About the Digital Collection
This digital collection includes finished prints and contact sheets by 20th century American photographer William Gedney made between 1955 and 1989. The quantity and condition of the materials reveal Gedney's intense dedication to his work, and his interest in street photography, portraiture, night photography, creative composition, and the study of human nature. His work took him across the United States several times (with a focus on Chicago, Detroit, South Dakota, Kentucky and California), to India, England, Ireland, Paris and Amsterdam.
Source Collection
This digital collection comprises selected materials from the following archival collection at David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library:
William Gedney photographs and papers 1887, circa 1920, 1940-1998 and undated, bulk 1955-1989
Collection #RL.10032 | 87.0 Linear Feet; Approx. 56,871 items
ABSTRACT
Collection houses the entirety of
William Gedney's original photographic work as well as his professional and personal
papers, amassed from his student years at Pratt Institute in the 1950s to his early
death in 1989. The materials reveal Gedney's intense dedication to his work, and his
interest in street photography, portraiture, night photography, creative composition,
and the study of human nature. His work took him across the United States several times
(with a focus on Chicago, Detroit, South Dakota, Kentucky and California), and to India,
England, Ireland, Paris and Amsterdam. Photographic formats in the collection include
negatives, contact sheets, work prints, exhibit-quality prints, test prints, personal
snapshots, and slides. There are roughly 76,000 unique images represented by the over
2000 contact sheets, with over 19,000 images in the form of work prints and 1466
exhibit-quality large prints. The availability of every format in the photographic
process offers deep insights into Gedney's editorial process and artistic vision.
Additional perspectives come from his many notebooks and journals; artwork; handmade
books and book project materials; correspondence files; memo books; financial, legal and
medical records; memorabilia; audiocassettes; and other materials. Acquired as part of
the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
Copyright
This collection is in copyright, and copyright is held by Duke University and is made available for research, scholarship and private study. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please consult https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.
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