WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art has announced a promised gift, the “African Ceremonies” collection, that features archival materials documenting the work of photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. Beckwith and Fisher have dedicated their careers to showcasing African cultures and traditions for five decades, from the late 1970s to the present.

“African Ceremonies” features more than 150 cultural groups from 35 African countries. The collection documents cultures and traditions through photographs, journals, films, publications and digital media.

The museum will house the “African Ceremonies” collection as part of its commitment to expanding public understanding of the arts, histories and cultures of Africa and its diasporas. It will increase the African Art Museum’s archival holdings by 28%. In the future, the museum plans to make the collection available for the public to view online, in its archives and on exhibit in its galleries.

The National Museum of African Art is forming an honorary council to support bringing the collection to its archives. The council will include members of the communities represented in these photographs as well as Beckwith, Fisher and Witney Schneidman, former deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs and museum board member. In keeping with the museum’s mission to make its collections accessible to all, the African Art Museum aims to cultivate relationships with the communities documented in the collection through community engagement, institutional collaborations and intercontinental exchanges.

“This is a transformational gift for our archives,” said John K. Lapiana, director of the National Museum of African Art. “It adds a new dimension to our museum’s encyclopedic collection and allows us to strengthen our connection to communities throughout the continent. The National Museum of African Art’s founding mission is to foster understanding between different cultures and communities, and to increase the public’s understanding of African arts, histories and cultures. We hope that ‘African Ceremonies’ and what we learn from it brings new audiences, from across the nation and the world, to our museum to learn from these important archival materials.”

“Stewarding the ‘African Ceremonies’ collection at the National Museum of African Art strengthens our commitment to engaging the communities and contributors represented in the museum’s collections as we deepen public understanding of Africa’s histories, arts and cultures,” said Greg Adams, head archivist of the museum’s Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives. “We welcome participation from artists, scholars, cultural practitioners and all those connected to these collections—across the United States, the African continent and its diasporas—to help shape how they are preserved and shared.”

“The ‘African Ceremonies’ archive represents the dedication of more than 50 years of our lives, built on trust, friendship and shared experience,” Beckwith and Fisher said. “To see it enter the National Museum of African Art is profoundly moving for us. Placed alongside the Smithsonian’s existing collection, it becomes part of a continuum of nearly 100 years of cultural documentation. This collaboration ensures that the values, knowledge and extraordinary beauty of African cultures will be carried forward for future generations.”

Throughout their careers, Beckwith and Fisher navigated complex dynamics of consent and reciprocity, working with elders, chiefs and governments to gain permission to photograph ceremonial events, rites and traditions. Today, they are committed to sharing and preserving this collection in a way that honors African perspectives and the principles of shared stewardship.