Collection holds story manuscripts (with editor's marks), correspondence, and production files for issues 1-16, 1994-1999. Files of editors Jay Woodruff, Rob Odom, and other editors contain correspondence with writers whose work they were interested in publishing and editing. There are postcards and transparencies used in various issues; and a complete run of the magazine through spring 1999. There are two unidentified files.
Later accessions include production files and correspondence between the magazine's editors and its contributors, also covering issues 1-16.
Accession 2010-0081 includes photographer name files, dating from 1993 (pre-production) through 1998, kept by Alex Harris and other DoubleTake staff. Files were created whenever a photographer corresponded with the magazine, and include copies of correspondence between editors and photographers, slides of sample work, contracts for those who were accepted as contributors, and occasional biographies or other information about the photographer. Some files represent a particular museum's exhibit rather than a personal photographer; these are designated with exhibit titles instead of a photographer's name.
Files are organized alphabetically, and include correspondence from well before the magazine began publication, as well as materials post-dating Harris's departure from the magazine.
Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
The DoubleTake, magazine formerly associated with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, was co-founded by Alex Harris and Robert Coles. It was established in 1995 to publish photography, fiction, poetry, and essays documenting the human experience "as it is and as it might be." In its early years, Alex Harris was responsible for managing everyday operations, while Robert Coles was based in Boston. DoubleTake's high-quality publications, focusing on photography, earned national awards and praise, including a National Magazine Award for general excellence.
Despite its successes the magazine was unable to rein in production costs. Alex Harris left the magazine in 1998, remaining with the Center for Documentary Studies as a professor and photographer. Rather than suspend publication, Coles moved the magazine to Somerville, New Jersey, where it continued to struggle financially. Its final issue, Summer 2003, was funded by a series of benefit concerts by Bruce Springsteen. By November 2004, the magazine closed its offices permanently.
