Florence Avalon Daggett (1907–2002)[1] 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.[2] Many of her later films were produced for the state of Louisiana.
Florence Avalon Daggett born in Jennings, Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana and was raised on a plantation.[3] She lived in Switzerland for a few years.[4] She was described as being diminutive in stature.[5] She filmed with a Bolex 16 mm film camera and her work had been honored at the Cannes Film Festival.[6][7]
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.[8]
Daggett also made films about sights in her home state of Louisiana, and about Mississippi.[5] She made a film for the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, entitled A Way of Life (1961).[9]
After she died in 2002, the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) was left with an endowment for professorships by Daggett.[6] 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.[6]
She also funded a Native American scholarship in Arizona.[6]