The Jay Carl Anderson Photographs and Papers include images of Duke University, Durham, Duke athletic events, and many other subjects taken by Jay Anderson throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
The collection includes a large number of photographs taken by Jay Anderson during his time as a student at Duke University in the 1970s, particularly images of the Duke campus, Duke athletic events, and related topics for the 1978 Chanticleer. Also included are images taken in and around Durham after Anderson graduated from Duke, images of politicians and political activity at the national and state level, and locations and events outside of North Carolina. The collection also includes student materials from Anderson's time at Duke and correspondence and publications related to his work as a freelance photographer.
Topics and individuals depicted include Duke's East and West Campus, Duke Blue Devils men's basketball games, student life at Duke in the late 1970s, Duke athletic events, and scenes around Durham and North Carolina. The collection also includes images of politicians such as United States Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, the 1976 Democratic National Convention, politicians Jesse Jackson, George Wallace, and Walter Mondale, and many other subjects.
The photographs were divided by format and did not include a system to match the same image in different formats. Many negatives were grouped into folders with topical labels, while many others were individually labeled by roll or completely unlabeled. Some negatives were still rolled and uncut, and have been cut to fit into sleeves. Many unlabeled negatives were grouped into labeled folders. Many slides were in labeled containers, while others were sleeved and grouped into folders. Some negatives and slides may contain further identifying information for individual rolls or pages that are not included in folder titles. Most prints were unlabeled, and have been grouped into labeled folders. Some individual prints, likely submitted for publication to clients such as the New York Times, include descriptive captions identifying individuals, events, and/or dates. Not all negatives or slides are represented in prints, and a few prints may not have corresponding negatives or slides.
Photographs taken for the American Dance Festival during Anderson's tenure as official ADF photographer are held at the American Dance Festival Archives.
Jay Carl Anderson was a photographer and Duke alumnus who photographed Duke athletic events and campus scenes in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jay Carl Anderson was born in 1956 to Jay C. and Marion C. Anderson. Born in Utica, New York, he grew up in Clinton, New York. His father owned an advertising agency and Jay Anderson learned graphic arts and photography while still in school, first publishing photographs in the Clinton Courier newspaper at age 16. He enrolled at Duke University in 1974 and moved to Durham, North Carolina. He became photography editor for the Chronicle in his freshman year and began working as a freelance photographer, publishing photographs in Parade Magazine and the New York Times while still a student. He covered the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York as well as other political events and locations in New York and Washington D.C. He traveled to Europe and the Soviet Union for about six months in 1977. In 1976 he joined the staff of the Chanticleer, becoming editor in 1978.
In the summer of 1978, while completing the 1978 Chanticleer, Jay Anderson became involved with modern dance and the American Dance Festival, which came to the Duke campus that same year. He began frequent collaboration with ADF and became the American Dance Festival's official photographer in 1982.
Anderson remained in Durham after graduating from Duke with a BA in History in 1978, and continued to work as a freelance photographer and photojournalist in addition to his work with ADF. He took photographs of Duke athletic events, particularly basketball, throughout the 1980s, and remained involved with the Chanticleer; he also did commercial work in the Triangle and took photographs throughout North Carolina.
Jay Anderson married Saundra Prescott in 1990. The couple moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2010. Jay Carl Anderson died February 8, 2013.
