Princeton Preservation Group Presents Historian of Photography Mary Panzer

The Princeton Preservation Group will host independent historian Mary Panzer for a virtual presentation, How Romana Javitz and Arturo Schomburg Shaped Representations of Race in New York Public Library Collections, on June 18 at 7 p.m.

Abstract

Researchers know that the NYPL collection of FSA images differs from that at The Library of Congress. We also know that the rich pictorial representation of African American life at NYPL — both in the Picture Collection and the Schomburg Collection — owes a great deal to the collaboration between these two forceful curators. This paper will discuss evidence of the ways in which Javitz and Schomburg worked together as shown in terms of photography and print material at the NYPL.

About the Speaker

Mary Panzer is a historian of photography and American culture, with a special interest in images made for the public sphere. In the 1990s, Dr. Panzer served as Curator of Photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), where she published biographies of Mathew Brady and Philippe Halsman. She is co-author of the prizewinning Things as They Are: Photojournalism in Context since 1995 (2005). Her most recent publications include essays on Commercial Street Photographers in San Francisco, and the origins of LIFE magazine. She is working on a history of commercial photography in America, 1935-1965.

The presentation will be virtual. Princeton Preservation Group meetings are open to the public without charge. Register to receive the Zoom link. For registration and more information, visit the Princeton Preservation Group website.