Category:

• Referral Services


• Documentaries


• Exhibits


• Printed Material

Referral Services

Documentaries

Safe House: Home Safety for New Americans
A 12-minute video in English and Bosnian featuring refugees and immigrants from St. Louis as well as members of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

An introduction to elementary crime prevention and safety techniques, including use of lights, spy holes, fire alarms and safety procedures such as 911 and identification.

Purchase: $30.00 (includes shipping and handling)

Rent: $20.00 (includes shipping and handling)

Second copy (in other language), $15 rent, $25 purchase


Silk Sarongs and City Streets
A broadcast-quality 30-minute documentary available in VHS. Produced by the International Institute, 1986.
Lowland or ethnic Lao are one of the largest but least known Southeast Asian refugee groups. Over 500 Lao now make their home in St. Louis. "Silk Sarongs and City Streets" follows members of the St. Louis Lao Traditional Dance and Music Troupe as they prepare for a Fourth of July appearance at the VP Fair. Through interviews with engaging members of the Troupe, the film traces the personal impact of cultural continuity and change. Scholars set the concepts in a wider framework. The program also includes footage of the lovely, graceful dance and exotic music and instruments of faraway Laos.
Suitable for use in social studies, art and multicultural studies at the middle and high school level.

Purchase: $50

Rent: $25 (plus postage)


Mone’s Skirt: The Lao Weaver’s Art
A broadcast-quality 10-minute documentary available in VHS and ¾ inch video format. Produced by the International Institute, 1992.

"Mone’s Skirt" is a compact exploration of three inter-related themes:
One follows the process of weaving a magnificent, intricate Lao skirt; the second touches on the personal relationships of a Lao refugee woman, Mone Saenphimmachak, a noted weaver who received the prestigious 1993 National Heritage Fellowship Award (the "Oscar" of folk arts). Thirdly, it outlines the role of weaving and of skirts in Laos and America, tracing their changing symbolic meaning and social importance. Besides the description of weaving, the film includes a behind-the-scenes look at refugee life in St. Louis, as well as lyrically beautiful footage from a historic trip to parts of rural Laos not visited by Americans since 1975.
Suitable for use in social studies (especially geography and history), women’s studies, art and multicultural studies at the middle and high school level.

Rental includes study guide for middle/high school classes. Rental/Sale includes one copy of "The Art of Lao Weavers," an illustrated pamphlet setting the art in its wider context. Additional copies available at minimal cost.
Also available: Map of Southeast Asia, photographs of spinning and weaving. Mounted on wood panels, must be picked up and delivered.

Purchase: $30

Rent: $15 (plus postage)

pamphlet $1.50 ea.


Tomorrow’s Ancestors
A professionally produced 5-minute documentary on the Institute and services available to today’s immigrants to St. Louis.

Suitable for use in courses on immigration, refugees and St. Louis history.

Rent: $5 (plus postage)


Ethnic Treasures of St. Louis ‘95
A sixty-minute video of 65 stunning costumes from around the world featured in the Ethnic Treasures Fashion Show at International Folkfest 1995.

Suitable for use in courses on immigration, fashion design, family and consumer science.

Purchase: $7.50


Ethnic Treasures of St. Louis ‘96
A sixty-minute video of 65 stunning costumes from around the world featured in the Ethnic Treasures Fashion Show at International Folkfest 1996.

Suitable for use in courses on immigration, fashion design, family and consumer science.

Purchase: $7.50

Exhibits

New Threads in the Fabric of American Life: Needlework of Refugee Women
Mini-exhibit mounted on 4’ x 12

Photos and text describing the life and art of refugee women from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Laos and Poland. These groups were chosen both for the beauty of their needlework arts and for the striking contrasts in their arts, cultures and histories. Following them from their homelands, to refugee camps and finally St. Louis, the exhibit traces the changing meaning of needlework in their lives as women, as refugees and as artists.
Rental also includes study guides for elementary, middle and high school/adult groups.
Full-color catalog available also available. Describes history, life and art in each of the four countries, detailed biographies of the artists and interpretive articles on art and the refugee experience.

Rent: $25 plus $50 refundable security deposit

Full-color catalog $3


Hidden Within the Melting Pot: The Cultural Rainbow of Ethnic St. Louis
Produced by the International Institute, 1993.

Panels feature traditional artists from eight ethnic communities in St. Louis: Eritrean, Lithuanian, Chinese, Asian Indian, Jewish, Lebanese, Colombian and Native American. Color and black and white photos follow the artists as they move between the public world, where their separate identity is "hidden;" the world of folk festivals and similar multicultural events, where traditional culture is presented "on stage;" and the back stage world of life within the ethnic community itself.
One panel is devoted to each artist/community. Two central panels give an overview of life in the "festival world," and two more panels describe life in the ethnic community. This exhibit challenges popular conceptions of immigrants as living in nineteenth century ethnic ghettoes, revealing the richness and complexity of today’s cultural diversity.
Rental includes a study guide suitable for middle and high school/adult groups.

Standing exhibit $200 plus $100 refundable sec. dep.
(photo panels mounted on standing panels)
This alternative is recommended for longer installations.

A 1930s Tour of Europe
Collection of 25 dolls, each approximately 15 inches high, with identifying labels and some background information.

These dolls, including heads, bodies and costumes, were made on the W.P.A. Visual Aids Project in the 1930s. The amount of research and patience required for the task can be judged by the authenticity of the costumes, the exquisite hand-made lace, the knitted socks, mittens and sweaters, the hand-woven aprons and shawls, and the beautiful detail of the embroidery.
Not only are the figures faithful models of the "old time ways" of the people of other countries, but they are also symbols of these people to us. They are an excellent basis for lessons about geography, history and art.
These dolls are in excellent condition. Each is a cultural treasure. They may only be displayed in locked cases.

Rent: $100 (plus $100 refundable security deposit.)

Printed Material

Crime Prevention and Safety Materials
Produced by the International Institute, in collaboration with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations, with support from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, US Department of Health and Human Services.


Pictures Speak Louder Than Words
A flash card book to help police communicate with limited English speakers in the crucial first few minutes after a critical incident is reported. Also contains a listing to determine what language interpreter to call in for more detail. The booklets are designed to fit inside an officer’s hat, making them easy to carry onto a crime or accident scene. Laminated, in both color and black and white.

$15.00


Neighbors Helping Neighbors: A Guide to City Living
A nine-page booklet on St. Louis City living, including phone numbers to call to report problems, some problematic ordinances (on trash pickup, for example) and city agencies, including elected and appointed officials. Available in English, Arabic, Bosnian and Vietnamese.

$2.00 to cover duplication, shipping and handling (one language).

$1.50 for each additional language.


Crime Prevention and Safety Brochures
A series of crime prevention and safety brochures, available in up to 11 languages:

May be reproduced with proper credit.
Raising Streetwise Kids: A Parent’s Guide. Review of basic safety principles, at home and on the street. Special focus on 911 and preventing sexual abuse.
What to Do When You Witness A Crime. Hints on what to look for in order to accurately report a crime or accident to the police: physical characteristics, vehicle type, etc. Special focus on 911 procedures. Not available in Tigrigna, Amharic, Lao and Dari/Farsi.
A Guide to 911 for Children and Adults. Detailed look at 911, including reporting procedures and situations NOT to use 911.
On Your Guard: A guide to personal safety when walking outside, protecting children, shopping, driving and parking a car, going to the car or using public transportation.
A Guide for Handling Auto Accidents. Identified by refugee leaders as of primary importance. Includes what to do if involved in an accident, or if you see an accident. Not available in Dari/Farsi.
Incident Report. One page, blank form in two languages, for anonymously reporting a crime or criminal situation to the police.

Available in English/Bosnian and English/Vietnamese.
Brochures are available in the following languages:
Amharic
Arabic
Bosnian
Dari/Farsi
English
Haitian/Creole
Kurdish
Lao
Somali
Tigrigna
Vietnamese

One brochure in one language: $.75
Each additional language for same brochure: $.50

Set of six (one language): $5.00.
Prices include duplication, shipping and handling.