Collection portrays African American children, mainly in Harlem, New York City, at home, at play, and otherwise engaged with their peers as well as posing for portraits.Photos date from the 1900s to the mid-1990s with the bulk of the images covering the 1930s to the 1960s. Images from the early 1900s to the 1920s and from the early 1990s to 2004 are limited. Images of children may also be found in Education, Farm Security Administration, Libraries, Portraits and Recreation.The Portrait series (190?-199?) consists of studio and candid portraits of children, including newborns and multiples. Shots include individual and group portraits. Some portraits depict children posing with animals including dogs, horses, and birds. Other children are shown with toys. Approximately, one-third of the portraits are identified.The Recreation series (193?-199?) shows children involved in a wide variety of pastimes, such as, art and music, contests, dances and dance classes, free-play, holidays, parties, sports and games, theater and pageants, as well as participating in ceremonies and interacting with animals. Among the contests depicted are playground tournaments, pie-eating contests and Tom Thumb weddings. Holiday images document Christmas traditions. Shots of sports and games include ball playing, board games, boxing, marbles, pick-up-sticks, ping-pong, swimming and tug-of-war. Ceremonies photographed include the re-opening of the Central Park Zoo with Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins (1987). Also included are photos of male and female ethnic super hero toy collections by Olmec Corp. (1986). The Recreation series also depict children involved with organizations including cadet corps, church groups, camps, charitable organizations and community centers.The General series (192?-199?) depicts domestic life, health care, literacy, modeling assignments and children involved with adoption and orphanages. The series also shows shots of children living in rural areas and the Southern states.
Content: Some photographs bear photographer's or photography studio's handstamp on verso. Some photographs have agency's credit handstamped or machine printed on verso. Some items have descriptive information on verso; some items are mounted. Some photos are cropped or bear cropping marks. A few items are duplicates.
Content: Collection includes work by Otis C. Butler, Dummett, James C. Campbell, Robert Haggins, Cecil Lane, Nichols and others.
Physical Description
Extent: 479 (1.4 cubic ft.; 5 boxes)
Extent: 19 photographic prints: gelatin silver, b&w ;36 x 26 cm. and smaller.
Extent: 366 photographic prints: gelatin silver, b&w ;26 x 21 cm. and smaller.
Extent: 93 photographic prints: gelatin silver, b&w ;18 x 21 cm. and smaller.
Extent: 1 photographic postcard: gelatin silver, b&w ;14 x 9 cm.
