East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project collection

Overview

Administrative/Biographical Note

Elinor B. Cahn Born in 1925 in Baltimore, Ms. Cahn was raised in the city that would become the focus of this project. She attended the Park School and, after marriage and raising a family, returned to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, to major in photography. She was key to the Social Documentary Photography course because she knew East Baltimore well and interacted easily with the residents who would become central to the project. Her photographs were exhibited at local galleries and the Baltimore Museum of Art. A memorial fund has been established at MICA in her name. Joan Clark Netherwood Born in York, South Carolina, in 1932, Ms. Netherwood’s career began in banking in South Carolina and Kentucky. She moved to fundraising and development work at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the District of Columbia and eventually to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. There she became a full-time returning student in photography and received her B.F.A. in 1977. In the fall of 1976 she took a course in Social Documentary Photography from Linda G. Rich. It was in this course that she, Ms. Rich, and another student, Elinor B. Cahn, initiated the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project. Linda G. Rich Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1949, Ms. Rich received her B.A. in Communication Arts (radio and television) in 1971 and her M.F.A. in Art (photography and graphics) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1975. After a series of teaching assistantships in the Department of Art in Madison she became an Instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. There, she taught a course in Social Documentary Photography during which she and two returning students developed the project that is the subject of this archive. Throughout the early 1970s she gave numerous lectures on topics such as Women in the Arts and New Directions in Photography. During the same time she exhibited photographs in nearly 50 venues including four one-person shows.

Scope & Content

The East Baltimore Documentary Photography Collection is divided into series that include the logistics/administrative aspects of the project as it developed and the content itself – the photographs and interviews. Publication of the book involved selecting photos from the exhibits and adding text which depends heavily on the taped interviews. The collection is organized into five series: Series I. Project Series II. Book Series III. Exhibit Series IV. Research Series V. Interviews

Provenance Information

Accession P2018-08.

The collection was intended to reside at UMBC. Joan C. Netherwood delivered boxes of photos, proofs, tapes, and peripheral items such as publicity and press clippings. Administrative papers and documents of support from local government and institutions were included somewhat randomly as well. Papers other than taped interviews, photographs, and permission slips were found throughout the files in the boxes. Duplicate publicity handouts and press reviews were weeded out. Specifications regarding film, camera shots, and development procedures are scattered throughout the boxes but are primarily in Series III. Photographs and interview tapes were carefully preserved in envelopes clearly marked with the names of each participant. An inventory was prepared to document the items in each box. This inventory was used to reorganize the archives in a logical order to facilitate research. This finidng aid was initially drafted by Mary Jane Arnold and published by Laurainne Ojo-Ohikuare, in July 2021.

Access & Use

The collection is open for research. There are no restricted materials.

Permission is required for all reproduction requests. Copyright maintained by the creator(s).

Subject Headings

• Netherwood Joan Clark
• Cahn Elinor B.
• Documentary photography.
• East Baltimore (Baltimore, Md.)–Social life and customs.
• Maryland Institute, College of Art.

Series Description & Container List

Expand all | Collapse all

Series I. Project

Series II. Book

Series III. Exhibit

Series IV. Research

Series V. Interviews

Series VI: Joan Netherwood negatives

Series VII: Elinor Cahn