Morrie Camhi photographs, 1960s-2012 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Camhi, Morrie
Abstract:
Documentary photographer and instructor based in Petaluma, California; died in 1999. Collection features 167 black-and-white prints of documentary photographer Camhi's work on five projects: ADVantage, a series of portraits of individuals who have written personal want ads; Espejo and Farmworkers, which explore Mexican American labor activism and the lives of undocumented immigrants; Jews of Greece, portraits of Jewish people living in various places in Greece; and The Prison Experience, which documents inmates,their families, and staff of the California State Prison at Vacaville and their answers to the question Camhi posed to them about what they would like people to know about life in prisons. The gelatin silver prints range in size from 8.5x13.5 to 10.25x13.25 inches; most are in 16x20 inch mats. The collection of prints is accompanied by approximately five hundred original negatives and slides, many featuring Camhi's own family as well as several photographic projects not represented in the prints series. Acquired by the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
Extent:
12 Linear Feet
Approx. 800 Items
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.00185

Background

Scope and content:

Collection features 167 black-and-white prints of documentary photographer Camhi's work on five projects, two of which are inter-related: "ADVantage," a series of intimate portraits in their homes of individuals who have written personal want ads; "Espejo" and "Farmworkers," which explore the dimensions of Mexican American activism and the lives of undocumented farmworkers; Jews of Greece, a study of individual Jews living in various places in Greece; and "The Prison Experience," which documents the lives and concerns of prisoners in a California State Prison at Vacaville and their answers to the question Camhi posed to them about what they would like people to know about the prison experience. The gelatin silver prints range in size from 8.5x13.5 to 10.25x13.25 inches, with many in 16x20 inch mats.

The collection of prints is accompanied by over 500 original negatives and slides, many featuring Camhi's own family. The negatives and slides also contain images associated with other photographic projects not represented in the prints series, including "Roadside Attraction" and "Haiku."

Acquired by the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

Morrie Camhi was born in New York City in 1928, a descendant of Greek Sephardic Jews, and died in 1999 in Petaluma, California, where he lived with his family. He majored in English Literature at UCLA, then went on to a career in commercial photography; in the late 1960s he sold his business and began focusing on documentary work and teaching photography at San Francisco's City College. His work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in Chicago and New York, as well as galleries and museums in Europe, Israel, Japan and New Zealand, and his photographs have also been published in many books and photography journals.

Acquisition information:
The Morrie Camhi photographs were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in March 2013.
Processing information:

Processed by Joanne Fairhurst, Paula Jeannet, May 2013

Encoded by Joanne Fairhurst, Paula Jeannet, May 2013

Accession(s) described in this finding aid: 2013-0094

This collection has been given initial processing: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is restricted.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

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

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Morrie Camhi photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.