Photographic Materials, 1920s, 1950s-2011 and undated

Access restrictions for this series:

Access note. Collection contains some fragile materials in the form of film negatives and may require extra assistance from staff. Contact Research Services for access.

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Scope and content:

Series consists of a large body of photographic materials created by William J. Anderson (1932-2019), arranged in the following subseries: Photographs (subdivided into Large Prints and Small Prints); Slides; and Contact Sheets and Negatives. The early 1920s date refers to two unlabeled negatives which reproduce what appear to be images of family members; there is also one family photograph which may be from the 1950s but is unlabeled. The earliest series of images taken by Anderson date from the 1960s, sometime during or after Anderson's student days at the Instituto Allende in Mexico.

Although most of the images reproduced in large format were taken in Georgia and South Carolina, there are also images from Alabama, Mississippi, and two images from Louisiana taken shortly after Hurricane Katrina. There are also two large prints of urban life in San Francisco and several from Mexico.

The most recent images across formats date from 2008 to 2011, and tend to focus on poverty, homelessness, and urban life for African Americans in Atlanta and other Southern cities; political and civil rights movement events; and portraits of African Americans. There is one contact sheet with images from an Obama election campaign rally.

Anderson worked exclusively with a film camera, thus the predominant print format is gelatin silver. There are some color photographs: these are chiefly family snapshots, photos taken at exhibitions, and later portraits of Anderson (mpst of these are digital inkjet or laser prints). Almost all the prints are unmatted, but there are a few mounted on foamcore and cardstock.

The negatives also are chiefly black-and-white, but color film formats are also present. Negatives in paper sleeves are closed ot general use; permission to view or use them can be requested from the curator of the John Hope Franklin Research Center at the Rubenstein Library. Negatives in plastic enclosures may be viewed without touching the artifact.

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