: High-resolution JPEG

label: Screen Image

label: Thumbnail Image

title: Origami Kimonos


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small egg basket is woven from a combination of wood splints and round reeds. A God’s Eye woven design connects the rim and the handle, which is covered with a plain weave. Artist Ira Blount’s eye for color is clearly visible in his combination of light, dark, and reddish natural hues. The variation in color, as well as reed and splint size and shape, gives the basket depth and texture.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, dye

content: 6 11/16 × 6 3/4 × 7 11/16 in. (17 × 17.1 × 19.5 cm)

content: Small Egg Basket

title_sort: SMALL EGG BASKET

title: Small Egg Basket


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This melon-shaped basket is woven in a plain weave using round reeds, double plied twisted seagrass cord, and wood splints. The handle, which is attached to the body of the basket with a large woven God’s Eye design, is wrapped in a plain weave with a seagrass cord weft. The woven cord creates a pattern of darker stripes on the handle and around the God’s Eye. Different textural and weaving elements in this basket contribute to its sturdy aesthetic.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass

content: 6 1/2 × 7 1/16 in. (16.5 × 18 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: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This melon-shaped basket contrasts pale, medium, and dark brown colors. The variety of the wood splints and round reeds creates texture and visual interest. Artist Ira Blount constructed the handle with an alternating plain weave anchored by a woven God’s Eye design where the handle attaches to the basket.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, dye

content: 5 7/8 × 6 5/8 × 6 1/4 in. (14.9 × 16.8 × 15.8 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Brown Stripes

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH BROWN STRIPES

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with Brown Stripes


content: c. 1960

content: A profusion of flowers adorns this wide-brimmed hat worn by journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991). A photo from the early 1960s shows Payne, whose love of hats bloomed in early adulthood, wearing this pistachio hat with panache. Accented with a matching bow and tulle, the custom hat bears a bouquet bursting with pink roses, velvety violets, green leaves, and glass grapes, all stitched to the hat by hand. Both wide-brim and floral hats remained popular during much of Payne’s reporting career, from the 1940s to the 1970s. However, fancy hats, sometimes known as “crowns,” continue to hold special significance as an African American cultural tradition. A Chicago native, Payne moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news for the leading African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. The lifelong civil rights activist reported from thirty countries over the course of her trailblazing 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: hat

content: silk, synthetic fiber, wire, hot-melt adhesive, glass

content: 5 11/16 × 19 15/16 in. (14.5 × 50.7 cm)

content: Ethel Payne’s Hat

title_sort: ETHEL PAYNE’S HAT

title: Ethel Payne’s Hat


content: 8000 BC-1600 AD

content: In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, DC. Their discoveries included this prehistoric rock, or, in archeological terms, lithic. (Lithos is the Greek word for “rock.”)

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: archeaological lithics

content: stone

content: 5/16 × 1 15/16 × 1 3/8 in. (0.8 × 5 × 3.5 cm)

content: Prehistoric Rock Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: PREHISTORIC ROCK EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Prehistoric Rock Excavated in Anacostia


content: Ira Blount

content: This natural-colored, melon-shaped basket is woven in a plain weave. While most of the basket’s body comprises wood splints, six thin, round reeds near the handle (three on either side) add variety and texture to the piece. The handle is accented with black, red, purple, white, and green glass beads. The contrast between the natural splints, reeds, and glass beads draws attention to artist Ira Blount’s materials. He has expressed ambivalence over the conveniences of modern society, preferring handmade objects which “have unlimited benefits.” In this basket, Blount takes advantage of commercially available materials while also practicing basketmaking traditions.

content: 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 1/4 × 6 11/16 × 6 5/16 in. (15.8 × 17 × 16 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Beaded Design

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH BEADED DESIGN

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with Beaded Design


content: This pinback button urged Washington, DC residents to vote in 1988, a presidential election year heightened by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson’s name on the ballot in the primary. In 1984, Jackson became the second African American to campaign nationally for a major party’s nomination in the presidential primary. The red, white, and royal-blue button belonged to Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), a longtime District resident and political reporter. Amidst lifelong activism toward fulfilling African Americans’ voting rights, Payne filed stories 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: 1/4 × 2 15/16 in. (0.6 × 7.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, “DC Make a Date for ‘88”

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, “DC MAKE A DATE FOR ‘88”


content: ca. 1976

content: This pinback button sports a quotation from President Harry Truman that reemerged decades later as major political parties developed their platforms for the 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns. The white-and-blue button belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who collected political memorabilia. A Chicago native, Payne moved to the nation’s capital in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. The lifelong civil rights activist reported from thirty countries, 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: 1/4 × 2 3/16 in. (0.6 × 5.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "The Platform"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "THE PLATFORM"

title: Pinback Button, "The Platform"


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) strings tiny beads together to create a pouch with bold geometric patterns. Glass seed beads in purple, white, green, silver, and gold form triangles on the pouch’s strap and flap, echoing the latter’s triangular shape. Diamonds and zigzags also pattern the pouch, which features fringe edging both the flap and the pouch’s bottom.

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

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: bag

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 9 3/16 × 2 7/16 × 5/16 in. (23.3 × 6.2 × 0.8 cm)

content: Beaded Pouch

title_sort: BEADED POUCH

title: Beaded Pouch


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Thin white stripes on this dark blue origami crane repeat in a pattern that follows the paper’s tucks and folds. The design encourages viewers to consider what the art of origami and the geometric theories underpinning the traditional technique hold in common. The blueprint-like bird highlights a creative way of seeing that propels artists like Ira Blount (1918-2020).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 3 3/4 × 1 13/16 × 2 5/8 in. (9.5 × 4.6 × 6.7 cm)

content: Blue Origami Crane with White Stripes

title_sort: BLUE ORIGAMI CRANE WITH WHITE STRIPES

title: Blue Origami Crane with White Stripes


content: This pinback button belonged to Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who covered the AFL-CIO’s merger in 1955 as a reporter before joining its staff in 1958. Hands clasped across a map symbolize the alliance between the two major labor unions. The blue-and-white button emphasizes “Jobs for All” as a theme of the AFL-CIO’s Conference on Unemployment, held April 8, 1959 in Washington, DC. Jobs and civil rights continued to be intertwined during Payne’s tenure as the first African American employee of the labor union’s Committee on Political Education (COPE). The conference’s agenda resurfaced, for example, in the full title and purpose of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. A longtime Washington, DC resident and political reporter, Payne became known as First Lady of the Black Press for her pioneering journalism 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: 5/16 × 2 15/16 in. (0.8 × 7.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "AFL-CIO Conference on Unemployment"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "AFL-CIO CONFERENCE ON UNEMPLOYMENT"


content: Ira Blount

content: This quilt is composed of twelve blocks arranged on a three by four grid with sashing and cornerstones. Each block has a Dutchman’s Puzzle pattern made of solid dark blue, solid off-white, and a calico print cloth. The piecing is hand-quilted just inside of every half-square triangle seam with blue or black thread on the blue fabric and white thread on the off-white fabric. The sashing is quilted in a connecting diamond pattern. The cornerstones are quilted with an “X.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, batting, ink

content: 53 5/8 × 41 5/16 in. (136.2 × 104.9 cm)

content: Dutchman’s Puzzle Variation Quilt

title_sort: DUTCHMAN’S PUZZLE VARIATION QUILT

title: Dutchman’s Puzzle Variation Quilt


content: Members of the Inaugural Committee wore this beribboned pin as they organized official occasions marking the inauguration of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey on January 20, 1965. Suspended from the metal bar pin, over which an eagle presides, are two ribbons. A short loop of blue satin holds a golden medallion embossed with national symbols, including another eagle. Underneath unfurls a longer, red-white-and-blue ribbon with inaugural dates and names printed on its stripes in gold lettering. The pin belonged to longtime Washington, DC resident and political reporter, Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991). At the time, the civil rights activist worked for Democratic National Committee. The summer before, President Johnson honored Payne’s activism by presenting her with a coveted ceremonial pen he used to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He would again recognize her contributions to fulfilling African Americans’ voting rights with a ceremonial pen that he used to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Both pens are in the Anacostia Community Museum’s collection. Over the course of her pioneering journalism career, Payne filed stories from thirty countries, becoming known as the First Lady of the Black Press. (See also Accession Numbers 1991.0076.0104 and 1991.0076.0105.)

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: badge with ribbon and medal

content: metal, synthetic fabric

content: 6 11/16 × 2 × 5/16 in. (17 × 5.1 × 0.8 cm)

content: Johnson-Humphrey Inaugural Committee Pin With Ribbon and Medal

title_sort: JOHNSON-HUMPHREY INAUGURAL COMMITTEE PIN WITH RIBBON AND MEDAL


content: Mid-20th century

content: The woven fabric of this long skirt creates a checkerboard pattern in blue, white, and metallic gold thread. At the skirt’s bottom edge, white thread and the checkerboard pattern yield to alternating rows of gold and blue. Fringe, also gold and blue, trims the skirt. The blue and white fibers are cotton, while the shimmering gold thread is synthetic.

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 skirt and its matching jacket (1997.0020.0060a) 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: skirt

content: cotton and synthetic fabric

content: 33 7/16 × 20 1/2 in. (85 × 52 cm)

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

content: Woman's skirt

title_sort: WOMAN'S SKIRT

title: Woman's skirt


content: Early 20th century

content: Glass beads provide a fitting medium for iridescent peacocks depicted in mirror image on this drawstring purse. The grey purse’s symmetry continues below the two birds where silver, black, and bronze beads form a floral motif framed by blue and grey-green leaves. Shaped like a cylindrical vase, the purse tapers into a beaded tassel at the bottom. Metallic colors and geometric shapes at the purse’s top and bottom are consistent with the early twentieth century’s Art Deco style. Above the beading, grey cord delicately snakes through matching crocheted loops, drawing together the purse’s identical sides. Cotton fabric lines the interior. The purse belonged to renowned scholar-librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995), who organized and developed an unparalleled collection rooted in African American history that would become the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: drawstring purse

content: glass beads, metal beads, cotton, synthetic fabric

content: 15 1/16 × 13 × 7/8 in. (38.2 × 33 × 2.2 cm)

content: Beaded Drawstring Purse With Peacock Design

title_sort: BEADED DRAWSTRING PURSE WITH PEACOCK DESIGN


content: This pinback button urges support for PATCO, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, in a strike that pitted the union against President Reagan in 1981. Major changes in labor relations resulted from the strike and the government’s unprecedented response of firing and replacing unionized federal workers. The blue-and-white pin belonged to reporter Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who had long followed unions due the interconnectedness of jobs and civil rights. She covered the AFL-CIO’s merger in 1955 for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender, and, in 1958, she joined the AFL-CIO’s staff. A longtime Washington, DC resident and civil rights activist, Payne became known as First Lady of the Black Press for her pioneering journalism career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 1/4 × 2 15/16 in. (0.6 × 7.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Bust Reagan Not Unions"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "BUST REAGAN NOT UNIONS"


content: This pinback button supported the 1968 presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey and his running mate, Edmund Muskie. The red, white, and blue button belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), a Chicago native who moved to the nation’s capital in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. She worked for the Democratic National Committee when Humphrey served as Vice President. 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, ink

content: 3/16 × 1 1/4 in. (0.4 × 3.2 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Humphrey Muskie"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "HUMPHREY MUSKIE"

title: Pinback Button, "Humphrey Muskie"


content: 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) carved this wooden spoon by hand. The two strands of its handle wind around each other four times, revealing a small hole between each twist. The rounded top mirrors the spoon’s oval scoop at the bottom, and a shiny coating highlights the natural grain of the wood. The slim utensil illustrates 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: carved spoon

content: wood

content: 5 1/4 × 1/2 in. (13.3 × 1.3 cm)

content: Carved Spoon

title_sort: CARVED SPOON

title: Carved Spoon


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This round, beaded basket uses wood splints and reeds woven in a plain weave. A God’s Eye design connects the handle to the body and a string of green glass beads adorn the top of the handle. Another string of green beads is attached in a decorative loop on the sides of the basket.

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: 5 1/4 × 5 11/16 × 5 1/2 in. (13.3 × 14.5 × 14 cm)

content: Basket with Decorative Beading

title_sort: BASKET WITH DECORATIVE BEADING

title: Basket with Decorative Beading


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This origami crane features hues of blue accented with purple, white, green, black, and gold. Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) leaves a legacy for generations to come in donating it to the Anacostia Community Museum. The crane, adorned with small flowers and butterflies, realizes the Japanese maxim “a crane lives one thousand years.” Colorfully, it carries Blount’s message about the healing power of craft into the future.

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 9/16 × 2 3/16 in. (10.4 × 9 × 5.5 cm)

content: Origami Crane with Butterflies and Flowers

title_sort: ORIGAMI CRANE WITH BUTTERFLIES AND FLOWERS


content: Between 1983 and 1984

content: This pinback button supported Rev. Jesse L. Jackson’s historic run for president in 1983-1984. Jackson broke ground first trod by Shirley Chisolm, becoming the second African American to run nationally for a major party’s nomination in a presidential primary. The white-and-blue button’s message matches its simple design: “Jesse Cares.” The button belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), a Chicago native who moved to the nation’s capital in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. A lifelong civil rights activist, Payne 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: 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: 1/4 × 2 3/16 in. (0.6 × 5.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Jesse Cares"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "JESSE CARES"

title: Pinback Button, "Jesse Cares"


content: This press pass admitted journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) to the Republican National Convention held August 21-23, 1972 in Miami Beach, Florida. 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 with eight stars and horizonal stripes. At the convention, Payne covered the party’s nomination of Richard Nixon 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: Anacostia Community Museum

content: press badge

content: metal, synthetic fabric

content: 2 15/16 × 1 15/16 × 1/4 in. (7.5 × 5 × 0.7 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: Between 1885 and 1890

content: In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, DC. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Their discoveries included household objects, such as fragments of a water pitcher made by Ridgways Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent, England, ca. 1885-1890. Adorned with brown floral prints, the ivory pitcher suggests the presence of financially secure Anacostians in the late nineteenth-century, as middle to upper class households typically purchased Ridgways pottery for home use. The object’s origin jives with historical records that document 1880 to 1920 as the neighborhood’s time of greatest prosperity.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pitcher

content: porcelain

content: 10 5/8 × 9 1/16 × 7 1/16 in. (27 × 23 × 18 cm)

content: Water Pitcher Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: WATER PITCHER EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Water Pitcher Excavated in Anacostia


content: This pinback button proclaims love for Fisk University, an historically Black university located in Nashville, Tennessee. The button, sporting the school’s emblematic gold and blue, 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: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 1/4 × 1 5/8 in. (0.6 × 4.1 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "I Love Fisk"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "I LOVE FISK"

title: Pinback Button, "I Love Fisk"


content: Between 1920 and 1940

content: In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, D.C. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Their discoveries included household objects, such as pieces of a plate made in Japan, likely between 1920 and 1940. The pieces show two women dressed in colorful kimonos outdoors. This style of plate, depicting Japanese women in traditional settings, appeared in varying levels of quality. Department stores sold finer versions, while dime stores carried cheaper ones. Still others were given away at movie theaters or with other products, such as tea.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: archaeological fragments

content: Painted porcelain, stone, and clay.

content: Maximum: 7/16 × 4 3/8 × 2 13/16 in. (1.1 × 11.1 × 7.2 cm)

content: Minimum: 3/16 × 11/16 × 9/16 in. (0.4 × 1.8 × 1.5 cm)

content: Porcelain Plate Pieces Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: PORCELAIN PLATE PIECES EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA


content: William N. Buckner

content: To make this marionette, William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984) used skills honed at M Street High School, an African American public school with a national reputation for educational excellence in Washington, DC’s then-segregated system. The quality of both art and carpentry instruction at M Street is evident in the finely-crafted marionette, which is almost two feet tall. A wooden hand-controller connects eight strings to the wood, cotton, and paper-mâché marionette, stretching its total operating height to over five feet. The puppet’s intuitive construction testifies to Buckner’s woodworking expertise, and his written directions on the controller provide an instructor’s guidance, foretelling his career as an educator. Equally clear are Buckner’s artistic abilities, apparent in the puppet’s painted facial features and auburn hair. Buckner taught carpentry in the District’s public schools and eventually served as principal of two vocational high schools.

content: After retiring as Armstrong Vocational High School’s principal in 1957, Buckner continued to exercise his love of art through a range of media, including silversmithing and photography. He also offered his professional experience to aid future students and educators, serving, for example, on the search committee for the District’s new school superintendent in 1970. This marionette is one of five in the Anacostia Community Museum’s Collection, four of which were displayed in an exhibition honoring M Street Principal Anna J. Cooper from February 1981 to September 1982.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: puppet

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

content: Puppet: 23 5/8 × 5 1/8 × 3 3/4 in. (60 × 13 × 9.5 cm)

content: From first controller to feet of puppet: 64 3/16 in. (163 cm)

content: Wooden marionette without clothes

title_sort: WOODEN MARIONETTE WITHOUT CLOTHES

title: Wooden marionette without clothes


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Ferns, flowers, and flowerpots cover this red paper crane. Outlined in metallic gold are green fronds, white and purple petals, and pink pots patterned with purple, blue, and yellow blossoms. In Japanese folklore, it is believed that folding one thousand cranes can make a wish come true. This tradition encourages viewers to consider what prolific artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) might have wished for when folding this crane. Meditating on the elegant bird also inspires audiences to reflect on their own hopes and desires.

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

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 3 3/8 × 3 15/16 × 2 7/16 in. (8.6 × 10 × 6.2 cm)

content: Origami Crane with Ferns

title_sort: ORIGAMI CRANE WITH FERNS

title: Origami Crane with Ferns


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount created this small, flat-bottomed basket using reeds, wood splints, and double plied twisted seagrass cord. The round reeds are numerous and closely spaced, and they appear in three different colors: brown, greenish brown, and reddish brown. The rim of the basket, which lacks a handle, is embellished with seagrass cord and a coated brown splint. The overall uniformity of the reed size and weave creates a very structured, uniform basket.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass, dye

content: 2 1/16 × 3 9/16 × 2 11/16 in. (5.3 × 9 × 6.8 cm)

content: Flat-Bottomed Basket

title_sort: FLAT-BOTTOMED BASKET

title: Flat-Bottomed Basket


content: Between 1752 and 1784

content: This tongue plane can cut interlocking wood joints, also known as tongue and groove, for making flooring and furniture. In the eighteenth century, skilled artisans crafted homes and furnishings using a variety of planes—the power tools of their time—created by talented, trained toolmakers. This plane’s maker stands out for his expertise in designing planes used to shape specialized wood surfaces, such as architectural molding, but also for his status as the earliest identified African American toolmaker. Born around 1720, Cesar Chelor learned his trade while enslaved to prominent New England toolmaker Francis Nicolson. Freed upon Nicolson’s death in 1752, Chelor built a thriving business making and selling his own planes to carpenters and joiners in Wrentham, Massachusetts. He eventually purchased land and paid property taxes. Chelor died in 1784; however, many of his planes survive. Like this one, most carry his maker’s mark on the end or “toe” of the plane: “CE Chelor, Living in Wrentham.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: hand plane

content: wood, metal

content: 6 1/8 × 9 15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (15.6 × 25.2 × 3.6 cm)

content: Tongue Plane Made by Cesar Chelor

title_sort: TONGUE PLANE MADE BY CESAR CHELOR

title: Tongue Plane Made by Cesar Chelor


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This basket is made of wood splints and round reeds woven in a plain weave. The splint handle is wrapped in thin, evenly spaced wood splints. Artist Ira Blount created texture by using double plied twisted seagrass cord and a wrapped seagrass decoration to accent the sides of the basket near the handle. The combination of the woven splints, reeds, and seagrass cord creates visual interest throughout.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, seagrass

content: 5 7/8 × 6 3/4 in. (15 × 17.2 cm)

content: Woven Basket with Handle

title_sort: WOVEN BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Woven Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: Wood splints and reeds are woven in a plain weave to create this egg basket. The handle is constructed with a plain weave and two reed wefts and attached to the rim with a God’s Eye design. Artist Ira Blount has a particular appreciation for egg baskets; in 2011 he told the journal, The Afro-American, that he is especially proud of his egg baskets because he enjoys the challenge of making an intricate design. He counsels others, “when learning something new, don’t think that you will just pick it up and go, it will take time…you have to work, work, work and practice, practice, practice and don’t give up.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed

content: 6 1/4 × 6 7/8 × 7 1/4 in. (15.8 × 17.5 × 18.4 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 century

content: Journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991) wore this visitor’s badge while attending an event at the United Nations, whose logo adorns the pink pass. Payne covered many U.N. meetings throughout her globetrotting career. This laminated badge might have accompanied the press pass admitting Payne to the U.N.’s 13th Special Session at its New York City headquarters in May 1986. It addressed economic recovery and development in Africa, a topic of professional as well as personal interest. 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: badge

content: plastic, paper, metal

content: 3 15/16 × 2 11/16 in. (10 × 6.8 cm)

content: With chain: 17 7/8 × 2 11/16 in. (45.4 × 6.8 cm)

content: Visitor Badge Worn By Ethel L. Payne

title_sort: VISITOR BADGE WORN BY ETHEL L. PAYNE

title: Visitor Badge Worn By Ethel L. Payne


content: William N. Buckner

content: William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984) made this formally dressed marionette using woodworking skills honed at M Street High School, a preeminent school for African Americans in Washington, DC’s segregated public schools. The twelve-string wooden marionette wears a white shirt under his dark green velvet suit, accented by a blue-and-white plaid bow tie and brown shoes. Initially, he might have worn a hat atop his paper-mâché head, painted, like his hands, a deep brown. Buckner continued to use puppetry as a teaching tool in his forty-seven years as an educator in District schools. For example, a dwarf puppet (nmah_662361) made by Buckner’s students at Armstrong Vocational High School and the accompanying script (nmah_1982643) from their performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are in the collection of the National Museum of American History. The dwarf puppet went on to star in “Puppets and Things on Strings,” a Smithsonian exhibition whose opening coincided with the World Puppetry Festival in June 1980. In keeping with his well-dressed marionette, Buckner wore a tuxedo accented with a carnation to the exhibition opening, an event that drew puppeteers from around the world to Washington, DC.

content: William N. Buckner, Jr. (1888-1984) fabricó esta elegante marioneta utilizando conocimientos de carpintería que perfeccionó en la M Street High School, una destacada escuela para afroamericanos del sistema segregado de educación pública de Washington D.C. La marioneta de madera de doce cuerdas viste una camisa blanca bajo su traje de terciopelo verde oscuro, realzada por una corbata de moño a cuadros azules y blancos y zapatos marrones. Sus manos están pintadas de un color marrón intenso, al igual que su cabeza de papel maché, sobre la cual es posible que en algún momento llevara un sombrero. Buckner continuó utilizando los títeres como herramienta didáctica durante sus cuarenta y siete años como educador en las escuelas del Distrito.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: puppet

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

content: Puppet: 22 7/16 × 7 1/2 × 3 9/16 in. (57 × 19 × 9 cm)

content: From first controller to feet of puppet: 63 3/4 in. (162 cm)

content: Wooden marionette wearing a green velvet suit and bow tie

title_sort: WOODEN MARIONETTE WEARING A GREEN VELVET SUIT AND BOW TIE


content: Ira Blount

content: Two birds, possibly geese or ducks, soar over a field of cattails and reeds in this textured wood carving. The resolute animals fly into the wind, as evidenced by the long grasses listing to the left. Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) showcases his woodworking skills through his detailed rendering of the birds’ feathered wings and the carefully carved plants.

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: woodwork

content: wood, leather

content: 9 5/8 × 12 × 7/8 in. (24.4 × 30.5 × 2.2 cm)

content: Wood Carving of Birds in Flight

title_sort: WOOD CARVING OF BIRDS IN FLIGHT

title: Wood Carving of Birds in Flight


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: With its swing handle and double-lashed rim design, this square basket closely resembles a traditional “Taconic” basket—named after the Columbia County, New York mountain range and region. The basket is woven in a plain weave using wood splints. It is wider in the middle and narrows at the top and bottom, in a nod to artist Ira Blount’s persistent interest in exploring different shapes and forms.

content: Blount experimented with multiple different basketmaking styles, techniques, and traditions. The addition of the Taconic-style basket to his repertoire demonstrates the breadth of his expertise and his willingness to be inspired by art from different regions and time periods.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint

content: 15 15/16 × 9 3/16 × 9 1/16 in. (40.5 × 23.3 × 23 cm)

content: Basket with Swing Handle

title_sort: BASKET WITH SWING HANDLE

title: Basket with Swing Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: A stepped diamond is the central focus of this beaded strap by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020). Glass beads in white, green, blue, yellow, red, and orange create the short strap’s intricate design. Its bold colors and geometric patterns recall artmaking traditions of the American Southwest. With the development of global trade in the sixteenth century, cultures across North America, Africa, and Europe valued glass beads for their aesthetic and monetary properties. Elements of the design evoke diverse influences and speak to beading’s broad reach and appeal throughout the long history of globalization.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: beadwork

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 4 1/8 × 2 5/16 × 1/8 in. (10.5 × 5.8 × 0.3 cm)

content: Short Beaded Strap

title_sort: SHORT BEADED STRAP

title: Short Beaded Strap


content: Ira Blount

content: The piecing on this quilt is a variation of a log-cabin pattern. Most of the piecing comprises two-inch squares sewn together to form long strips of a single pattern or color theme. Three edges of the quilt are made of long strips of cloth. The fabrics include solid colors (green, maroon, off-white, and turquoise) and over a dozen small floral calico-type prints. All four edges are hand-quilted in white thread with a rectangle enclosing an elongated “X.” The remainder is quilted just inside the seam of each two-inch square. This quilt is visually striking in its bold alternation of light and dark colored fabrics that creates a pattern similar to a Greek key.

content: In addition to quilting, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting

content: 37 5/16 × 29 5/8 in. (94.8 × 75.2 cm)

content: Log Cabin Quilt

title_sort: LOG CABIN QUILT

title: Log Cabin Quilt


content: late 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small round basket has many closely spaced staves. It resembles a traditional “Nantucket” basket in its shape, which mirrors the barrels traditionally used in the whaling industry on the small, New England island. The metal hardware that secures the traditional “swing” handle to the rim is also characteristic of Nantucket baskets. The bottom is attached to a small, round piece of wood.

content: Artist Ira Blount experimented with multiple different basketmaking styles, techniques, and traditions. The addition of the Nantucket basket to his repertoire demonstrates the breadth of his basketmaking expertise and his willingness to borrow from different regions and time periods for inspiration.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, wood, metal, coatig

content: 5 1/4 × 3 15/16 in. (13.4 × 10 cm)

content: Nantucket-Style Basket with Handle

title_sort: NANTUCKET-STYLE BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Nantucket-Style Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: This natural-colored and dyed splint basket was woven with a plain weave. The vibrant, dark purple splints create a visually appealing rectilinear pattern along the side, and an “X” design along the handle. Both patterns recall a ribbon woven between splints. The rim is single-lashed. The bottom of the basket has a rounded rectangular shape, as does the handle. Pencil marks on the bottom give insight into the artist’s process.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, dye, adhesive

content: 8 1/4 × 9 1/16 × 9 1/16 in. (21 × 23 × 23 cm)

content: Rectangular-Shaped Basket with Woven Purple Design

title_sort: RECTANGULAR-SHAPED BASKET WITH WOVEN PURPLE DESIGN


content: Ira Blount

content: This round woven basket is unique among artist Ira Blount’s creations for having a lid. The lid incorporates a carved wood openwork floral design. This combination of woodwork and weaving demonstrates Blount’s mastery of multiple mediums. The Calvert County Fair awarded this basket the First Place Blue Premium Ribbon.

content: The Basket Bunch, a craft guild in Prince George’s County, Maryland, featured this object on their Facebook page when honoring Blount. The basket has a unique connection to Blount’s engagement with community organizations dedicated to arts and crafts.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, wood, stain

content: 6 7/8 × 11 13/16 in. (17.5 × 30 cm)

content: Basket And Lid With Carved Wood Decoration

title_sort: BASKET AND LID WITH CARVED WOOD DECORATION


content: Ira Blount

content: A bright red fish swims through a black sea in this paper cutting. Details, including scales, whiskers, fins, and gills enliven the image, but it is the fish’s alert eye that hooks the viewer. The composition highlights artist Ira Blount’s (1918-2020) skill in silhouettes and invites the viewer to imagine what captivates the fish's attention.

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: papercutting

content: paper

content: Frame: 10 1/16 × 12 1/16 × 13/16 in. (25.5 × 30.7 × 2 cm)

content: Red Fish Paper Cutting

title_sort: RED FISH PAPER CUTTING

title: Red Fish Paper Cutting


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This egg basket is made of round reeds woven in a plain weave. A God’s Eye design made of wood splint connects the handle to the basket. Artist Ira Blount inscribed his initials and the number “87” (probably the date) inside the handle. This basket showcases his ability to make highly uniform, precise, and intricate designs.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: reed, wood splint, coating

content: 4 3/4 × 4 7/8 × 5 9/16 in. (12 × 12.4 × 14.1 cm)

content: Egg Basket with Handle

title_sort: EGG BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Egg Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: While origami is generally exhibited in a three-dimensional form, local artist Ira Blount presents eight flat origami cranes on a simple white background. Neatly arranged rows—three on the top, two in the middle, and three more on the bottom—complement the uniformity of the cranes and their crisp folds. The artist achieves variety in his use of different brightly colored origami paper. In arranging the cranes on a flat picture plane, the artist subverts expectations about the traditions and functions of this Japanese art form.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, cardstock

content: 8 1/8 × 9 15/16 in. (20.6 × 25.3 cm)

content: Eight Origami Cranes

title_sort: EIGHT ORIGAMI CRANES

title: Eight Origami Cranes


content: 8000 BC-1600 AD

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 were stones shaped by human hands as well as prehistoric rocks. While the story of Washington, DC is most often told as the story of a federal city and the elected officials who have called it home, people settled along the eastern shore of the Anacostia River as early as 9500-1200 B.C.E. In particular, the excavation revealed traces of a Native American camp on the Stickfoot Branch, a small stream that emptied into the Anacostia. The availability of fresh water and stones that could be shaped into tools, such as arrow points and hide scrapers, helps to explain why the camp had visitors over a period of almost 6,000 years (4000 B.C.E. – 1600 C.E.).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: archeaological lithics

content: stone

content: Maximum: 1/2 × 1 5/16 × 1 3/16 in. (1.2 × 3.3 × 3 cm)

content: Minimum: 3/16 × 7/16 × 1/4 in. (0.4 × 1.1 × 0.7 cm)

content: Prehistoric Rocks and Stones Shaped by Human Hands

title_sort: PREHISTORIC ROCKS AND STONES SHAPED BY HUMAN HANDS


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This melon shaped basket features uniformly shaped and natural-colored reeds and wood splints. A single protruding splint near the bottom of the basket gives the viewer a greater appreciation for the intricacy involved in making these baskets. The wood handle, attached to the body of the basket with a God’s Eye design, is covered in a plain weave with a reed weft.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed

content: 11 13/16 × 13 9/16 × 12 5/8 in. (30 × 34.4 × 32 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Handle

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with Handle


content: c. 1994

content: Ira Blount

content: Purple irises tinged with yellow grow out of a brown bowl in this cross-stitch with a geometric green border. Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) incorporates the Chinese character, “mei,” which translates to “beauty” to the left of the flowers. This work invokes the conventions of still-life paintings by including a memento mori, a single flower that has fallen off the plant. Viewers are encouraged to consider both the irises’ natural beauty and their transience.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton embroidery floss

content: 11 1/8 × 8 1/4 in. (28.2 × 20.9 cm)

content: Iris Cross-Stitch

title_sort: IRIS CROSS-STITCH

title: Iris Cross-Stitch


content: Mid-19th century

content: Bordered in brown, thirty-six blocks compose this nineteenth-century quilt. Each block is made of nine silk squares, mainly in hues of blue, brown, green, grey, and red. Pieced together from remnants of solid and patterned fabric imported from Europe to make formal dresses, elaborate embroidery adorns each square with multicolored motifs ranging from botanical (flower, leaf) to symmetrical designs (heart, cross). The red fringe around the quilt’s edges matches its red, cotton backing. Kissie Owens Gary (1858-1945) remembered the fancy quilt displayed on the back of a sofa at the Saluda, South Carolina plantation where she was enslaved as a child. She passed the quilt on to her children and grandchildren, along with memories of having to begin quilting, hand sewing, and weaving on looms at age five or six. Gary told her family that, upon liberation by the Union Army, she took the quilt with her because so much work had gone into it and to remember the place of her childhood. She brought the quilt with her to Washington, DC where she resided for the last twenty years of her life. Her granddaughter, Rhuedine Gary Davis (1913-2005), a District resident and community activist, donated the quilt to the Anacostia Community Museum.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: silk, cotton, batting

content: 66 x 64 1/2 in. (167.6 x 163.8 cm)

content: Pieced Nine-Patch Quilt with Embroidery Fancy Pieced Quilt

title_sort: PIECED NINE-PATCH QUILT WITH EMBROIDERY FANCY PIECED QUILT


content: Late 20th century

content: This pinback button’s design is as plain as its message, “sounds like Bull Shit to me.” On a white background, four lines of lettering alternate between red and black. The button belonged to Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), a journalist whose piercing questions called out racial and gender discrimination, among other inequities. Known as the First Lady of the Black Press, Payne moved from her native Chicago to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. She collected political buttons over the course of 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: 3/16 × 2 3/16 in. (0.5 × 5.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, “Sounds Like Bull Shit to Me”

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, “SOUNDS LIKE BULL SHIT TO ME”


content: Late 20th century

content: On this yellow pinback button, a line-drawn cartoon depicts a smiling figure wearing a sandwich board that reads “Vote the Rascals Out.” The barefoot figure, the sandwich board’s straps and back placard, and row homes in the background are all rendered in red. Bold, yellow letters glow against the black of the sandwich board’s front placard. Sandwich boards, or large placards worn by a person who walked up and down streets, were a popular advertising method in the nineteenth century, revived during the Great Depression due to their thrift. This retro-style button could refer to ousting city leaders, including the mayor, in Chicago’s 1983-1984 election cycle. It belonged to native Chicagoan Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. Known as the First Lady of the Black Press, the journalist collected political buttons over the course of her pioneering career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 3/8 × 2 5/16 in. (0.9 × 5.8 cm)

content: Pinback Button, “Vote the Rascals Out”

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, “VOTE THE RASCALS OUT”

title: Pinback Button, “Vote the Rascals Out”


content: late 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: The body of this round woven basket is made almost entirely of grapevines, giving the piece a rough, textured feel. The vines vary in hue from warm, reddish hues to darker, wooden browns. The handle is constructed from two twigs, and wood splints connect the handle to the body.

content: Grapevines are one of artist Ira Blount’s favorite materials as they make baskets look “very natural.” In a 1998 interview, he said, “when you’re making a basket using grapevines – the grapevines tell you which way you’re going. So, the shape is dictated by the vines…you might be able to manipulate them slightly, but you usually give into whatever shape the vine is.”

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: grapevine, reed, wood splint

content: 8 × 9 1/4 × 9 7/16 in. (20.3 × 23.5 × 24 cm)

content: Grapevine Basket

title_sort: GRAPEVINE BASKET

title: Grapevine Basket


content: Mid-20th century

content: This ordinary set of Sargent Art® brand watercolor paints has an embossed metal lid that opens to reveal eight pans of color. Paint splatters on the inside of the tin evidence that it was used by its owner, painter Alma Woodsey Thomas. Color was central to Thomas’s work. She distinguished herself from the Washington Color School in the 1960s and developed the colorful expressionist style for which she is best known. In her words: “Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.”

content: Este ordinario juego de acuarelas de la marca Sargent Art® se convierte en extraordinario al haber pertenecido a la pintora Alma Thomas. El color es un elemento central en la obra de Thomas, que estudió teoría del color y pintura en acuarela a lo largo de toda su carrera. Diferenciándose de la Washington Color School de la década de 1960, Thomas desarrolló el colorido estilo expresionista por el que es reconocida. Este juego de acuarelas representa la primacía del color en su obra. Las salpicaduras de pintura en el interior de la lata y alrededor de los ocho colores dan muestra de su uso y recuerdan la filosofía de Thomas: "A través del color, he tratado de concentrarme en la belleza y la felicidad, en lugar de hacerlo en la inhumanidad del ser humano hacia sus semejantes".

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of David Driskell

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: watercolor paint set

content: metal, watercolor

content: 2 3/16 × 8 5/8 × 11/16 in. (5.5 × 21.9 × 1.7 cm)

content: Alma Thomas's Watercolors

title_sort: ALMA THOMAS'S WATERCOLORS

title: Alma Thomas's Watercolors


content: Ira Blount

content: Ordinary objects can also be works of art, like this footstool made by Ira Blount (1918-2020). Its white woven top carries out a nautical theme as well as a numerical one. Quartets of cord woven into a pattern stretch taut across four dowels joined to four square posts of white oak. Below, four beech rungs also support the footstool’s rectangular frame.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: footstool

content: cord (fiber product) and wood

content: 9 × 12 1/4 × 9 in. (22.9 × 31.1 × 22.9 cm)

content: Woven Cord Footstool

title_sort: WOVEN CORD FOOTSTOOL

title: Woven Cord Footstool


content: Late 20th century

content: This pinback button promotes “Washington’s No. 1 Crew” in red lettering and four red stars on a white background. It belonged to journalist Ethel L. Payne, (1911-1991), who moved from Chicago to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news for the preeminent African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. Known as The First Lady of the Black Press, Payne collected political buttons throughout her pioneering career.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, plastic, paper

content: 1/4 × 2 3/16 in. (0.7 × 5.5 cm)

content: Pinback Button, “Washington’s No 1 Crew,”

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, “WASHINGTON’S NO 1 CREW,”


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Wood splints create a plain weave in this rectangular-shaped, flat-bottomed basket. The splints are brown and light brown in color, and the shape of the basket is tapered upward. Some of the darker splints show differences in coating, reminding the viewer of the gathering and hand-dying steps involved in the basket-making process. The handle is undecorated.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, coating

content: 5 × 3 1/2 × 3 in. (12.7 × 8.9 × 7.6 cm)

content: Reed Basket with Handle

title_sort: REED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Reed Basket with Handle


content: Ira Blount

content: This natural-colored egg basket uses a combination of wood splints and round reeds to create a plain weave. The basket is remarkable in the consistency of the weave, though the thicknesses of the splints vary. Artist Ira Blount put his initials and the number “06” on the bottom, indicating the year that he created the basket. A God’s Eye design attaches the wood handle to the body.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed

content: 12 5/8 × 15 7/8 × 13 3/8 in. (32 × 40.3 × 34 cm)

content: Egg Basket with God's Eye

title_sort: EGG BASKET WITH GOD'S EYE

title: Egg Basket with God's Eye


content: Ira Blount

content: A reflection of Ira Blount’s philosophy on crafting, this work of calligraphy reads: “Peace of mind comes to me through making things with my hands. An added bonus comes if my efforts inspire others to try the creative process.” Note the even lettering and spacing, the brown branches covering the bottom of the image that grow up either side, and the dramatic capital P painted with blue ink. This calligraphic image, a work of art in its own right, utilizes form to visually illustrate his quote.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: print

content: ink on paper

content: Mat: 15 15/16 × 19 15/16 in. (40.5 × 50.6 cm)

content: Peace of Mind Comes to Me

title_sort: PEACE OF MIND COMES TO ME

title: Peace of Mind Comes to Me


content: This golden pin depicts a dancing drummer, arms outstretched and palms ready to strike a conga drum. The drummer’s hat and clothing shimmer with rhinestones. Panels of onyx form the drum’s cylindrical body, while a deep red gemstone composes the drummer’s round face.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pin

content: metal, rhinestone, plastic

content: 1 15/16 × 1 7/16 × 3/8 in. (5 × 3.7 × 1 cm)

content: Dancing Drummer Pin

title_sort: DANCING DRUMMER PIN

title: Dancing Drummer Pin


content: late 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small basket is made of wood splints and round reeds woven in a plain weave. Purple reeds surround the woven God’s Eye design that connects the handle to the body of the basket. Glass pony beads attached to the handle complement the purple reeds, giving this piece a colorful, playful aesthetic.

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, glass, waxed linen cord, adhesive

content: 4 1/2 × 5 1/8 × 5 1/2 in. (11.5 × 13 × 14 cm)

content: Small Egg Basket with Beaded Design

title_sort: SMALL EGG BASKET WITH BEADED DESIGN

title: Small Egg Basket with Beaded Design


content: 20th century

content: Swirls of glass beads form a monochrome mosaic on this black clutch. In the front, a narrow flap folds over the semicircular clutch and closes with a metal snap. A hand grab permits the clutch to be held from the back. The glass beads follow a wave pattern on both front and back, including on the front flap, and are secured on a netting in a simple ladder stitch. The clutch’s sides and hand grab feature a straight ladder stitch pattern. The purse belonged to renowned scholar-librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995), who organized and developed an unparalleled collection rooted in African American history that would become the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: purse

content: glass beads, synthetic fabric

content: Open: 5 3/4 × 6 × 3/8 in. (14.6 × 15.2 × 1 cm)

content: Close: 5 3/4 × 4 7/16 × 3/8 in. (14.6 × 11.3 × 1 cm)

content: Black Beaded Clutch

title_sort: BLACK BEADED CLUTCH

title: Black Beaded Clutch


content: Mid-20th century

content: This is an ordinary artist’s paintbrush, made extraordinary by having belonged to Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891-1978). Thomas’s vibrant brushwork enlivened her abstract watercolors and mosaic-patterned paintings. In a 1970 interview, the artist described her brush strokes as “free and irregular, some close together, others far apart, thus creating interesting patterns of canvas peeping around the strokes.” Thomas devoted her life to sharing art with others, from teaching art in Washington, D.C. public schools to founding organizations dedicated to art education. At age 80, she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In her words, “painting released me from the limitations of the past and opened the door to progressive creativity.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of David Driskell

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: paintbrush

content: Wood, ox hair, metal

content: 11 7/8 × 3/8 × 3/8 in. (30.2 × 1 × 1 cm)

content: Alma Thomas's Paintbrush

title_sort: ALMA THOMAS'S PAINTBRUSH

title: Alma Thomas's Paintbrush


content: Ira Blount

content: A flower surrounded by stems and branches supporting eleven mature leaves is the central focus of this image. Though paper silhouettes were common in the 1800s, artist Kara Walker “revived” the medium in the 1990s in her work’s exploration of Blackness, gender, violence, and sexuality. Both the traditional craft and modern revival of silhouetting may have influenced Ira Blount in making this piece. In this image, Blount subverts the rigid gendered assumptions of the nineteenth century by embracing women’s domestic arts and encouraging others to free themselves from the limitations of labels by experiencing the joy of crafting.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: papercutting

content: paper, graphite

content: Frame: 10 1/8 × 12 1/16 × 1 in. (25.7 × 30.7 × 2.5 cm)

content: Flower Silhouette

title_sort: FLOWER SILHOUETTE

title: Flower Silhouette


content: 20th century

content: The Pullman Sleeping Car’s design allowed train passengers, as printed on this clothes hanger, to “travel and sleep in safety and comfort.” The luxury railcars provided seats that Pullman Porters transformed into sleeping berths for overnight journeys and amenities such as this wooden hanger. Below its curved hook, wavy pieces of metal join wooden arms together to connect two sides of the triangular hanger. A wooden rod, from which folded pants could hang, forms the third side. Many formerly enslaved African Americans served as Pullman Porters, who became known not only for customer service, but also activism. Working as a Pullman Porter was one of few jobs available to African Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries, and, despite low wages, helped many enter the middle class. Unlike passengers, however, porters often experienced discomfort, enduring racism along with long hours and little sleep. In 1925, A. Philip Randolph organized The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which became the first African American union to achieve a collective bargaining agreement.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Glenn Green

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: hanger

content: Wood and metal.

content: 8 3/4 × 16 15/16 × 11/16 in. (22.3 × 43 × 1.8 cm)

content: Pullman Wood Hanger

title_sort: PULLMAN WOOD HANGER

title: Pullman Wood Hanger


content: Ira Blount

content: Four whales surrounded by a school of fish swim along the seaweed-covered ocean floor in this wood carving. By creating different textures and finishes, artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) evokes the whales’ slick skin and the murky sand beneath the seaweed. Blount expressed hope that audiences would feel uplifted after observing his works. The details in this carving transport the viewer to an underwater world where they can experience the tranquility and grandeur of the ocean.

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

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: woodwork

content: wood, leather

content: 6 3/4 × 28 × 3/4 in. (17.1 × 71.1 × 1.9 cm)

content: Wood Carving of Whales and Fish

title_sort: WOOD CARVING OF WHALES AND FISH

title: Wood Carving of Whales and Fish


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This container is made of smooth tree bark folded and bent at the edges. The rim is a wood splint, and the handle retains some of the original nodes of the twig from which it was shaped. This encourages the viewer to consider the physical environments in which the materials were found and transformed. The container is accented with reddish-orange and white beads and orange waxed linen.

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: tree bark, wood splint, twig, glass, waxed linen cord

content: 6 11/16 × 7 1/16 × 4 1/8 in. (17 × 18 × 10.5 cm)

content: Tree Bark Container with Beads

title_sort: TREE BARK CONTAINER WITH BEADS

title: Tree Bark Container with Beads


content: This partially finished tablecloth reprises housekeeping activities from a coordinating days-of the-week towel set. Ironing and baking appear in colorful cross stitch, while stamped imprints hint at other tasks to be embroidered, including laundry, sewing, grocery shopping, and cleaning. Notably, Sunday’s “rest” design is absent. The scenes create six place settings along top and bottom rectangular borders with floral insets at the corners. The linen cloth is part of 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. An apron completes the decorative set (2008.0002.0006a-g). 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 tablecloth along with the towels and apron.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

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

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cloth

content: linen, cotton

content: 36 5/8 × 52 1/2 in. (93 × 133.3 cm)

content: Days-of-the-Week Tablecloth

title_sort: DAYS-OF-THE-WEEK TABLECLOTH

title: Days-of-the-Week Tablecloth


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 cobble stones, useful for shaping into tools. The excavation revealed traces of a Native American camp on the Stickfoot Branch, a small stream that emptied into the Anacostia. The availability of fresh water and, more importantly, stones that could be shaped into tools, such as arrow points and hide scrapers, helps to explain why the camp had visitors over a period of almost 6,000 years (4000 B.C.E. – 1600 C.E.). Two places were found where camp visitors had dug out cobble stones like these and shaped them into large blade forms. Another nearby area was found where the blade forms were made into finished tools.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: archaeological lithics

content: Maximum: 2 15/16 × 5 7/8 × 5 1/2 in. (7.5 × 15 × 14 cm)

content: Minimum: 1 13/16 × 2 11/16 × 1 5/8 in. (4.6 × 6.8 × 4.2 cm)

content: Cobble Stones Excavated in Anacostia

title_sort: COBBLE STONES EXCAVATED IN ANACOSTIA

title: Cobble Stones Excavated in Anacostia


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: A woven God’s Eye design attaches the handle to the body of this small egg basket. Artist Ira Blount wove the natural-colored wood splints and round reeds in a plain weave. The weave and color maintain a uniform rhythm while manipulating space in interesting ways. The handle is covered with a plain weave.

content: Artist and craftsman Ira Blount presented an egg basket, like this one, to the members of the greater Washington region craft guild the Basket Bunch, a group he had participated in since the early 1980s. In a 2009 documentary profiling Blount, he reflects, “Going to classes to learn…is fine, but when you do these things without any help, I think it’s more beneficial and the product turns out to be better because of the fact that you put a lot of work into it and it’s your own.”

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed

content: 5 1/4 × 5 7/16 × 6 11/16 in. (13.3 × 13.8 × 17 cm)

content: Egg Basket with Handle

title_sort: EGG BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Egg Basket with Handle


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This crane features yellow, green, blue, red, and white designs embellished with metallic gold accents. While the crisp lines and careful creases make it impossible to discern the complete picture on the origami paper, the colors and shapes suggest elements of a natural landscape. Viewers are encouraged to consider how this traditional Japanese art form simultaneously obscures components of the flat composition while creating a new, three-dimensional structure.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 4 1/4 × 2 15/16 × 2 9/16 in. (10.8 × 7.5 × 6.5 cm)

content: Colorful Origami Crane

title_sort: COLORFUL ORIGAMI CRANE

title: Colorful Origami Crane


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This small round basket is made from natural-colored wood splints and round reeds woven in a plain weave. The handle is covered with a plain weave. The basket is noteworthy for its delicate intricacy and precision.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, adhesive

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

content: Small Reed Basket with Handle

title_sort: SMALL REED BASKET WITH HANDLE

title: Small Reed Basket with Handle


content: Created for a 1974 referendum campaign, this pinback button’s bold red-and-black lettering encouraged residents of the District of Columbia to vote for the Home Rule Charter. The campaign led to the Charter’s passage, shifting some powers from Congress to local government and establishing Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, which represented smaller sections of the city and informed decisions on specific needs of each community. By wearing a button like this and advocating for greater self-government, campaigners and citizens brought political empowerment to Washington, DC neighborhoods.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: pinback button

content: metal, ink

content: 1 9/16 × 1 9/16 × 1/8 in. (4 × 4 × 0.3 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Home Rule Charter, Yes!"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "HOME RULE CHARTER, YES!"


content: Ira Blount

content: Though artist Ira Blount more frequently utilized natural-colored materials, here he incorporates splints dyed a deep purple. A single purple reed doubled on itself is present on either side of the melon-shaped basket. The basket is woven with a plain weave. A purple splint also decorates the basket’s wooden handle, which is attached to the body with a God’s Eye design. The colors emphasize the regularity and precision of the weaving.

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: 15 1/4 × 12 3/4 × 12 13/16 in. (38.8 × 32.4 × 32.5 cm)

content: Melon-Shaped Basket with Purple Stripe

title_sort: MELON-SHAPED BASKET WITH PURPLE STRIPE

title: Melon-Shaped Basket with Purple Stripe


content: 20th century

content: The Pullman Sleeping Car’s design allowed train passengers, as printed on this clothes hanger, to “travel and sleep in safety and comfort.” The luxury railcars provided seats that Pullman Porters transformed into sleeping berths for overnight journeys and amenities such as this wooden hanger. Below its curved hook, wavy pieces of metal join wooden arms together to connect two sides of the triangular hanger. A wooden rod, from which folded pants could hang, forms the third side. Many formerly enslaved African Americans served as Pullman Porters, who became known not only for customer service, but also activism. Working as a Pullman Porter was one of few jobs available to African Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries, and, despite low wages, helped many enter the middle class. Unlike passengers, however, porters often experienced discomfort, enduring racism along with long hours and little sleep. In 1925, A. Philip Randolph organized The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which became the first African American union to achieve a collective bargaining agreement.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Glenn Green

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: hanger

content: Metal and wood.

content: 8 11/16 × 16 7/8 × 11/16 in. (22 × 42.8 × 1.8 cm)

content: Pullman Sleeping Car Clothes Hanger

title_sort: PULLMAN SLEEPING CAR CLOTHES HANGER

title: Pullman Sleeping Car Clothes Hanger


content: Ira Blount

content: The center of this colorful patchwork quilt is made of solid, calico, and striped African fabric pieced together in two-inch squares to form a large rectangular block. A solid blue cloth provides an inner border for this rectangle as well as an outer rectangular border. The area between borders is pieced with colorful two-inch squares. The quilting, which was done by hand, skillfully outlines subtle squares, diamonds, and stars.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting, ink

content: 65 7/8 × 59 1/2 in. (167.4 × 151.2 cm)

content: Patchwork Quilt with Inner and Outer Border

title_sort: PATCHWORK QUILT WITH INNER AND OUTER BORDER


content: late 20th Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This wall basket is made of round dyed and natural-colored reeds woven in a plain, or tabby, weave. Some of the reeds are dyed mauve or green, creating vertical stripes. The handle is made of two intertwined wooden twigs, which are attached to the basket with a wood splint. The irregular shape of the twigs contrasts with the structured weave.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: reed, twig, wood splint, dye

content: 7 1/8 × 8 9/16 × 4 1/16 in. (18.1 × 21.7 × 10.3 cm)

content: Basket with Handle and Vertical Stripes

title_sort: BASKET WITH HANDLE AND VERTICAL STRIPES

title: Basket with Handle and Vertical Stripes


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Versatile artisan Ira Blount found purpose and fulfillment in creating art out of naturally sourced and commercial materials. This decorative gourd contains both elements: human-made red and purple glass beads adorn a natural gourd decorated with a brown zigzag design. The contrast between the bright colors of the beads and the muted browns of the gourd draws attention to the variety in Blount’s materials.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: gourd

content: gourd, glass, waxed linen cord

content: 2 15/16 × 4 1/8 in. (7.4 × 10.4 cm)

content: Decorative Gourd with Zigzag Design

title_sort: DECORATIVE GOURD WITH ZIGZAG DESIGN

title: Decorative Gourd with Zigzag Design


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Two black arrows outlined in blue, red, yellow, and green at either end of this beaded strap point toward a central diamond design. A blue line splits the diamond into two triangles, while blue, red, and white beads further bisect the polygon into even smaller triangles. The motif is continued around the border, with stacked rectangular shapes adorning the top and bottom. This beadwork explores how geometric shapes can create seemingly infinite design possibilities.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: beadwork

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 8 1/4 × 2 11/16 × 1/16 in. (21 × 6.8 × 0.2 cm)

content: Beaded Strap with Geometric Shapes

title_sort: BEADED STRAP WITH GEOMETRIC SHAPES

title: Beaded Strap with Geometric Shapes


content: Ira Blount

content: By the eighteenth century, needlework samplers containing moral and religious verses had become popular. Artist Ira Blount (1918-2020) draws from this earlier tradition in his embroidered piece featuring a fruit tree and text reading “Hear and learn to be silent, be silent and learn to understand, understand and learn to remember.” The end of the sentence is further punctuated by two black birds flanking a gold crown. The image, “wrought” by Blount in 1991, shares an enduring message about the importance of thoughtful listening.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: cross-stitch

content: Aida fabric, cotton thread

content: 10 1/2 × 10 1/8 in. (26.7 × 25.7 cm)

content: Cross-Stitch Sampler

title_sort: CROSS-STITCH SAMPLER

title: Cross-Stitch Sampler


content: This pinback button expresses eagerness to vote for Harold Washington in Chicago’s Democratic primary for mayor in October 1982. A coalition of voters “punched eight” for Washington, the eighth candidate on the ballot. Hailing from the city’s predominantly African American South Side, Washington made history when he was elected the first African American mayor of Chicago in April 1983. The blue-and-white 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 (1991.0076.0166) 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: 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: 1/8 × 3 7/8 in. (0.3 × 9.9 cm)

content: Pinback Button, "Can't Wait To Punch 8"

title_sort: PINBACK BUTTON, "CAN'T WAIT TO PUNCH 8"

title: Pinback Button, "Can't Wait To Punch 8"


content: Ira Blount

content: This burgundy and cream-colored quilt is made of two different five-inch block patterns: a traditional four-patch square and a half-square triangle. The blocks are arranged in checkerboard fashion across the quilt. The quilt is hand-stitched along the diagonals using white thread in the cream-colored areas, and with red thread in the areas of burgundy cloth.

content: Ira Blount made this quilt during his membership with the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons, a Washington, DC quilting guild that teaches and shares a love of quilting in local schools, hospitals, and civic centers. The quilt’s opposite color patterns and mirror symmetry demonstrate the artist’s mastery of the visual language of quilting.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: quilt

content: cotton, polyester, batting, ink

content: 30 × 30 in. (76.2 × 76.2 cm)

content: Burgundy and Off-White Block Quilt

title_sort: BURGUNDY AND OFF-WHITE BLOCK QUILT

title: Burgundy and Off-White Block Quilt


content: Ira Blount

content: A black cat looks up at a dragonfly fluttering above its head in this black-and-white, cut paper silhouette. Areas of white negative space suggest texture and form in the cat’s fur and claws and create a spacious setting for the scene. The image is at once mischievous and suspenseful: Will the cat catch the dragonfly? Through the arranging of cut paper, the artist invites the viewer to engage in the work’s playful narrative.

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: papercutting

content: paper, graphite

content: Frame: 14 3/16 × 11 1/8 × 9/16 in. (36 × 28.3 × 1.5 cm)

content: Cat and Dragonfly Silhouette

title_sort: CAT AND DRAGONFLY SILHOUETTE

title: Cat and Dragonfly Silhouette


content: Ira Blount

content: Artist Ira Blount captures the form and appearance of an apple in this wood carving. Even the sheen from the coating, which highlights natural variations in color, recalls the shiny fruit. The lifelike sculpted vessel features a slightly irregular shape and a stem. It also functions as a container, as the top can be removed to store items inside.

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: Including Lid: 4 3/4 × 9 1/4 in. (12.1 × 23.5 cm)

content: Other (Lid Only): 2 1/4 × 9 1/4 in.

content: Carved Apple-Shaped Container

title_sort: CARVED APPLE-SHAPED CONTAINER

title: Carved Apple-Shaped Container


content: Between 1930 and 1940

content: Handmade of pale pink satin, ruffles ring a dress once worn by a girl who grew up in Washington, DC. The round neckline features four rows of ruffles, while a single ruffle finishes each short sleeve, made puffy by gathers at the shoulders. A ruffle encircles the bottom of the full skirt and, above it, two tiers of ruffles stop inches before meeting in the front. A matching satin sash ties at the waist. The fancy dress 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, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: dress

content: synthetic fabric

content: 38 1/4 × 40 5/16 in. (97.2 × 102.4 cm)

content: Waist: 16 1/4 in. (41.2 cm)

content: Sleeve: 10 5/16 in. (26.2 cm)

content: Child’s Ruffled Satin Dress

title_sort: CHILD’S RUFFLED SATIN DRESS

title: Child’s Ruffled Satin Dress


content: Between 1985 and 2016

content: Chef and author Sandra Gutiérrez’s cast-iron skillet carries the logo for Cracker Barrel, a restaurant chain known for its homestyle Southern cooking. According to Gutiérrez, “Every Southern chef needs a cast-iron skillet and biscuit cutter.” Along with a tortilla press, Gutiérrez uses these essential kitchen tools to serve up Southern-Latino cuisine, a fusion of foods and flavors stemming from the late twentieth-century growth of the Latinx population in the southeastern United States. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Guatemala City, Gutiérrez blends ingredients, traditions, and cooking techniques that tell stories of American migration in her cookbook, The New Southern Latino Table. Along with her biscuit cutters (2017.14.2a-c) and tortilla press (2017.14.3), Gutiérrez’s cast-iron skillet was on display at the Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition, Gateways/Portales, from December 2016 to January 2018.

content: La sartén de hierro fundido de la chef y autora Sandra Gutiérrez lleva el logotipo de Cracker Barrel, una cadena de restaurantes conocida por su cocina sureña casera. Según Gutiérrez, "todo chef sureño necesita una sartén de hierro fundido y un cortador de galletas". Junto con la prensa para tortillas, Gutiérrez utiliza estos utensilios de cocina esenciales para servir comida sureña-latina, una fusión de alimentos y sabores derivada del crecimiento de la población latina en el sureste de Estados Unidos a finales del siglo XX. Nacida en Filadelfia y criada en la Ciudad de Guatemala, Gutiérrez combina ingredientes, tradiciones y técnicas culinarias que cuentan historias de la migración estadounidense en su libro de cocina, The New Southern Latino Table.

content: Junto con sus cortadores de galletas (2017.14.2a-c) y su prensa para tortillas (2017.14.3), la sartén de hierro fundido 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: cast-iron skillet

content: cast iron

content: 12 11/16 × 8 11/16 × 1 15/16 in. (32.2 × 22.1 × 5 cm)

content: Sandra Gutiérrez’s Cast-Iron Skillet

title_sort: SANDRA GUTIÉRREZ’S CAST-IRON SKILLET

title: Sandra Gutiérrez’s Cast-Iron Skillet


content: Ira Blount

content: A narrow handle attaches to the body of this egg basket, denoting it as decorative rather than functional. Double-plied twisted seagrass cord creates a portion of the plain weave. Artist Ira Blount also used wood splints and round reeds to supplement the seagrass cord, creating an overall textured surface. The delicacy of the design and handle contrasts with the basket’s sturdy shape and form.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: basket

content: wood splint, reed, seagrass

content: 11 3/4 × 15 11/16 × 13 3/16 in. (29.8 × 39.8 × 33.5 cm)

content: Egg Basket with Narrow Handle

title_sort: EGG BASKET WITH NARROW HANDLE

title: Egg Basket with Narrow Handle


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 wearing a blue-and-white striped apron over a yellow dress. She holds fabric flecked with red starbursts unfurling from a gray dress form. The pins in her mouth and on the floor beside a pin box and black scissors also point to sewing, Thursday’s housekeeping task. Behind the dark-haired woman, green leaves grace tree boughs outside an open window trimmed with red gingham curtains. A framed bouquet of blue flowers hangs on the wall. The towel is part of a days-of-the-week set made from a needlecraft kit, a popular creative endeavor in the 1940s, when smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework for middle-class women. Mary Thompson Ford (1861-1960) was both college-educated and a proud homemaker in Jersey City, NJ. Her daughter Blanche Ford Hart (1897-1992) likely embroidered these towels for use in their family kitchen. An apron and a tablecloth complete the days-of-the-week collection (2008.0002.0006a-g).

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

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

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: towel

content: linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread, thread

content: 26 3/4 × 17 3/16 in. (68 × 43.6 cm)

content: Kitchen Towel, Thursday, Sewing

title_sort: KITCHEN TOWEL, THURSDAY, SEWING

title: Kitchen Towel, Thursday, Sewing


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: Curvilinear and geometric designs decorate this green, white, yellow, orange, and blue origami crane with gold accents. Though the Japanese art of origami can be traced back to the 14th century, after the United States used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War Two, the tradition of folding paper cranes became associated with wishes for world peace. This crane, made by local artist and World War II veteran Ira Blount, represents art’s capacity for building bridges across cultures.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: origami

content: origami paper, folded

content: 4 13/16 × 3 11/16 × 2 1/8 in. (12.3 × 9.4 × 5.4 cm)

content: Origami Crane with Bold Designs

title_sort: ORIGAMI CRANE WITH BOLD DESIGNS

title: Origami Crane with Bold Designs


content: late 20th-early 21st Century

content: Ira Blount

content: This white beaded necklace features a colorful star with eight points known as an octagram. The green, yellow, red, and blue beads create bold geometric shapes within the star. The fringe attached to the bottom forms a triangle. These details draw attention to the relationship between art and geometry, showcasing artist Ira Blount’s (1918-2020) intricate beadwork skills.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Gift of Ira Blount

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: necklace

content: glass beads, nylon thread

content: 18 3/4 × 2 1/8 × 3/16 in. (47.7 × 5.4 × 0.5 cm)

content: Beaded Necklace with Star

title_sort: BEADED NECKLACE WITH STAR

title: Beaded Necklace with Star


content: Ira Blount

content: Made by artist Ira Blount (1918-2020), the lid of this rectangular wooden box features a parquet pattern achieved by alternating varying lengths of dark and light wood into an inlaid, geometric design. A handle attached to the top allows the lid to be easily removed from the box below. The edges of the box are rounded, and it is finished with a semi-gloss coating.

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: Including Lid: 6 × 3 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (15.2 × 8.9 × 7 cm)

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

content: Wood Box with Parquet Lid

title_sort: WOOD BOX WITH PARQUET LID

title: Wood Box with Parquet Lid


content: 20th century

content: This clutch sparkles with rhinestones secured almost invisibly by cotton mesh. A loop of shiny silver-colored beads guides the metal zipper across the purse’s top. The clutch is rounded on each side and scalloped at the bottom. Silk lines the clutch’s interior. The purse was made in Czechoslovakia, known for rhinestones and glassware. It 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. Perhaps she acquired the clutch on her extensive travels to research and gather materials related to African American history, including to Europe.

content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection

content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

content: Anacostia Community Museum

content: purse

content: rhinestones, cotton mesh, silk, metal zipper with beaded metal chain

content: 4 × 6 7/16 × 5/8 in. (10.1 × 16.3 × 1.6 cm)

content: Rhinestone Mesh Clutch

title_sort: RHINESTONE MESH CLUTCH

title: Rhinestone Mesh Clutch