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36 Pnolo by Jirri Higgins Library of Congress The Blue Mountain Room at the White House Appalachian ciihiirc seems to hare had a special attraction for at least two first ladies, Eleanor Roosevelt and Ellen A.\son Wilson. Mrs. Roosevelt visited the IMiileTop Mountain Folk Festival in sonthivestern l'ir(^inia, in JO?,?; between ig}4 and 1942, the Wlnle Honse hosted nine concerts of traditional ninsic and dance. Tlie Coon Creek Girls from Keinnchy and a si]iiarc dance teatn from western North Carolina directed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford performed m n)^C), until Mrs. Roosevelt, the president, and the kin^ and queen of England in attendance. Also present was Mrs. Wilson, who several decades earlier had introduced Appalachian women's crafts into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, lliis essay recounts that story. — Editor As an artist and a Southerner, Ellen Axson Wilson, wife of President Woodrow Wilson, saw firsthand the expert craftsmanship ofAppalachian women during her travels to the North Carolina mountains, and she understood their struggle as artists and wage earners. By decorating the White House with handcrafted fabrics, she focused national attention on the lives, financial needs, and talents of mountain women. In the first quarter of the 20th century, craft programs and industrial schools were established in southern Appalachia by men and women who Kathleen Curtis Wilson is an Appalachian scholar, author, and exhibitions curator. She Is craft section editor for the Encyclopedia of Appalachia and. as a visiting scholar at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, is directing an international exhibition A Voice of Their Own: Ulster Women and Irish Linen. recognized the need to provide income and education to an underserved people. The Southern Industrial Educational Association (S.I.E.A.), founded by Alabama native Martha Sawyer Gielow, was organized to help fund Appalachian schools that taught industrial and homemaking skiUs. In the spring of 1913 the S.I.E.A. organized a display and sale ot handmade mountain cratts at the Southern Commercial Congress Exhibit held in Washington, D.C.The event, called an "Exchange," had a dual purpose. Money from the sale of the crafts provided financial assistance to mountain women, and the well-attended exhibit otTered
the S.I.E.A. a chance to pubhcize its mission and recruit new members in the nation's capital. As honorary president and vice president of the S.I.E.A., Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Thomas Marshall, wife of the vice president of the United States, visited the craft exhibit frequently. Planning an extensive redecoration of the White House private quarters, Mrs. Wilson decided to use fabrics made by mountain women that were on display at the Exchange in the president's bedroom. Allie Josephine Mast (1861-1936) of Valle Crucis, North Carolina, wove two rugs for the White House on her grandmother's loom, built in 1820. Mast used natural cotton and dark blue jute for the overshot design called Sun, Moon, and Stars. She wove the rug in strips and stitched them together for the larger rug; a smaller rug was displayed under a writing table next to the fireplace. Seventy-six-year-old Elmeda McHargue Walker of Flag Pond, Tennessee, wove upholstery fabric in the Double Chariot Wheels pattern with natural cotton and finely spun blue wool. Mrs. Wilson used the fabric cover three slipper chairs, an armchair, and a chaise longue. It was also made into curtains for two large windows in the rear of the White House. At the family home in Elkin, North Carolina, Elmeda "s sister Caroline and sister-in-law Martha spun wool and used indigo dye to color the thread for the yardage. Mrs. Wilson also chose three baskets and a creamcolored cotton coverlet for the room's Victorian Lincoln bed from the Exchange display. All textiles to and baskets tor the president's bedroom were purchased with government funds and became the property of the White House. The total cost of the items was $292.16. When the room decoration was completed in late autumn 1913, the first lady allowed the S.I.E.A. to have Washington photographer Harris Ewing take pictures of it. Two views of the room, selling for five cents each, were reproduced as souvenir postcards. Referring to the color of the blue dye, the caption on the postcard gave the room its lasting name, "The President's Blue Mountain Room at the White House." While Ellen Wilson was decorating the president's bedroom with traditional crafts. President Wilson introduced his progressive campaign of national reform and internationalism. The room thus reflects two opposing turn-of-the-century American economic and social movements—the establishment of America as a world industrial power and the beginning of the Arts and Crafts Revival, which renewed interest in handicrafts and created a market for them—epitomizing a point in American history that attempted not only to embrace the past, but also to foreshadow the future. APPALACHIA ON SMITHSOW FOLKWA.Y:S.R£Ci)RD.lNGS The 2003 Festival showcases many of the sounds, styles, historical milestones, and current directions of Appalachian music. Ancient unaccompanied ballads, 19th-century instrumental dance music, 20th-century styles tailored for radio, recordings, and the concert stage, and ongoing new creations all contribute to the rich store of Appalachia's music. But the full Appalachian local, breadth and depth of regional, and national musical life are greater than can be included in any Festival program. Working in tandem with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the nonprofit record label Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has available many recent releases that complement the Festival's Appalachian music presentations. Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Foll
Page 1: SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL SCOTL
Page 4 and 5: The annual Smithsonian Folklife Fes
Page 7 and 8: Table of Contents The Festival: Doi
Page 9: The Festival: Doing the Public Good
Page 12 and 13: — a singular, global, mass coniii
Page 14 and 15: The 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festi
Page 16 and 17: — Appalachia Heritage and Harmony
Page 18 and 19: Virginia, is one of the best known.
Page 20 and 21: A mural by Tim White, in Bristol, T
Page 22 and 23: string bands of note were Charlie P
Page 24 and 25: Carolina, who learned many of her s
Page 26 and 27: — 1 riate •KM ''&L'X^'Ttyi«iFi
Page 28 and 29: - 26 Appalachia, Where Tradition an
Page 30 and 31: 28 and Latin America. They are addi
Page 32 and 33: Native American Traditions in Appal
Page 34 and 35: 32 OF APPALACHIA of cultural histor
Page 36 and 37: ^, — 34 or "Dive for the Oyster."
Page 40 and 41: . 2000. . ^^FORMATION Blue Ridge Mu
Page 42 and 43: Mali From Timbuktu to Washington /.
Page 44 and 45: universities in the United States,
Page 46 and 47: A woman [ in Timbuktu. Knotograpn b
Page 48 and 49: — From Golden Age Empires to Inde
Page 50 and 51: The French had hardly been welcomed
Page 52 and 53: \ constitution brought about the Th
Page 54 and 55: Burkina Faso. It is played on diffe
Page 56 and 57: Malian crafts are a legacy from the
Page 58 and 59: the garment, and ornamentation 56 s
Page 60 and 61: 4 *^ '*
Page 62 and 63: ack into the Sahara and Sahehan zon
Page 64 and 65: increasing popularity of television
Page 66 and 67: — Certain dishes are linked to pa
Page 68 and 69: ft J ncK DjeDje, Jacquehne Cogdell,
Page 70 and 71: I Scotland at the Smithsonian is pr
Page 72 and 73: — John o'Groals OUTER HEBRIDES {W
Page 75 and 76: Scottish History: The Culture and t
Page 77 and 78: Much of contemporary Scottish tradi
Page 79 and 80: — 1 Traditional Song and Music in
Page 81 and 82: . . throughout occasional dance in
Page 83 and 84: j^ ,. V ẏ 7 Traditional Scottish
Page 85 and 86: — Panto in Scotland JOYCE MCMILLA
Page 87 and 88: — 85 The prehistoric Callanish St
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The makars ar also pairt o a proces
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have a direct connection with worki
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(Outer Hebrides) can still visit sn
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Moore, Maggie. Scottish Step Dancin
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General Festival Information FESTIV
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^^1:30 S^ 3:00 Talking Tree 12;00 Y
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Scotland at Smithsonian the 3:00 Sc
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Scotland at Smithsonian Feis Stage
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Kora players perrorm at 6 p.m. at t
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Malian Foodways
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Scotland at Smithsonian the Feis St
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Dogon dancers at 12:30 p.m. at ttie
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Scotland at the Smithsonian Feis St
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2:45 Growing Up m Mali 113 3:30 Bab
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Scotland at the Smithsonian Feis St
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[ ] ) \ I I i ; i 117 NATIONAL MUSE
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— Saturday, July 5 Beautiful Beyo
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Festival Participants Laura Boosing
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The New Southern Ramblers (with Ral
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N'Goussonn, Koulikoro Salif Keita,
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Pottery Shoemakiiig TRADITIONAL MED
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Fiti Moore, Diitikeld DANCE POETRY/
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Tapestry Weaving Dovecot Tapestry W
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Special Tixanks Sam Adams. Tiie Mou
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staff SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Lawre
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Tourism Task Force Special thanks t
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• III SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS RECORD
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Smithso >lklife Festiv,
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