Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Researching African-American Photographers

The following are selected sources of information aiding research on African American photography. Included are hardcopy catalogued general sources, information sources on individual photographers, and websites providing additional sources of information. Email the subject area specialist at aok.lib.umbc.edu/speccoll, or telephone 410-455-2353 for more information.

Table of Contents

General Sources
Individual Photographers
Collections

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GENERAL SOURCES

• Beck, Tom, ed. exposure. Vol. 35, No.2, (Fall 2002).
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
• Beck,Tom, ed. Visual Griots, Works by Four African American Photographers. Baltimore: University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1996.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR644.v57 1996
• Bell, Clare. In/Sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1996.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR646.A35 1996
• Browne, Turner, and Elaine Partnow.. MacMillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists & Innovators. New York: MacMillan, 1983.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR139.B767 1983
• Coar, Valencia Hollins. A Century of Black Photographers, 1840-1960. Providence, RI: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1983.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR 646.U6 P76
  
• Crawford, Joe. The Black Photographers Annual, vols.1-4 (1972-1980).
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections--1973, 1976
  CALL NUMBER: TR640.B53
• Easter, Eric, M. Michael Cheers, and Dudley M. Brooks, eds. Songs of My People, African Americans: A self-portrait. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: E185.86.S66 1992
• Herring, Jefferson D., Talk for the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery on Prentice Hall Polk, Southern Photographer,' lecture, presented, February 10, 1991.[word document]
• Mason, Herman., Jr. Hidden Treasures: African American Photographers in Atlanta, 1870-1970. Atlanta: Family History Association, Inc., 1991.
  LOCATION: University of Delaware Morris Library
  CALL NUMBER: TR645.A72.A26x 1991
• Millstein, Barbara Head, ed. Committed to the Image, Contemporary Black Photographers. New York and London: Brooklyn Museum of Art in Association with Merrell Publishers, 2001.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR645.N532 B7
• Moutoussamy, Jeanne. Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1986.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR139.M63 1986
• Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. Rev. ed. New York: Abbeville, 1989.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR15.R67 1989
• Saunders, Doris E., ed. Special Moments in African American History, 1955-1996: The Photographs of Moneta Sleet, Jr. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, 1998.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: E185.615.S5735 1998
• Sichel, Kim. Black Boston: documentary photography and the African American experience. Boston: Boston University Art Gallery, 1994.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: F73.9.N4S48 1994
• Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Images of Blacks in American Culture: A Reference Guide to Information Sources. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1988.
  LOCATION: UMBC Library
  CALL NUMBER: NX652.A37.I43 1988
• Sullivan, George. Black Artists in Photography, 1840-1940. New York: Cobblehill Books, 1996.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR139.S85 1996
• VanDerZee, James, Owen Dodson, and Camille Billops. The Harlem Book of the Dead. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1978.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: GT3211.N48V36
• Willis, Deborah. An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers, 1940-1988. New York: Garland, 1989.
  LOCATIONS: UMBC Special Collections
  UMBC Reference
  CALL NUMBER: TR139.W55 1988
• Willis, Deborah. Black Photographers, 1840-1940, An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1985.
  LOCATIONS: UMBC Special Collections
  UMBC Reference
  CALL NUMBER: TR139.W55 1985
• Willis, Deborah. Constructed Images: New Photography. New York: Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, 1989.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR646.U6 N47 1989
• Willis, Deborah. Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: TR23.W55 2000
• Wright, Richard and Edwin Rosskam. 12 Million Black Voices, A Folk History of The Negro in the United States. New York: Viking Press, 1941.
  LOCATION: UMBC Special Collections
  CALL NUMBER: E185.6.W91969

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INDIVIDUAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS HELD AT UMBC

• David Bowser
• Roland Freeman
• Stephen Marc
• Addison Scurlock
• James VanDerZee
• William Earle Williams

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COLLECTIONS

• UMBC - Jack Engeman Collection
• Amistad Research Center at Tulane University The collection holds art, photograph, and manuscript collections charting African American history.
• Connecticut Historical Society The Society holds a valuable collection of Augustus Washington daguerreotypes.
• Historic New Orleans Collection The collection has a significant jazz collection as well other holding of African American photographs.
• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Thousands of photographs by African American photographers. Specific collections devoted to African Americans include the 4,700 NAACP photographs from 1933-1955.
• Moorland Spingarn Research Center at Howard University A major research center devoted to African American culture and history including thoudands of photographs.
• Museum of Afro American History Boston The museum has images of historic sites such as the African American Meeting House plus many other holdings related to African Americans.
• The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture A major research facility holding African American photographs, manuscripts, and culture collections.
• The Archives Center of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History The Archives holds many photographs by and of African Americans, especially the archive of Addison Scurlock.
• Studio Museum The Studio Musem holds the James VanDerZee archive.
• National Archives and Records Admistration NARA holds many photographs related to African Americans including the U.S. Signal Corps collection.
• Yale University The University library holds the James Weldon Johnson Collection of Negro Arts and Letters which includes many photographs.