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Morgan and Marvin Smith papers

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Collection Data

Description
The Morgan and Marvin Smith papers document the careers of the Smith brothers as professional photographers, in the television and sound industry, and as needlework artists.
Names
Morgan and Marvin Smith (Photographers) (Creator)
Smith, Marvin, 1910-2003
Smith, Morgan, 1910-1993
Morgan and Marvin Smith (Photographers)
Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1931 - 1999
Library locations
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Shelf locator: SC MG 757
Topics
M. Smith Studio (Harlem, New York, N.Y.)
African American artisans
African American artists
African American photographers
African American portrait photographers
African Americans in television broadcasting
African Americans in the newspaper industry
Notes
Biographical/historical: Morgan and Marvin Smith, identical twins, were born in 1910 in Nicholsville, Kentucky. Developing an early interest in art and photography, they graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington in 1931. They moved to Harlem in 1933, studying art with Augusta Savage. In 1937, Morgan won honorable mention in the New York Herald Tribune's national photography contest, which led to his being hired as the first staff photographer for the New York Amsterdam News, a position he held until 1939. That same year, the brothers opened a photo studio, which they called M. Smith Studio, next door to Harlem's renowned Apollo Theater on 125th Street. The twins photographed such legendary figures as Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, Eartha Kitt, Pablo Picasso, and Albert Einstein. They took photographs for African American magazines such as Color, Ebony, and Opportunity, as well as Life; a number of their photographs appeared on the covers. They also took photographs for advertisements printed in magazines and newspapers. In 1942, Marvin enlisted in the Navy with the 34th Seabees; the following year, he became the first African American to be admitted to the Naval Air Station School of Photography and Motion Picture Camera in Pensacola, Florida. He served as Chief Photographer's Mate in the South Pacific. Between 1950-1952, Marvin studied art in Paris with Ferdinand Leger. While Marvin was in the Navy, Morgan set up a photography studio in New York and experimented with sound recordings. By 1954, both brothers were working in the television and film industry, Morgan working for ABC and Marvin for NBC. Additionally, Morgan served as the sound mixer for the television series The Truman Story (1963), and Marvin worked on the set of the movie Purlie Victorious (1961). They closed the studio in 1968, retired from their television positions in 1974, and in their seventies, resumed an interest in needlework crafts. Several major exhibitions have featured the photographs of Morgan and Marvin Smith, and they have been the focus of a book and a film. Morgan died at age 83 in 1993, and Marvin passed away in 2003.
Content: The Morgan and Marvin Smith papers document the careers of the Smith brothers as professional photographers, in the television and sound industry, and as needlework artists. Marvin's career as a set decorator and his artwork are also discussed. Only a small amount of correspondence is contained in this collection. As major photographers in Harlem from the 1930s through the 1950s whose work appeared on covers and within magazines, as well as in print ads, a significant portion of the collection consists of their published photographs.
Physical Description
Extent: 5 boxes 1.75 linear feet
Type of Resource
Text
Identifiers
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b16410705
MSS Unit ID: 25613
Other local Identifier: Sc MG 757
Other local Identifier: SC MG 757
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 9c387020-1712-013e-37a7-0242ac110002
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