Natalie Hopkinson Research Collection

Collection

Identifier: 211

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection consists of research materials including notes and field recordings, photographs, clippings from periodicals, and ephemera documenting go-go music and culture in the Washington, DC metropolitan area gathered by Hopkinson. The collection also includes material written and published by Hopkinson.

Dates

Creation: 1986 - 2021

Creator

Hopkinson, Natalie (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Access to Series 1, Sub-Series 2: Reocrdings is currently unavlialbe due to item format. All iems are being preserved and there are plans to digtize them in the future to provide access copies.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright is retained by the creators of the items. Permission to publish or reuse materials in this collection must be obtained by the items’ creators. Contact The People’s Archive with any inquiries. Materials may be utilized by DC Public Library staff for non-profit, educational purposes.

Biographical / Historical

Natalie Hopkinson is a writer, journalist, and cultural scholar. As of January 2022, Hopkinson is an Assistant Professor at Howard University’s Department of Communication, Cultural, and Media Studies. Hopkinson was a co-founder of The Root and was a staff writer and editor of media/culture issues at the Washington Post. She holds a PhD from the University of Maryland - College Park, with concentrations in journalism and public communication.

Hopkinson is known for her scholarship which documents and celebrates Washington, DC-area Go-Go culture, music, and community. Her most notable publication regarding go-go culture is her 2012 book Go-Go Live: The Musical Life & Death of a Chocolate City. As an advocate for Go-Go culture in Washington, DC, Hopkinson co-founded the Don’t Mute DC movement in 2019. She was appointed to the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities by Muriel Bowser in 2020.

Extent

2 Linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Materials in the Natalie Hopkinson Papers are organized into series by function. Materials reflecting Hopkinson’s professional activities as a journalist and scholar are separated from materials collected by Hopkinson not used as primary sources for her writing.

Series 1: Research Materials
Subseries 1: Notebooks
Subseries 2: Recordings
Subseries 3: Notes
Series 2: Media
Series 3: Publication
Series 4: Ephemera

Custodial History

The collection was donated to the DC Public Library by Natalie Hopkinson in December 2018. A second acquisition came to the Library on January 13, 2022.

Related Materials

101, Go-Go Music Collection
149, Craig Rosen and the Static Disruptors D.C. Groove Collection
199, Chip Py Go-Go Collection
225, Go-Go Museum and Café Collection
230: Kip Lornell and Charles Stephenson oral history collection
dcpl_web0026, Go-Go (Web) Archive

Processing Information

The collection was processed by DCPL Library Associate, Philip Espe in December 2021 through February 2022. Espe determined a series arrangement, re-foldered materials, and wrote this finding aid.

Clippings from newspapers and magazines were photocopied onto bond paper. Original newsprint was separated from the collection. Duplicates of print materials were separated from the collection.

Audio-visual material donated on MiniDiscs, Hi-Mini Discs, and Mini-DVDs are currently inaccessible, and may be digitized at a later date. Please contact The People’s Archive staff for more information.

The collection was processed at the folder level.