Avalon Daggett

Florence Avalon Daggett (1907–2002)[1] was an American filmmaker and philanthropist. She is associated with Avalon Daggett Productions, a film production company based in Los Angeles which specialized in short documentary films, and educational films.[2] Many of her later films were produced for the state of Louisiana.

Biography

Florence Avalon Daggett born in Jennings, Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana and was raised on a plantation.[3] She lived in Switzerland for a few years.[4] She was described as being diminutive in stature.[5] She filmed with a Bolex 16 mm film camera and her work had been honored at the Cannes Film Festival.[6][7]

Daggett made documentary films about Western subjects including Native American tribes and cattle, where she made use of a technique known as tribesourcing. Tribesourcing is an approach applied to update, correct, and contextualize educational films; many of these films have historical value but the films are often containing incorrect or demeaning "facts", especially about Native Americans.[8]

Daggett also made films about sights in her home state of Louisiana, and about Mississippi.[5] She made a film for the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, entitled A Way of Life (1961).[9]

Philanthropy

After she died in 2002, the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) was left with an endowment for professorships by Daggett.[6] Daggett had been friends with Dr. Joe Musick, the former director of the Rice Research Station at LSU AgCenter (near Crowley); where many of her bequeathed funds were used.[6]

She also funded a Native American scholarship in Arizona.[6]

Filmography

  • Louisiana Gayride (1949)[7]
  • Indian Pow-wow (1951)
  • Smoki Snake Dance (1952)
  • Villages in the Sky (1952)[10][11]
  • Peaceful Ones (1952)[12]
  • Warriors at Peace (1952)[7][13]
  • Tribe of the Turquoise Waters (1952)[14]
  • Apache (1953)[15]
  • Navajo Canyon Country (1954)[1][16]
  • America the Beautiful, series[5]
  • Mississippi Magic (1954)
  • 66th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade (1954)
  • Arizona Adventure (1954)
  • Weavers of the West (1954)
  • Herds West (1955)[17]
  • Father of the Southwest (1957)
  • Copper, Steward of the Nation (1959)[7]
  • Roses Pasadena, California; 1955 Theme, Familiar Sayings in Flowers[18]
  • Marshes of the Mississippi (1961)
  • A Way of Life (1961), for the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission
  • Rice, America’s Food For the World (1962)
  • The Big Span (ca. 1963)[19]
  • Signs, Signals and Safety (1966)
  • School Bus Driver VIP (1967)[7]
  • Louisiana: The Jazz Age Meets the Space Age (1968), for Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry (now Louisiana State Board of Commerce and Industry), Baton Rouge[20]
  • Big Piers (1968), for the Louisiana Department of Highways[21]
  • Big River Crossing (1968), for the Louisiana Department of Highways[22]
  • Swamp Expressway (1972)[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Navajo Canyon Country". Alexander Street, part of Clarivate. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  2. ^ "Avalon Daggett Productions". OCLC WorldCat Identities. OCLC, Inc.
  3. ^ Louisiana Conservationist. Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department. 1961. pp. 13–15.
  4. ^ "Researchers named to professorships". Farm Progress. November 23, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c "Page 3 | The University of Iowa Libraries".
  6. ^ a b c d "Three LSU AgCenter Researchers named to Daggett Professorships". The Rayne Acadian-Tribune. 2009-12-06. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Blog Posts". The Cine-Tourist.
  8. ^ "Tribesourcing the American Indian Film Gallery". Moving Image Archive News. June 25, 2018.
  9. ^ "Louisiana: A History; A Way of Life produced for Louisiana Sovereignty Commission by Avalon Daggett". Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  10. ^ "Villages In the Sky | American Indian Film Gallery". aifg.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  11. ^ "Villages in the Sky (1953) | Tribesourcingfilm.org". tribesourcingfilm.org. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  12. ^ Motion Pictures. Library of Congress Copyright Office. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1960. p. 259.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ^ Affairs, United States Bureau of Indian (1979). Educational Film Catalog for Bureau of Indian Affairs Schools. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. p. 100.
  14. ^ "Avalon Daggett Productions". BFI. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022.
  15. ^ "Apache | American Indian Film Gallery". aifg.arizona.edu.
  16. ^ "Navajo Canyon Country". September 8, 1954 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ Quitney, Jeff (August 5, 2019). "Cattle Ranching "Herds West" 1955 Avalon Daggett; Cowboys on the Range, in Nutrition Lab & Feed Factory" – via Vimeo.
  18. ^ "Rose Parade 1960". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  19. ^ "The big span". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  20. ^ "Louisiana: the jazz age meets the space age". WorldCat.
  21. ^ "Big piers". OCLC WorldCat Identities.
  22. ^ "Big river crossing". OCLC WorldCat Identities.