Diana Davies Photograph Collection Finding Aid
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution
Collection summary
Prepared by Stephanie Smith, Joyce Capper, Jillian Foley, and Meaghan McCarthy 2004-2005.
Creator: Diana Davies
Title: The Diana Davies Photograph Collection
Extent: 8 binders containing contact sheets, slides, and prints; 7 boxes (8.5”x10.75”x2.5”) of 35 mm negatives; 2 binders of 35 mm and 120 format negatives; and 1 box of 11 oversize prints.
Abstract: Original photographs, negatives, and color slides taken by Diana Davies.Date span: 1963-present. Bulk dates: Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1969, 1987, 1992; Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1967-1968, 1987.
Provenance
The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired portions of the Diana Davies Photograph Collection in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Ms. Davies photographed for the Festival of American Folklife. More materials came to the Archives circa 1989 or 1990.Archivist Stephanie Smith visited her in 1998 and 2004, and brought back additional materials which Ms. Davies wanted to donate to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives.In a letter dated 12 March 2002, Ms. Davies gave full discretion to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to grant permission for both internal and external use of her photographs, with the proviso that her work be credited in any use.
Restrictions
Permission for the duplication or publication of items in the Diana Davies Photograph Collection must be obtained from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections.Consult the archivists for further information.
Scope and Content Note
The Davies photographs already held by the Rinzler Archives have been supplemented by two more recent donations (1998 and 2004) of additional photographs (contact sheets, prints, and slides) of the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Poor People's March on Washington, the Civil Rights Movement, the Georgia Sea Islands, and miscellaneous personalities of the American folk revival.
Biographical Note
Photo of Diana Davies by Stephanie Smith, April, 2004.
Diana Davies is a well-known photographer of folk performers and festivals.Davies photographed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in its earlier years. Born in 1938, Davies grew up in Maine, the Catskills, New York City, and Boston.Her grandparents were local union organizers and Debs socialists; one grandfather was a gandy dancer with the railroad, and her grandmother was a textile worker in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania.Davies finds that her family background was later expressed in her own activist efforts.
Davies left high school at 16, and worked sweeping out coffeehouses, which gave her the opportunity to listen to music while she worked.She became interested in theater and music.In Greenwich Village, she began doing some sound technician work, and then got interested in photography.She taught herself how to develop and print photographs in a darkroom, and began photographing in theaters, shooting from behind the scenes.Her theater photos are at Smith College in Northampton, where she presently lives.
In the early 1960s, she began working with the editors of Broadside Magazine, Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen.She developed an interest in human rights work, which grew from her contact with Sis and Gordon, and also her own family background.She also worked as a photographer in a wide range of settings, including night clubs, weddings, and doing portrait photography.This led her to work for major national and international media including the New York Times, covering such events as the war in Biafra, and traveling to Mexico, Cuba, and Portugal on assignment.Davies' folk photographs represent about one-quarter of her body of work; her other major photographic work includes the Civil Rights Movement, the Peace Movement, and theater.
Davies began photographing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, which she covered for a number of years.She knew Ralph Rinzler, and found him a vibrant, alive person excited by all aspects of culture.He introduced her to Bessie Jones from the Georgia Sea Islands, and in 1966 she made a photographic journey to the islands.Her work from this trip is included in the collection.
Davies has also been a musician.She became involved with the punk rock movement of the 1970s, and felt that there was a connection between the hard-hitting songs from the punk world and the songs being published in Broadside Magazine.In 1975, she became part of a folk/punk women’s band in Boston, and later moved to Western Massachusetts.In addition to being a photographer and musician, Davies is also a writer.She wrote a play entitled “The Witch Papers” in 1980, which was produced in Boston and other locations.The play was a vehicle for her human rights activism, comparing the technology of inquisition with labor sweatshops.In 1998, her play “The War Machine” was produced in Amherst, Mass.She lives in Northampton, and enjoys and participates in street performance, which she describes as the “most essentially communicative stuff you can come up with.”
Processing Notes and Arrangement
Each item in the Diana Davies Photograph Collection has been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been put together such as the Newport Folk Festival photographs. Materials in the three more recent donations (1998, 2004, and 2006) were numbered and absorbed into the collection. In some series, the accession numbers are in numerical order, and in others, the numbers are random because like items with different number sequences were pulled together in a series for subject coherence. The best way to find occurrences of a particular subject is to use the PDF search function. Please consult the archivists if you have any questions about the collection contents.
Collection Index
Series I Newport Folk Festival
Series II Philadelphia Folk Festival
Series III Broadside Magazine
Series IV Sing Out! Magazine concerts
Series V Miscellaneous concerts and people
Series VI Festival of American Folklife
Series VII Recording Sessions
Series VIII Instruction Book Shots
Series IX Jazz, Blues, and Salsa Musicians
Series X Georgia Sea Islands
Series XI Social Justice: Civil Rights Movement, Peace Movement, Poor People’s
March, United Farm Workers, Women's Rights
Series XII New York City Scenes
Series I: Newport Folk Festival
1964 [finding aid index]
FP-DAVI-COSL-0471-2 / Newport Folk Festival 1964: The Stanley Brothers
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0472 / Newport Folk Festival 1964: Bessie Jones, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and Hobart Smith (120 mm)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0473 / Newport Folk Festival 1964: Bessie Jones, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and Hobart Smith (120 mm)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0474 / Newport Folk Festival 1964 (?): Hedy West, others not identified
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0475 / Newport Folk Festival 1964 (?): Mark Roth, Mimi and Richard Fariña
FP-DAVI-CONE-0476 / Newport Folk Festival, n.d., probably mid-1960s: someone shooting 16 mm film at the Festival under an umbrella
1965 [finding aid index]
FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-1 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: John KoernerFP-DAVI-COSL-0477-2 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: The Pennywhistlers
FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-3 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mark Spoelstra
FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-4 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Hedy West
FP-DAVI-COSL-0477-5 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Audience shot
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0150 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mark Spoelstra, Hamilton Camp, John Koerner, Tony Glover, Bess Hawes, New Lost City Ramblers
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0150-14 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Hamilton Camp
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Paul Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield, Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151-33 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan; creator caption: Bob Dylan goes electric
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-11 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan (2 copies available)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-13 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-14 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151A-22A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan (3 copies available)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151B / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151C / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151D / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0151D-21 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan (oversize: 9 7/16” x 13 7/16”)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151E / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan, Peter Yarrow, Mary Travers, Pat Sky, and Donovan
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0151F / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bob Dylan
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0152 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Paul Butterfield Blues Band
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0153 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Paul Butterfield Blues Band
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0154 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0154-33 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House (high quality photocopy)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0154-36 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House (high quality photocopy)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0154-36A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House (high quality photocopy)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0155 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Son House, Tracy Schwartz, and Mike Seeger
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0156 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mike Seeger, Bob Siggins, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Worth Long, Bob Beers, Son House, Pat Sky, Rusty (?), and David Blue.
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0157 / Newport Folk Festival 1965:
Joni Mitchell and Jerry-Jeff Walker
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0157-11A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Jerry-Jeff Walker
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0157-19A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Joni Mitchell
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0158 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Ian and Sylvia, Theo Bikel, Odetta, and Horton Barker
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0158-nn1 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Ian and Sylvia (high quality photocopy)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0158-nn2 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Ian and Sylvia
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0159 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Biff Rose and Jean Ritchie
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0160 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0160-35 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Barbara Dane (2 copies)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0161 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0162 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: John Cohen, Eck Robertson, Horton Barker, Maybelle Carter, Mike Seeger, and Cousin Emmy
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0162-26A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Maybelle Carter.
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0163 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Reverend Gary Davis
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0164A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Joan Baez and Donovan Leitch
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0164A-11A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Joan Baez and Donovan Leitch
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0164A-12A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Joan Baez and Donovan Leitch
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0164B / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Joan Baez, Donovan Leitch, and others
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Worth Long, Guy Carawan, Len Chandler, Carole Adler, Richie Havens, Donovan Leitch, Mary Travers, Mimi and Richard Fariña.
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165-13 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Worth Long
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165-25A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Len Chandler
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165-36A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Guy Carawan
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Texas Work Song Group, Pete Seeger, Cape Breton Singers, Rev. Gary Davis (2 copies)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165A-23A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Rev. Gary Davis (3 copies available)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165A-27 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Cape Breton Singers doing tweed waulking
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165B / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bernice Johnson Reagon, Fannie Lou Hamer, Guy Carawan, Len Chandler, Horton Barker, Theo Bikel, and Mark Spoelstra
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165B-3 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Fannie Lou Hamer
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165B-7 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Guy Carawan, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Len Chandler
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165C / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Margaret Barry, Michael Gorman (2 copies)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165D / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Donovan Leitch and Theo Bikel
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165E / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Donovan Leitch
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165F / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Pete Seeger, Mark Spoelstra, and Len Chandler
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0165F-35 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mark Spoelstra (2 copies: one high quality photocopy and one print)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0165G / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Unidentified Group
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0166 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Pat Sky, Paul Stookey, and Mimi Fariña
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0167 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Fannie Lou Hamer, Eric von Schmidt, John Koerner, Mimi and Richard Fariña, Pat Sky, and Richie Havens (one negative: group photo including truck, located at 0151E)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0167-29 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mimi and Richard Fariña
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0167-33 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Eric von Schmidt
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0167-nn / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Richie Havens
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0167A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: John Koerner and unidentified person
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0168 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bill Monroe
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0168-18 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bill Monroe
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0168-19 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Bill Monroe
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0169 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Odetta (5 negative strip missing on contact sheet in 0169A film file)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0170 / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Odetta, Jim Kweskin, and Maria Muldaur
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0170A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: “Lightning” Hopkins
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0170B / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Cajun band
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0170C / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Peter, Paul and Mary
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0170C-26A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Mary Travers (cropped print mounted on oversize cardstock 11” x 14”)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0170C-36A / Newport Folk Festival 1965: Peter, Paul and Mary
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0583 / Newport Festival 1965: Mimi and Richard Fariña (3 copies available: 2 prints and one high quality photocopy)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0584 / Newport Festival 1965: Mimi and Richard Fariña (high quality photocopy)
1966 [finding aid index]
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-2 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jesse Fuller
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-3 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jesse Fuller
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-4 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-5 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jesse Fuller
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-6 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jesse Fuller
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-7 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Carolyn Hester
FP-DAVI-COSL-0478-8 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Pete Seeger
FP-DAVI-COPR-0479 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jesse Fuller
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0171 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jamie Hunter, Bessie Jones and Georgia Sea Islands Group, Jack Elliott, and George Wein
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0172 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Billie and De De Pierce with Preservation Hall Band (rehearsal), Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island children
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0173 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Bessie Jones and Georgia Sea Islands Group, and Jack Elliott
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0173A / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Georgia Sea Islands Group, and Jack Elliott
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0174 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Bukka White, Billie Pierce (Preservation Hall Jazz Band), Georgia Sea Island Group with Bessie Jones
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0175 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Bob Gibson, Jimmie Driftwood, and Richie Havens
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0175A / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Bob Jones, Jimmie Driftwood, Richie Havens, Jack Elliott, Buffy St. Marie, Jim Kweskin, and Peter Yarrow
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0176 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Fannie Lou Hamer, Georgia Sea Island children in rehearsal for a Sunday program (two negative strips on contact sheet in film file 0176A, 11-19)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0176A / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Fannie Lou Hamer leads a song workshop (negatives 23-25 in film file not included on contact sheet)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0177 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Buffy Sainte-Marie
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0178 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Buffy Sainte-Marie
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0179 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jamie Hunter, Bessie Jones and Georgia Sea Island children, and Jimmie Driftwood (one 5 negative strip on contact sheet in 0179A film file)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0180 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Howlin’ Wolf with Fannie Lou Hamer
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0181 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Son House, Bukka White, and Georgia Sea Island singers
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0182 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Mable Hillery (2 negatives: numbered 30 and 31, not on contact sheet, in film file)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0183 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Ralph Rinzler, Mike Seeger, and Bukka White
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0184 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Bukka White, Fritz Richmond, and Mike Seeger
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0185 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Billie and De De Pierce and Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Judy Collins, Ed Young and Southern Fife Drum Corps, Oscar Brand, and Rosalie Sorrels
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0185A / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Judy Collins
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0186 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Phil Ochs, Georgia Sea Island singers, Bukka White, Ed Young and Southern Fife and Drum Corps
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0187 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Richie Havens, Liam Clancy, and Jim and Jean
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0188 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Billie and De De Pierce and Preservation Hall Jazz Band
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0188-22 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Preservation Hall Jazz Band (oversize 9 ½ x 13 ¼ print).
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0188-44 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: De De Pierce (4 ¾ x 9 ¼ print)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0188A / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Preservation Hall Jazz Band (identified as 1967 – but clothes the same as 0188A)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0189 / Jimmie Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jimmie Driftwood.
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0189A / Jimmie Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jimmie Driftwood, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger, and Mable Hillery
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0190 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Jimmie Driftwood, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Pete Seeger, Bessie Jones, Janie Hunter, and Bob Gibson (?)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0191 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Howlin’ Wolf, Penny whistlers, Phil Ochs, Clara Ward Singers (2 negatives; 8A and 9A on contact sheet, not in film file)
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0191-20 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Howlin’ Wolf (3 copies available: two prints and one high quality photocopy)
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0192 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Liam Clancy, Joe Heaney, and Jimmie Driftwood
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0193 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Mable Hillery, Barbara Dane, and others
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0193A / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Mable Hillery, Barbara Dane, and others
FP-DAVI-BWNE-0194 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Brownie McGhee, Ralph Rinzler, Mike Seeger, Jean Bosco Mwenda, and Izzy Young
FP-DAVI-BWPR-0194-23 / Newport Folk Festival 1966: Brownie McGhee, Ralph Rinzler, Mike Seeger, and Jean Bosco Mwenda (high quality photocopy)
1967 [finding aid index]