{"id":4196,"date":"2026-08-05T20:40:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/finding-aids\/coll132\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:40:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:40:55","slug":"coll132","status":"publish","type":"finding_aid","link":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/finding-aids\/coll132\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert W. Fichter collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/h2>
Title:<\/strong><\/td>Robert W. Fichter collection<\/td><\/tr>
Call Number:<\/strong><\/td>Coll132<\/td><\/tr>
Creator:<\/strong><\/td>Fichter Robert 1939-2023<\/td><\/tr>
Dates:<\/strong><\/td>1960-2015<\/td><\/tr>
Size:<\/strong><\/td>11 boxes (8.25 linear feet)<\/td><\/tr>
Abstract:<\/strong><\/td>The Robert W. Fichter collection contains research materials, correspondence, notebooks, exhibition pamphlets and invitations, personal and professional correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs and artwork that ranges between polaroid pictures, transparencies, slides, stretched canvases, rolled canvases, and drawers his work and the work of other artists.<\/td><\/tr>
Language:<\/strong><\/td>English<\/td><\/tr>
Citation:<\/strong><\/td>Robert W. Fichter collection, Collection 132, Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>

Administrative\/Biographical Note<\/h2>

Robert Whitten Fichter was born in Fort Meyers, Florida in 1939. As the yearbook photographer at his high school, he became inspired to pursue art. While attending the University of Florida at Gainesville (1959-1963), he studied printmaking with Ken Kerslake and photography with Jerry Uelsmann, who encouraged him to pursue an MFA under photographer Henry Holmes Smith at the University of Indiana (1963-1966). Fichter started his career working as an Assistant Curator at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY where he hosted his first solo exhibit in 1968. He joined the faculty of UCLA in 1968 and in 1972, he returned to Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he remained until his retirement in 2006. In the same year, Fichter donated his archives of drawings, prints, photographs, paintings, preparatory materials and manuscripts to the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Fichter has exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada (1970), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1974), School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1974), Kunsthaus Zurich (1977), Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies (1981), Whitney Biennial (1981), University of South Florida Art Galleries (1984), Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (1986), and the Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls (1990). Fichter\u2019s work is included in the collections of the Center for Creative Photography, George Eastman Museum, High Museum, International Center of Photography, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, National Gallery of Art, and Norton Simon Museum, among others.Fichter passed away in June 2023 in Tallahassee, Florida.<\/p>

Scope & Content<\/h2>

Series I: Teaching and Exhibition Materials A: Florida State University B: Exhibitions and Writings Series II: Coorespondence A: Personal Coorespondence B: Professional Correspondence Series III: Notebooks<\/p>

Provenance Information<\/h2>

Accessions P2011-04, P2013-36, P2013-37, P2017-12, and P2018-01.<\/p>

The Robert W. Fichter collection was recieved by UMBC Special Collections and Gallery in 2007 from the donor, Robert Fichter.<\/p>

Access & Use<\/h2>

This collection is open for research. There are no restricted materials.<\/p>

Permission is required for all reproduction requests. Copyright maintained by the creator.<\/p>

Subject Headings<\/h2>