Photographs, 1968-2023
- Extent:
- 42 Linear Feet (49 boxes)
- Scope and content:
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Series consists three subseries: Projects, Work Prints, and Digital Images and Files. The Projects subseries contains over 800 photographic prints, created by photojournalist and labor activist Earl Dotter over his long career. The finished prints are arranged in 15 project series and one exhibit series. Traditional darkroom gelatin silver prints predominate; chromogenic color prints and digital inkjet prints make up the rest.
The Work Prints subseries contains 202 work prints (proofs). The Digital Images and Files subseries contains born digital examples of Dotter's photographs, as well as some digital files containing Dotter's photography.
Many of Dotter's images in this collection have been exhibited across the U.S. and published in labor journals, health service publications, and mainstream magazines; most if not all of the issues in which they appear are found filed in the Publications Series assembled and maintained by Dotter over many years.
In addition, many of the images in this collection appear in a retrospective photobook, "Life's Work: A Fifty-Year Photographic Chronicle of Working in the U.S.A.," also available in the Rubenstein Library, and in an exhibit which premiered in 2018 at AFL-CIO Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and toured the U.S. until 2023.
- Material specific details:
- The 818 prints are all mounted on thin board, and some are also matted; 101 of them form matted multiple-print groups (diptychs, triptychs, and quadriptychs). There are also some single prints in the Life's Work exhibit composed of multiple images. Gelatin silver darkroom prints form about two-thirds of the collection, with the rest chromogenic and inkjet prints. Mount sizes range from 8x10 to 22x28 inches, with most measuring 11x14 to 16x20 inches. Work prints are unmounted. Some of the photographs in the collection were printed shortly after being taken; most were created some time after the image was photographed by Dotter. Titles, captions, and dates are transcribed from the originals as designated by the photographer.
- Physical facet:
- 818 finished photographs in 713 mounts or mats; 202 work prints
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Access note. Some materials in this collection are electronic records that require special equipment. Contact Research Services with questions.
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The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. Images may only be used for educational, non-commercial use. 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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