Photographic Materials Series, circa 1887-1930s

Access Restrictions:

Nitrate negatives are closed to use; copies are available. Please contact the Rubenstein Library Research Services staff for assistance.

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Extent:
3 boxes; 1.5 lin. ft.
Scope and content:

Black-and-white snapshots, nitrate negatives, and platinum prints depicting individuals living in rural areas of Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Most of the photographs and corresponding negatives were taken by Alliance staff in locations where vocational workshops or research projects were conducted: Breathitt County, Kentucky; Pine Mountain, Kentucky; Craven County, North Carolina; Ocracoke, North Carolina; Konnarock Training School, Virginia; Pleasant Hill Academy, Tennessee, and other mountain or rural mission schools. Included are two pictures of Rural Alliance leader Orie Hatcher and friends taken in 1887 and 1901.

Also contains 41 original matted and signed 6x8 inch platinum prints, negatives, and other prints by photographer Doris Ulmann, taken in Kingdom Come and Hindman, Kentucky. These are for the most part carefully composed portraits of rural residents, commissioned by the Southern Women's Educational Alliance of Richmond. Subjects include family groups and individuals, chiefly children, youth, and women, but including some men; many individuals are identified by name in the Ulmann's notes, along with comments on their lives and personalities. One image shows a group of musicians with an African American fiddler, taken near Hindman, Ky. Another image taken by Ulmann in her studio features her assistant and Appalachian folklorist and musician John Jacob Niles. Includes a typed list of titles and notes for each print, identifying most individuals, and copies of photographs intended for publication, according to original folder titles.

Series is arranged in two groupings: Alliance materials, and Doris Ulmann materials.

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Collection restrictions:

Collection is open for research. However, nitrate negatives may be consulted only with permission from Curator of Documentary Arts.

Patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

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The status of copyright interests in these records is unknown. For further information, see the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the Rubenstein Library.

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