Avalon Daggett


Florence Avalon Daggett was an American filmmaker and philanthropist. She is associated with Avalon Daggett Productions, a film production company based in Los Angeles 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, Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana and was raised on a plantation. She lived in Switzerland for a few years. She was described as being diminutive in stature. She filmed with a Bolex 16 mm film camera and her work had been honored at the Cannes Film Festival.
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, entitled A Way of Life.

Philanthropy

After she died in 2002, the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 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 ; where many of her bequeathed funds were used.
She also funded a Native American scholarship in Arizona.

Filmography