Photojournalist who documented the women's movement and associated human rights issues since the 1960s. The photographs in the collection date from 1959 to 2007, with the bulk taken by Lane in the 1970s and 1980s. Subjects focus largely on events and individuals. Events include consciousness raising groups, planning meetings, and local women's conferences. Large events include Equal Rights Amendment demonstrations, and International Women's Year and National Organization for Women conferences and marches, in major cities such as New York City, Washington D.C., Mexico City, and Houston. Other events folders document Pro-Choice rallies and protests addressing harassment, sexism, and violence towards women. Another large series documents women involved in the movement, from feminist leaders to event attendees and coordinators. Subject folder photographs are of women at work, women athletes, men for women's rights, and events relating to daycare, feminist slogans and signs, lesbian rights, opposition, women of color, sexist images, and sexual health. Smaller sets of images document protests against war, pornography, and nuclear power. The collection also includes photographs of Bettye Lane and her original inventory sheets. Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
The Bettye Lane photographs date from 1959 to 2007, with the bulk taken in the 1970s and 1980s. Subjects focus largely on events and individuals. Events include consciousness raising groups, planning meetings, and local women's conferences. Large events include Equal Rights Amendment demonstrations, and International Women's Year and National Organization for Women conferences and marches, in major cities such as New York City, Washington D.C., Mexico City, and Houston. Other events folders document Pro-Choice rallies and protests addressing harassment, sexism, and violence towards women. Another large series documents women involved in the movement, from feminist leaders to event attendees and coordinators. Subject folder photographs are of women at work, women athletes, men for women's rights, and events relating to daycare, feminist slogans and signs, lesbian rights, opposition, women of color, sexist images, and sexual health. Smaller sets of images document protests against war, pornography, and nuclear power. The collection also includes a folder of photographs of Bettye Lane spanning her career.
The photographs are arranged into three series, Events, People, and Subjects, with subdivisions in alphabetical order, and the prints within in date or alphabetical order. The original order as assembled by Lane is for the most part intact, with folder titles deriving from the original headings. Included in each folder are her original annotated inventory sheets, which include dates, photo identification codes, and titles.
Almost all the prints are unmounted black-and-white gelatin silver process prints, with some color photographs scattered throughout, and a few digital prints from the 2000s. The larger prints all have detailed information on the backs, many giving names of individuals present, details on the events, and contextual notes. There are also a few photocopies scattered throughout. There are some duplicate images or cropped versions. The most typical sizes are 8x10 and 6 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches, with some snapshots found in a few folders.
There is some overlap with Bettye Lane images in other U.S. institutional collections, noted below, but many of the images at Duke University are unique.
Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.