Eleanor Dickinson Collection, 1970-1999
The Special Collections Library of
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
MS 2068


University of Tennessee Contact Information

Hoskins Library
1401 Cumberland Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37996-4000
865-974-4480
e-mail: special@utk.edu

© The University of Tennessee Special Collections Library

Linear Feet

1 drawer: 12 folders

Abstract

Dickinson, an artist and author, has provided materials related to her book and exhibit entitled Revival. Revival is a study of Southern Appalachian revival meetings. The collection includes a catalog, page proofs, a paper, a price list, resumes, reviews, transcripts, and more.

Administrative Information

Statement of Provenance: Collection was a gift from Eleanor Dickinson

Copyright Statement: Copyright © 2001. The University of Tennessee Libraries. All Rights Reserved. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these materials for educational, research, and not-for-profit purposes, without fee and without a signed licensing agreement, is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph appear in all copies, modifications, and distributions. For commercial license to use contact, University of Tennessee Libraries, Office of the Dean, Permissions, 1015 Volunteer Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37996-1000.

Biographical Information


Dickinson, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, received a B.A. in Fine Arts from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a M.F.A. in Film/Video from the California College of Arts and Crafts, where she is currently an art professor. She has exhibited her artwork in solo and group exhibitions in numerous institutions in the United States and abroad. She has also taught, lectured, and held residencies both in this country and abroad. Among her numerous awards and honors are a "Master Drawing Award" from the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Scope and Content Note

The collection includes a catalog, page proofs, a paper, a price list, resumes, reviews, transcripts, and more primarily related to Dickinson's book and exhibit on Southern Appalachian revival meetings appropriately entitled Revival.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Africa -- Religion
Art exhibitions -- Tennessee -- Nashville -- Catalogs
Benziger, Barbara
Dickinson, Eleanor, 1931-
Great Smoky Mountains (N.C. and Tenn.)
Revivals -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Serpent worship -- Southern States
Snake cults (Holiness churches) -- Southern States

Keywords

Benziger, Barbara
Dickinson, Eleanor, 1931-
Revival meetings
Snake handling

COLLECTION GUIDE


Folder 1, "Selected" resume and two vitaes for Eleanor Dickinson, eight pages and nine pages, dates
unknown

Folder 2, Excerpts of reviews, 1970-1995

Includes eleven pages of excerpts of reviews of Dickinson's works from newspapers and journals.

Folder 3, Page proofs for Revival by Eleanor Dickinson and Barbara Benziger, [1974]

This book on Southern Appalachian revivals "represents the current embodiment of an extraordinary project which began for Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson seven years ago in her native Knoxville, Tennessee. It was here that she visited a tent revival to draw the participants....As the project developed, she made hundreds of on-site figure drawings, hours of tape recordings of the services, photographed the settings as thoroughly as she might, and collected every sort of transportable object related to the revival manifestation: handbills, hymnals, signs, and all manner of ephemera." (p. vi) This book is the product of the effort. It includes an introduction by Walter Hopps. The citation for the 180-page book follows.
Dickinson, Eleanor and Barbara Benziger. Revival. N.Y.C.: Harper & Row, 1974.

Folder 4, Revival! The Tennessee State Museum, catalog and catalog dummy, 1981 & [1981]

This is a thirty-six-page catalog of an exhibit that the Tennsessee State Museum describes as "the most comprehensive Revival! exhibition to date. It is, in our view, more than an art show; it is also a portrayal of a social and religious phenomenon which is an important part of our Southern heritage." It includes several articles, bibliographical notes, drawings, a list of advisors, photographs, and a selective resume for Dickinson. The folder also includes a thirty-five-page catalog dummy.
Folder 5, Artwork by Eleanor Dickinson from page twenty-five of Revival! The Tennessee
Museum, [1981]
Shows a man with outstretched arms.

Folder 6, Map of revival study sites, [1981]

This map appears on pages 18-9 of Revival! The Tennessee State Museum. Revival sites "visited or otherwise documented" by Dickinson are pinpointed in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Some churches are within the Smokies region. Brief information is provided on thirteen churches. Black circles indicate the locations of serpent-handling churches.

Folder 7, Revival! The Tennessee State Museum, flier, [1981]

Folder 8, An Echo out of Africa: Unacknowledged Cultural Borrowing of Religious Expression from the Black Slaves in the Great Revival Movement by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, paper, undated (1982-)

This twenty-six page paper is accompanied by a four-page bibliography and eleven pages of attachments, including biblical quotes and photographs.

Folder 9, The 'Art of the Matter' with Eleanor Dickinson, guide, 1986-1999

This seven-page undated guide describes monthly thirty-minute programs that aired on Community Access Cable T.V., Channel 53, in the San Francisco Bay area from 1986-1999. They provided professional information for visual artists. The original tapes are held by the California College of Arts and Crafts Meyer Library.

Back to top.

Folder 10, Real Time in West Virginia with Four Holiness People, 1978; transcripts, undated item &
1987 On June 24, 1978, Dickinson interviewed Rev. Robert Elkins, Barbara Elkins, Elder Dewey Chafin, and Elder Robert Brady at the Church of Jesus (Holiness) in Jolo, WV. They discuss handling snakes, drinking strychnine, and other acts practiced by the church. The original audio and video tapes are available for non-commercial purposes in the Dickinson Collection of Revival Tapes in the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. This folder includes three copies of interview transcripts, one hand-written and two typed.

Folder 11, Reviews of Dickinson's works, undated item & 1989-1995

Includes seven one-page reviews of Dickinson's traveling show, "The Crucifixion Series." Sources include Women Artist News, The Sacramento Bee, Art in America, Artweek, The Knoxville Journal, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Folder 12, One page price list for Dickinson's works at the Michael Himovitz Gallery in Sacramento,
1999

Back to top.
Background created by Cheryl S. Alfrey.