Paul Kwilecki photographs and papers, circa 1910s, 1960-2008

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Summary

Creator:
Kwilecki, Paul, 1928-2009, Archive of Documentary Arts (Duke University), and Vestal, David
Abstract:
Collection comprises over 500 black-and-white photographic prints, along with negatives, contact sheets, photographer's notes, journals, writings, speeches, correspondence related to photography, and printed material, totaling over 9000 items. Kwilecki's photographic work documents rural and small-town life in and around Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia, an undertaking he began as a self-taught photographer in 1960 and continued until his death in 2009. Subjects include local landscapes, tobacco workers, county fairs, hog slaughtering, cemeteries, churches, courthouses, recreation on the Flint River, local industry, shoppers, downtowns, and house porches and interiors. The themes of race relations and religious life predominate. Many of Kwilecki's subjects come from the African American community in Decatur County. Significant correspondents in the manuscripts series include photographers Alex Harris and David Vestal; the collection includes a small set of Vestal photographs. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
Extent:
42 Linear Feet (56 boxes; 1 oversize folder)
Language:
English
Collection ID:
RL.00790

Background

Scope and content:

The Paul Kwilecki Photographs and Papers span the whole of his career and include over 500 black-and-white photographic prints, negatives (chiefly safety but also some nitrate and glass plate), contact sheets, photographer's notes, journals, writings, speeches, correspondence related to photography, and other printed material, totaling over approximately 9000 items.

The bulk of the collection consists of Paul Kwilecki's prints and other photographic material documenting rural and small-town life in and around Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia, an undertaking he began as a self-taught photographer in 1960 and continued until his death in 2009. Although Kwilecki developed an interest in photography in the 1940s, only a very small portion of the images in the collection pre-date 1970.

The collection is organized into two major series: Photographic Materials, containing prints, contact sheets, and negatives, and a Manuscripts Series housing many files of correspondence, writings, and other personal papers.

While initially interested in photographing tobacco workers, Kwilecki turned his focus to other subjects, including county fairs, hog slaughtering times, cemeteries, churches, courtrooms, recreation on the Flint River, local industry, bus stations, shoppers, downtowns, house porches and interiors, and landscapes. Many of Kwilecki's subjects come from the African American community in Decatur County. Throughout the collection, the themes of race relations and religious life tend to predominate.

The Manuscripts Series (1967-2008) also provides an interpretation of life in Decatur County but also documents Kwilecki's photographic philosophy and practices. The correspondence and the journals, related to Kwilecki's work and career as a photographer, comprise the largest groupings. The series also contains Kwilecki's personal journals, dating from 1967-1969; Kwilecki's printing notes; news clippings; exhibition brochures; and a brief internet biography of Kwilecki. Many of Kwilecki's writings attempt to express in words the same topics he tried to illuminate through photography.

Additional manuscripts (14 boxes) and photographic materials were received in 2010 following Kwilecki's passing away. They include many folders of correspondence dating from 1971-2008, arranged in original order either chronologically or alphabetically by folder title. Significant correspondents include photographers Alex Harris and David Vestal; the collection also includes a small set of Vestal's photographic prints. Other files contain writings, clippings, and other items. The writings include journals from the 1970s; typed excerpts from early 20th century Georgia newspapers, some on racial incidents; drafts of Kwilecki's talks; and notes for the Decatur County photography publication (one folder). A few publications round out the last box in the collection.

The negatives are closed to use; contact sheets and prints offer alternate access to Kwilecki's images. Eleven nitrate large-format sheet negatives, dating from approximately the 1940s-1960s, are slated for digitization. Also included in the collection are several glass plate negatives by an unknown photographer dating perhaps from the 1910s.

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1928 Feb. 24
Paul Kwilecki born in Bainbridge, Georgia
1948-1949 (?)
Photographs published in Life magazine
1949
B.A. in English, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
1960
Began making a photographic record of Decatur County, Georgia
1975
Sold his hardware business in order to devote all his time to photography
1979
Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1981
Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
Publication of Paul Kwilecki's first photography book, Understandings
1992
Publication of Lowly Wise: Scenes of Religion In and Around Decatur County
1994 Nov. 4-Dec. 21
Exhibit: "Paul Kwilecki: Decatur County, Georgia," Lehigh University
1997 Oct.-2000 Oct.
Traveling exhibit: "Homage: Photographs of Decatur County, Georgia," offered by the South Carolina State Museum
2001
Exhibit: "Decatur County, Georgia," at Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
2009 December 9
Died in Bainbridge, Georgia, age 81

Kwilecki's photography is also housed as part of permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, the Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia, the Lyndhurst Foundation, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Albany Museum of Art, Albany, Georgia.

Acquisition information:
The Paul Kwilecki photographs and papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase and gift, 1991-2010, 2017.
Processing information:

Processed by Paula Jeannet and Josh Kaiser, July 10, 2002.

Accessions represented in this finding aid: All accessions from 1991 to 2010, and 2017-0177.

Additions processed and described by George Lam, July 2010; Paula Jeannet, November 2010 and October 2017; and by Paula Jeannet, Rachel Jensen, and Edward Coles, March 2019.

Description relating to nitrate and glass plate negatives added by Paula Jeannet, 2019-2022

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

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Restrictions:

Access note. Collection contains fragile audiovisual materials that need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Access note. Collection contains fragile materials in the form of negatives. Corresponding photographs for some negatives are available in the collection; nitrate negatives and glass plates have been digitized. Contact Research Services for access.

Terms of access:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Materials in this collection are made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in these materials has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of these materials beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please consult https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Paul Kwilecki photographs and papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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