Among the tens of thousands of Voice of America [VOA] programs in the National Archives are quite a few about… the National Archives [NARA]! In recent processing, we found a specific and interesting VOA/NARA crossover.
In 1973, VOA reporter Linda McKeever interviewed NARA archivist Nancy Malan regarding the Harmon Foundation Collection. The audio reel in the production library contains the unedited original interview. In this interview, Nancy Malan primarily discusses the photographic collection.
The William E. Harmon Foundation, which existed from 1922 to 1967, supported African and African-American artists. Additionally, the Foundation filmed daily life and education in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and among African-American and Native American communities in the United States. The Harmon Foundation donated their photographs and films to NARA in the late 1960s. The photographs primarily consist of black and white photographs and color slides of artworks included in Harmon Foundation exhibitions. The films cover similar topics but also depict many global communities.
The artworks in the photographs can be seen in many different museums. For example, Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series is today split between the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
