Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection Archive
Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum
National Air and Space Archives
National Anthropological Archives
National Museum of the American Indian Archives
Peale Family Papers, National Portrait Gallery
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Smithsonian American Art Museum Slide and Photo Archives
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Smithsonian Photographic Services
Affiliated Organization: National Gallery of Art
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Capital
Gallery
600 Maryland
Avenue, S.W.
Suite 2001 MRC 520
Washington, DC 20024
Mailing address:
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
Center for
Folklife and Cultural Heritage Smithsonian Institution
P.O.
Box 37012 MRC 520
Washington, DC 20013-7012
202.633.6440
202.633.6474 fax
rinzlerarchives@si.edu
www.folkways.si.edu/
about_folkways/archive.html
Hours
Monday – Friday
9:30am to 5pm
Appointment Required
Metro Stop: Gallery Place
The Smithsonian
Institution is home to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections.
The Rinzler Archives house two major collections. One collection is the
Moses and Frances Asch collection, which consists of original recordings,
business records, correspondence and photographic material which came
to the Smithsonian with the purchase of Folkways Records in 1987. The
recordings on the Paredon, Cook, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk, and Monitor labels
have since been acquired by the Center. Folkways, Smithsonian Folkways,
Paredon, Cook, and Dyer-Bennet recordings can all be searched by artist,
title, track, and other options in our web database. An online version
of our Whole Catalog (includes all labels owned by Smithsonian Folkways)
and a listing of all Smithsonian Folkways releases are also available.
Listening copies of most of the catalog are kept in the archives, available
to researchers. The archives also have a strong collection of world ethnic
music traditions, early country music and bluegrass, blues, and the Folk
Revival on other labels available for in-house listening and research.
The other major archival collection in the Rinzler Archives consists of
the written, audio, and visual records of projects and exhibits sponsored
by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, most notably the Smithsonian
Folklife Festival, formerly known as the Festival of American Folklife.
The subject material of the various collections is global in perspective,
and covers such topics as world ethnic performance traditions, historical
and spoken word recordings, sounds of science and nature, occupational
folklore, and family folklore. The collections are also strong in
American, and more specifically Euro-American, African-American, Caribbean,
and Native American musical and performance traditions.
These are living archives, from which recordings and videotapes are being
issued or reissued for enjoyment and scholarly research.
Collection Holdings
More than 17,300
commercial discs
4000 acetate discs
About 45,000 audiotapes
(reel, cassette, DAT)
More than 2000
CD's
Over 1,000,000
still images
2000 videotapes
More than 500,000
feet of motion picture film
Drawings and posters
Files of correspondence
and business records for Folkways and
other labels
held
by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Woody Guthrie lyrics,
correspondence, and drawings
(part of Folkways
Collection)