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The John William Cain Papers are predominantly comprised of photographs, but also contain his naval records, certificates of achievement, a small amount of correspondence, and travel memorabilia.

Printed materials, advertisements, and publications designed by Bonnie Campbell, former Art Director at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

The photographs of Cedric N. Chatterley span the years 1983-2013, and were created throughout his career as a documentary photographer, beginning with his MFA thesis project on religious experience in the U.S. The photographs are primarily black-and-white prints ranging in size from 8x10 to 18x24 inches. The most prominent themes in Chatterley's work are labor, community, and religious expression. He has photographed chicken slaughterhouse workers in Maine; Cambodian immigrants in North Carolina; David "Honeyboy" Edwards and other Southern blues musicians in Mississippi and on tour; a substance abusers' rehabilitation community in Durham, N.C.; tornado survivors in South Dakota; an abandoned religious theme park in Connecticut; and sheep rancher Judith Fae "Pachy" Burns in Montana. Some of his documentary work also includes oral history interviews. There are also several recordings of interviews with Chatterley, where he speaks about his work as a documentary photographer, and a book by Barbara Lau containing his photographs of Cambodian immigrants. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Vincent Cianni is a documentary photographer and educator based in New York State. Project themes and subjects in this collection range widely: views of the city of Berlin, the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany in 1990; mall culture and the social impacts of urban decay in Poughkeepsie, New York State, 1980s; wedding ceremonies and rituals of straight and transgender people, mid-1980s; Latino youth and in-line skating culture in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, mid-1990s-2017; Cambodian kickboxing culture, 2004; the relationship between human story-telling, memory, and landscapes, 2000-2002; and gay pride marches and demonstrations in New York City, 1985-2019. An additional series offers a large set of oral histories of gay individuals in the U.S. military, 2010-2012. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Titled "After Eisenhower" in reference to the outgoing President's speech about military power, this body of work by photographer Jasmine Clark consists of 36 16x20 inch color inkjet photographs of signs, symbols, slogans, and advertising that permeate the streets and outdoor spaces of military-based towns. The images convey complex themes of patriotism, Christianity, masculinity and feminity, and other iconographic expressions of "Middle America" culture. Acquired by the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection comprises 40 color inkjet photographs taken from 2005 to 2016 in Durham, North Carolina by photographer Justin Cook. The images examine the intertwined effects of violence, gangs, homicide, incarceration, poverty and urban renewal in Durham. Their subjects include African American families and their experiences of death, loss and grieving; felons' struggles post-prison; police officers and religious leaders; and gatherings of both predominantly Caucasian and African American communities. There are also several views of the city of Durham that highlight its varied and changing architecture. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection dates from 1885-1951 and comprises eleven vintage photographic prints by individuals considered to be master photographers. The prints are intended to represent major formats, techniques, and genres of the 19th and 20th centuries. Photographers whose prints are in the collection hail from Europe, the United States, and Mexico: Eugène Atget (printed by Berenice Abbot), Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, F. Holland Day, Peter Henry Emerson, Lewis Hine, Aaron Siskind, Ralph Steiner, Alfred Stieglitz, and Minor White. Formats range from photogravures to gelatin silver prints, with the latter predominating; all are black-and-white and matted. Subjects include rural landscapes, individual and group portraits, and urban streetscapes. Acquired as part of the Archive for Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection comprises 464 original 4x6 inch color snapshots, 23 13x19 inch color inkjet exhibit prints; roll negatives; and text panels for the exhibit, "Photographs by Iraqi Civilians, 2004." The images are a result of a project, "Iraq From Within," coordinated by the North Carolina-based Daylight Community Arts Foundation, which encouraged Iraqi civilians to document through photographs and captions a point of view unavailable to the foreign press. The original color snapshots, taken by men and women chiefly in Baghdad and Fallujah, show families at home and in their neighborhoods, various workplaces, and scenes of wartime destruction. Taken as a whole, the collection conveys the impacts on men, women, and children of the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Indian-born professional photographer active in the last half of the 19th century; died in 1905. Collection of 51 large albumen and gelatin silver photographs mounted on mat board, taken by professional photographer Raja Deen Dayal, which offer insights into the culture, history, and environment of India in the last decades of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The prints range in size from 5x8" to 9x11", and document the 1903 visit of Duke and Duchess of Connaught, which includes marshalling of troops and parades, various archaeological sites, monuments, and natural vistas. Images are arranged by print number, some of which are original and some assigned by the dealer (in brackets). Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

The U.S. Farm Security Administration (FSA) was formed in 1937 as part of social and economic reforms following the Great Depression. Collection comprises 18 color photographs taken from 1939 to 1942 by FSA photographers Jack Delano (8 prints), Russell Lee (7) and Marion Post Wolcott (3). Between 1937 and 1946, FSA/OWI photographers created over 175,000 black-and-white images, and only about 1600 color images using Kodachrome chromogenic film. Subjects in this collection are diverse and include sawmills in Georgia and Maine; a wheat field in Washington State, socializing at a rural fair in Pie Town, New Mexico; tobacco cultivation and a federal housing project in Puerto Rico; and a group of African Americans fishing near a cotton plantation in Mississippi. The prints are sized 10x13 and 11x14 inches, and were created in the 1980s by photograph collector Tennyson Schad using the dye transfer process. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection consists of two documentary photography series taken in India by Melanie Dornier. "Mahila Thana: All Women Police Station" is comprised of 56 color digital photographs, taken in 2016, recording daily life inside the walls of the All Women Police Station of Gurugram, Haryana. The images convey the human impacts of woman-specific crimes and social justice, and the role of the police station and its female officers as a safe haven for distressed and abused women. The 54 color digital prints in "Punch My Face: Women's Boxing in India" document the daily life and experiences of Meena Kumari, a wife, mother, daughter, police officer, and boxer, 2013-2016. All prints measure 11 3/4 x 8 inches. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University.

Collection comprises three bodies of color and black-and-white work by photographer Jess T. Dugan: To Survive on this Shore: Photographs of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Older Adults (2013-2017); A Moment Collected: Photographs at the Harvard Art Museum (2006-2008); and Look At Me Like You Love Me (2020-2021). Nearly all the images are portraits ranging from staff at the Harvard Art Museum, one of Dugan's earliest projects, to gender non-conforming people, gay men and women, and transgender people. The 120 prints are signed, dated, and titled by the artist. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke Unviversity.

The Center for Documentary Studies was established at Duke University in Durham, N.C. for the study of the documentary process. The collection contains 51 black-and-white and color photographs, chiefly 11x14 and 16x20 inches, that were selected by CDS staff from portfolios published in DoubleTake magazine or by DoubleTake books from 1995 to 1997, and were exhibited at the CDS galleries. Many of the images were taken in the southern United States, but there are also scenes from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and from countries such as Mexico, Vietnam and Ireland. Some images are dated as early as 1906 and 1940. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

The DoubleTake magazine records contain story manuscripts with editor's markings, correspondence, photographs and slides, and production files for issue numbers 1-16, 1994-1999. Files of editors Jay Woodruff, Rob Odom, and other editors contain correspondence with writers whose work they were interested in publishing and editing. There are postcards and transparencies used in various issues; and a complete run of the magazine through spring 1999. There are two unidentified files. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection consists of seven creative projects produced by students in the class "Picturing Activism," taught by Lisa McCarty in Fall 2017 at Duke University. The projects utilize archival and contemporary photographs, narrative, poetry, illustrations, digital documents, posters, and oral history interviews in digital audio format to explore themes related to activism, cultural experiences, and visual culture. Subjects include murals in Durham, N.C.; activism in Alamance County, N.C.; African American women, racism, and political activism; environmental crises and activism through photography; pit bull rescues and animal rights; and Chinese cooking as cultural expression. Some of the archival photographs are from the Rubenstein Library's collections. Aquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection comprises twenty-five 16x20 inch color inkjet prints from a body of work titled "New Beach" by artist Leah Dyjak. The images, taken by Dyjak on the Atlantic coast, show ocean and sand encroaching on and destroying human-made barriers and boundaries - roads, jetties, and groins - with people looking on, stretching out, and strolling the beaches, evoking the nature of human existence at the liminal boundaries of water and land. This work received the 2018 ADA Collection Award for Documentarians of Environmental Change. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

American photographer devoted to recording the lives of rural and urban African Americans. Collection consists of Freeman's Portfolio, a 1997 limited edition portfolio of twelve 16x20 gelatin silver prints depicting everyday life in the South, dating 1969-1985. This Portfolio is Number 33 of 45. Prints include Freeman's signature on the bottom right corner. Accompanying pamphlet includes essays about the photographer and a title list for the photographs. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts (Duke University).

This collection includes 33 photographic prints comprising the series, Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene by Gerard H. Gaskin, 2012 CDS/ Honickman First Book Prize in Photography Award Winner. Prints were exhibited at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University from November 4 2013-February 22 2014.

Ralph Gibson is an American photographer based in New York, N.Y. Collection consists of 208 photographs taken by Gibson in 2019, and publication materials for the corresponding photobook, Sacred Land: Israel before and after time (2020). In addition to the 188 small single-image printer's proof prints, there are 20 large diptych prints, in which juxtaposed color and black-and-white images explore the nature of Israel and surrounding regions of Galilee, Jordan, and Palestine, through contemporary and ancient landscapes, architecture, city and country scenes, and portraits of a wide variety of people. A book mock-up rounds out the collection. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Collection comprises 251 black-and-white photographic prints taken by David Goldblatt during the 1960s of black and white South African miners at work, and South African Afrikaners. Collection also includes copies of three 16 mm films, "Soweto," "On the Mines," and "Some Afrikaners," created by Goldblatt in 1976 from his still images. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts, Duke University.