Florence Avalon Daggett (1907–2002)
was an American filmmaker and philanthropist. She is associated with Avalon Daggett Productions, a film production company based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
which specialized in short documentary films, and educational films. Many of her later films were produced for the state of Louisiana.
Biography
Florence Avalon Daggett born in
Jennings
Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include:
*Jennings (Swedish noble family)
A–G
*Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...
,
Jefferson Davis Parish
Jefferson Davis Parish (french: Paroisse de Jefferson Davis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 31,594. The parish seat is Jennings. Jefferson Davis Parish is named after the president ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and was raised on a
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. She lived in Switzerland for a few years. She was described as being diminutive in stature.
She filmed with a
Bolex 16 mm film
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...
camera and her work had been honored at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
.
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.
Daggett also made films about sights in her home state of Louisiana, and about Mississippi.
She made a film for the
Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission
The Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission was a government agency of the Louisiana state government established to combat desegregation, which operated from June 1960 to 1967 in the capitol city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The group warned of "cre ...
, entitled ''A Way of Life'' (1961).
Philanthropy
After she died in 2002, the
Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) was left with an endowment for professorships by Daggett.
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.
She also funded a Native American scholarship in Arizona.
Filmography
*Louisiana Gayride (1949)
[
*Indian Pow-wow (1951)
*Smoki Snake Dance (1952)
*Villages in the Sky (1952)
* Peaceful Ones (1952)
* Warriors at Peace (1952)][
*Tribe of the Turquoise Waters (1952)
*Apache (1953)
*Navajo Canyon Country (1954)][
*Roses Pasadena, California; 1955 Theme, Familiar Sayings in Flowers
*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)
* Signs, Signals and Safety (1966)
* School Bus Driver VIP (1967)][
*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
*Big Piers (1968), for the ]Louisiana Department of Highways
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is a state government organization in the United States, in charge of maintaining public transportation, roadways, bridges, canals, select levees, floodplain management, port facili ...
*Big River Crossing (1968), for the Louisiana Department of Highways
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daggett, Florence Avalon
1907 births
2002 deaths
Film producers from Louisiana
People from Jennings, Louisiana
American women film producers