Portraits, 1989-1992

Extent:

59 prints (4 boxes)

Scope and content:

The 59 portraits in this series belong to a project undertaken by Caroline Vaughan in 1990 to take a series of portraits of citizens of Durham, North Carolina, emphasizing their commonalities, as well as their diversity in ages, socio-economic backgrounds, race, and sexual orientation. The project was sponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies and by Polaroid.

Subjects include male and female activists, artists, construction workers, firefighters, welders, photographers, business owners, writers, friends, older people, gay and straight couples, parents and children. They are photographed singly as well as in pairs, sometimes in a trio, typically as half or full standing standing portraits rather than close-ups. Many of the subjects are Duke alumni. One male couple appears in several prints, clothed and nude.

There are several photographers in the portraits whose own work is part of the Rubenstein Library Archive of Documentary Arts collections: Peter Goin, Alex Harris, Margaret Sartor, and Jeeva Rajgopaul. Also present is a portrait of author Reynolds Price with Nick Shelley.

The photographs are all traditional darkroom gelatin silver or instant Polaroid prints, taken from 1989 to 1992. There are a few Polaroids in color. All are signed, dated, and matted, and titles have been taken from handwritten captions on the prints. A few were found to be untitled. In some cases their titles were taken from the photographer's online gallery. Also, if the individuals in the portraits were known from other images, their names were added by library staff in a note. Most prints are marked on the backs with exposure times, shutter speeds, and other data.

Physical facet:

Gelatin silver and instant camera prints

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