The Autry Files

May 29, 2020

Manuela Garcia Sings: Now Streaming

Collections / Revealing Women in the Archives

By Liza Posas, Head, Research Services and Archives

“Manuela Garcia was Charles Lummis’s most important informant. She had a repertoire of songs that surpassed 200 or 300 in number and she recorded about 110 for Charles Lummis.” —Ethnomusicologist, Dr. John Koegel, in an interviewed by Huell Howser on a “lost episode” of the California Gold television series, 1996

“Miss Manuela C. Garcia of Los Angeles” sang over 100 Spanish language songs for Charles Fletcher Lummis between 1904 and 1905, which he recorded on to wax cylinder. These recordings became part of... Read more

May 26, 2020

The Autry's Collecting Community History Initiative: The West During COVID-19 Family Photos

Collection Initiative / Community

By: Tyree Boyd-Pates, Assoc. Curator of the Western History

Last week, our Collecting Community History Initiative: The West During COVID-19 highlighted a diverse and cultural array of Face Masks submissions that we've received from across the West. Similarly this week's blog post highlights the diversity of family photography across the West during COVID-19.

Across the West, shelter-in-place orders have been placed, causing significant interruptions to how families—and their routines—operate. Considerate of those families, we wanted to offer glimpses into how families are... Read more

May 26, 2020

Yarnscape 4: How to Crochet a California Poppy

DIY / Exhibitions

Have you had enough passive screen-time and want to make something with your hands, maybe learning a new skill in the process? Join us in contributing to a gallery display of Griffith Park in crochet, with the help of these how-to videos.  

As part of our exhibition Investigating Griffith Park we’re inviting the Autry community to make pieces to represent various aspects of the park, from nature to recreational activities, and mail them into the Autry (or drop them off in person once the... Read more

May 24, 2020

Is This a Western? (Episode 7): Arthouse Cinema

Is this a Western?

…In which our narrator tries to corral three high-concept suggestions from our series viewers. Read more

May 20, 2020

L.A. Poets in Place: Food

L.A. Poets in Place

By: Brittany Campbell, Public Engagement Manager

“Slide into a booth for the first time and hold that menu like a bible” – Nikolai Garcia , Assistant Editor of Dryland & L.A. Poets in Place: Food Featured Poet

Move over “Before Christ” (b.c.) because the most immediate b.c. is now “Before Corona,” at least according to Nikolai. Introduced as a new concept of time, Nikolai located his practice of writing poetry as either before Corona, or amid the current pandemic. If you hadn’t guessed from the context clues in Nikolai’s quote above... Read more

May 20, 2020

Exhibitions as Data

Collections

By Julia Tcharfas, Collections Cataloger, Autry Museum of the American West

One goal of a museum is to conserve objects in perpetuity—stable and unchanged. By contrast, museum exhibitions are in constant state of flux. Temporary and traveling exhibits are regularly rotating within the gallery walls. Even the so-called permanent galleries undergo numerous transformations over the years.

Exhibitions come and go through a joint museum-wide effort. For museum curators, an exhibition is a carefully chosen group of objects and the... Read more

May 15, 2020

Aloha Friday: A Love Story

Aloha Friday / Exhibitions

By Cathy Crowser, former Autry employee (2004–2014)

My father, Max Bingman, had a gazillion Hawaiian shirts. Actually, he had a closet full, but the one on loan for the Dress Codes exhibition was very special—not only was it his first, it was a gift from the love of his life, my mother, Eleanor Leiwapini Strauss.

Dad fell in love with the beauty and romance of Hawaii the moment he first laid eyes on her in 1946. He was born on a farm in Moscow, Idaho, served as a Sargent in the U.S. Army, and was... Read more

May 15, 2020

The Red Cross Shop of Los Angeles: Community Involvement in a Time of Crisis

Collections / Community / Revealing Women in the Archives

By Christina Hummel-Colla, Library Collections Assistant

Post-apocalyptic visions of a world populated by marauding bandits notwithstanding, examples of human bonding and mutual aid in times of crisis abound in our shared past and present. Despite the current need for social distancing, volunteers sew masks at home, offer one another support over voice and video chat, and donate their time and resources to help fulfill needs that may otherwise go unmet by existing infrastructures. This spirit of unity and aid echoes that which animated past movements mobilized to confront crisis,... Read more

May 14, 2020

Yarnscape 3: How to Crochet a Butterfly

DIY / Exhibitions

Have you had enough passive screen-time and want to make something with your hands, maybe learning a new skill in the process? Join us in contributing to a gallery display of Griffith Park in crochet, with the help of these how-to videos.  

As part of our exhibition Investigating Griffith Park we’re inviting the Autry community to make pieces to represent various aspects of the park, from nature to recreational activities, and mail them into the Autry (or drop them off in person once the... Read more

May 12, 2020

Is This a Western? (Episode 6): Harry Potter

Is this a Western?

A fifth-grade fan asks if Harry Potter qualifies as a Western, and Josh Garrett-Davis responds. Read more