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.
Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
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