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Oral history interview with Polly Shackelton

Anacostia Community Museum

Object Details

Interviewee

Shackleton, Polly , 1910-1997

Names

Carver Theater (Washington, DC)
Frederick Douglass Memorial Home
Ladybird Johnson's Beautification Committee
Anderson, Stanley J.
Hutchinson, Louise Daniel (19280603-20141012)
Marsh, Caryl
Ripley, S. Dillon (Sidney Dillon), 1913-2001
Shackleton, Polly , 1910-1997

Collection Creator

Anacostia Community Museum

Collection Citation

ACM 25th Anniversary Oral History Project, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Scope and Contents note

Polly Schackleton describes being a part of Ladybird Johnson's Beautification Committee and working with a group of young people in the Anacostia area, which led to her involvement with the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (now Anacostia Community Museum). She discusses the positive effect the museum had on the neighborhood by providing opportunities for residents and by focusing on local history. She talks about how the museum changed after relocating, by having a much better facility, but also being less accessible to the neighborhood. She also describes the important contributions of John Kinard, Stanley Anderson, Louise Hutchinson, and Zora Martin-Felton. The interview was recorded on August 2, 1991. The audio quality is clear throughout the recording with some minor background noise.
sova.acma.09-034_ref196

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa77c3c76c5-c010-4611-b464-f49d086b8526

Place

Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)

Provenance

Conducted as part of the ACM 25th Anniversary Oral History Project, which includes approximately 100 interviews of residents and influential people of the Anacostia area of Washington, DC.

Interviewee

Shackleton, Polly , 1910-1997

See more items in

ACM 25th Anniversary Oral History Project

Sponsor

This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.

Biographical / Historical

Polly Shackleton (1910-1997) was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. She attended Garland Junior College and Simmons College's School for Social Work. She also studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the New School for Social Research. She moved to Washington DC in 1939 and worked on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential campaign. She served as editor for Who's Who in American Art, and American Art Annual. During World War II, she worked as an information specialist and researcher for the Office of War Information. From 1951 to 1962, she worked for the American Institute of Architects. In 1956, she became a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, serving on the platform committee. In 1967, President Johnson appointed her to the newly created unelected DC Council. In 1974, she won the first election for Ward Three, and served from 1975 to 1987. Her efforts helped in the passing of 60 pieces of legislation that became DC law.

Extent

1 Sound cassette

Date

1991 August 2

Container

Box AV 56

Archival Repository

Anacostia Community Museum Archives

Identifier

ACMA.09-034, Item AV001622

Type

Archival materials
Audio
Sound cassettes
Oral histories (document genres)

Genre/Form

Oral histories (document genres)

Restrictions

Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
ACMA.09-034_ref196
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa77c3c76c5-c010-4611-b464-f49d086b8526
ACMA.09-034
ACMA

Record ID

ebl-1503511968140-1503511968156-4

Showing 1 result(s)

ACM 25th Anniversary Oral History Project

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