- unitid
-
{"value"=>"188312", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22804602", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Skinner 1999-21", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"circa 1950s-1976", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1950/1976", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Elliott P. Skinner audio collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"17 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Elliott Percival Skinner (June 20, 1924 - April 1, 2007) was a Trinidadian-born anthropologist and US ambassador to the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) from 1966 to 1969. The collection consists of seventeen audio recordings primarily related to Skinner's research and diplomatic career in Upper Volta, including a lecture by him and folk music recordings."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Multiple languages"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Skinner, Elliott P. (Elliott Percival), 1924-2007", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Elliott Percival Skinner (June 20, 1924 - April 1, 2007) was a Trinidadian-born anthropologist and US ambassador to the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) from 1966 to 1969. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Skinner came to the US in 1943. He enlisted in the US Army the following year and fought in World War II in France, which allowed him to obtain American citizenship. Skinner earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from New York University (1951), and master's and doctorate degrees in the same field from Columbia University (1952, 1955).</p> <p>From 1955 to 1957 Skinner lived in Upper Volta studying labor migration among the Mossi people, the largest ethnic group in Upper Volta. There he learned Mooré (also called More or Mossi), the language of the Mossi people. In 1959, he began as assistant professor of anthropology at New York University where he researched and taught African ethnology. In 1963, he became the first African American tenured by the university. From 1966 until his retirement in 1994, Skinner was a professor at Columbia University, and was named chairman of the anthropology department in 1972. He was the first African American department chair at the university. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Skinner ambassador to Upper Volta, where he served until 1969.</p> <p>Skinner authored twelve books including <span class=\"title\">The Mossi of Upper Volta</span> (1964), which was revised and republished in 1989 as <span class=\"title\">The Mossi of Burkina Faso: Chiefs, Politicians and Soldiers</span>; <span class=\"title\">African Urban Life: The Transformation of Ouagadougou</span> (1974); and <span class=\"title\">African-Americans and United States Policy Toward Africa 1850-1924</span> (1992).</p> <p>Skinner died of heart failure at the age of eighty-two in his home in Washington, DC.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection consists of seventeen audio recordings dating circa 1950s to 1976, primarily related to Skinner's research and diplomatic career in Upper Volta. They are arranged alphabetically by title. The titles are devised based on the content of the recordings. The items include a ceremony for the opening of a school in Upper Volta with a speech by Skinner; one of his lectures about the Mossi people; his rehearsal of a speech for a July fourth celebration; a seminar on international culture and development held in Dakar, Senegal; interviews with people in Ouagadougou likely conducted by Skinner; French courses; recordings of live music in Upper Volta; radio broadcasts of folk music and global news on Radio Haute-Volta; and a training on how to use a recording machine.</p> <p>The audio items' original formats are open-reels and contain two parts. Some items include multiple recordings and are described separately. Square brackets indicate unclear spellings or words that have been added from information in original documentation. Unless otherwise noted, items are in English.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Elliott P. Skinner, June 1999.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Elliott Skinner papers.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Stacey Doyle Ference</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Ornella U. Baganizi</span>, archivist. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Oral history interviews with Skinner are available in the Phelps-Stokes Fund Black U.S. Ambassadors Oral History audio collection, Sc MIRS Phelps 1984-08.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division for titles by Elliott P. Skinner.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Item scope and content notes updated to facilitate public access by Ornella U. Baganizi.", "date"=>"2026-05-01"}
- date_start
-
1950
- keydate
-
1950
- date_end
-
1976
- date_inclusive_start
-
1950
- date_inclusive_end
-
1976
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Elliott P. Skinner audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}