U.S. Trips, 1956-1975 and undated

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Due to privacy issues, images from the Norton State Hospital in the U.S. Trips Subseries have not been published online, but are available onsite for educational and research use.

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Gedney traveled extensively in the 1960s, crossing the United States by car at least twice. Significant stops on these trips included visits to Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles to photograph composers, while also taking time to photograph the street scenes in those cities, especially focusing on crowds, youth culture, and art museum visitors, an interest that shows up in the Paris Series as well.

An important stop was Gedney's visit to the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota, where he took an important sequence of images documenting a reservation funeral, Native American families in their homes, and individuals socializing outside.

He stayed for an extended period of time in the agricultural zones of Southern California, documenting migrant farm workers on strike for better wages and living conditions, and migrant families in their homes, in schools, and literacy classes. Activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez appears in some images.

Other photographs in the U.S. Trips subseries portray a Boeing factory in Washington State, small-town street scenes, and a variety of events such as rodeos, dances, and fairs. During these trips Gedney also took many of the photographs which he included in the Night Series .

In 1969, while photographing for the Social Security Administration as part of a paid assignment (prints are in the Commercial Work Series), Gedney also visited the Norton State Hospital for the mentally disabled in Norton, Kansas, and received permission to take portraits of its patients; they are included in this U.S. Series but will not be digitized for privacy reasons.

Supported by a National Endowment funds, Gedney traveled the U.S. again in 1975-1976, continuing his work on night scenes and street photography, visiting Ohio, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and places in between.

Prints in this subseries are arranged in rough chronological order.

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Portions of the collection are closed pending digitization.

Negatives and original audiovisual media are closed to use. Viewing and listening copies are available upon advance request.

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The copyright interests for Gedney images in this collection are held by Duke University. However, some commercial work, audio recordings, and materials by other creators, may carry other copyright considerations. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, or contact the Rubenstein Library.

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