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Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs. Florida Folklife Archive
Title, Dates:
Seminole video project records, 1981-1984.
Amount:
1.00 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
photographs slides
Organization/Arrangement:
Alphabetical.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Legislation in 1979 (79-322, SB 1208) transferred the Florida Folk Arts component of the Stephen Foster Memorial to the Florida Department of State. Operating as the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs from ca. 1985 until 1995, the Bureau coordinated the annual Florida Folk Festival and directed such programs as Folk Arts Apprenticeships, Folk Arts in Education, Folk Heritage awards, annual research surveys, and numerous other projects and programs. From 1995 through June 30, 2021, the renamed and reorganized Florida Folklife Program continued the majority of these operations from within the Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Historic Preservation in Tallahassee. During the 1995 reorganization, the State Archives of Florida acquired the Florida Folklife Collection from the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs’ previously maintained Florida Folklife Archives. Legislation in 2021 (2021-71, L. O. F., HB 909) transferred the Florida Folklife Program and its operations from the Division of Historical Resources to the newly renamed Division of Arts and Culture, previously the Division of Cultural Resources, effective July 1, 2021. The program is charged to "identify, research, interpret, and present Florida folk arts, artists, performers, folklore, traditions, customs, and cultural heritage and make folk cultural resources and folklife projects available throughout the state."
The Seminole video project was a joint television documentary project of the Florida Folklife Program and WFSU Television. The project was financed by a grant from the Florida Endowment for the Humanities with the support of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Completed in spring 1984, the project's result was a thirty-minute documentary entitled "Four Corners of the Earth".
The documentary profiled Ethel Santiago, a Seminole craftswoman, and Tribal representative. The program addressed such issues as cultural retention within contemporary society, the role of women in Seminole society, traditional Seminole foods, arts, and medicine, and the changing emphasis on clan affiliations. The project covered Seminole people living on the Big Cypress Reservation, the Hollywood Reservation, and at Immokalee, Florida.
Summary:
This series documents the production of the television documentary "Four Corners of the Earth" on the Indigenous Seminole people. The series includes materials such as correspondence, the project grant proposal, background research, video tape logs, audio tape transcripts, informant information sheets, publicity materials, and photographs. In addition to information on the video project, this series contains information on many aspects of Seminole life and culture, including: clan and family structure, folk art, tribal government, cooking, women in Seminole society, folk medicine, education, folk tales, and the influence of modern white culture. The Archives also holds the raw video footage shot in the production of the documentary.
Finding Aids:
Folder listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials:
For the raw video footage shot in the production of the documentary, see S1615, Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs, tapes number V-84-16 thru V-84-24.
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
"Four Corners of the Earth," a video production of the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs and WFSU Television, 1984.
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Santiago, Ethel
Florida Endowment for the Humanities
Seminole Indians. Folklore Florida Indians of North America Florida Folk art Florida Seminole women Women Social conditions and status Florida Documentary films Production and direction Florida Folk medicine Florida Folklife.
Big Cypress Reservation (Fla.) Hollywood Indian Reservation (Fla.) Immokalee Reservation (Fla.)
Four Corners of Earth [videorecording] 0
Added Entries
WFSU-TV (Television station : Tallahassee, Fla.)
Florida Folklife Program
for detailed listing.