Call Number:

PH-02276

Collection Name:

Magnum Photos Photography Collection

Creator:

No. of Items:

920 boxes, 1,866 oversize boxes, 39 portfolios (200,000 photographs)

Span Dates:

1929-2004

Description:

The collection consists of photographs from Magnum Photos' New York bureau, dating from 1929 to 2004. Black-and-white (gelatin silver prints) photographs make up the bulk of the collection, but also included are a few color photographs, color inkjet prints, and copy transparencies (slides). The photographs show the world and its people, events, issues, geography, and personalities as captured through the lenses of Magnum members. The images in this collection were made to distribute to publishers, the media, advertisers, museums, and galleries from around the globe. Nearly half the photographs were sent out for assignments and returned, and thus show evidence of much handling. The backs of many of the photographs are marked and stamped, evidence of their usage and the different filing systems used by Magnum. Many of the marks, stamps, and notes are in English, but there are a variety of other languages present throughout the collection.

Since its foundation in 1947, Magnum has used a number of filing systems (the current system arranges photographs by story number). The original physical order of the collection is largely preserved, but in order to facilitate search and retrieval, some original folders were moved so that the photographs could be grouped into following five series: Series I. Photographers; Series II. Personalities; Series III. Subjects; Series IV. Geographical; and Series V. Magnum. All subjects and titles in this preliminary inventory are those assigned by Magnum; additions by Ransom Center staff appear in brackets.

The first series, Photographers, is comprised of boxes containing the works of single photographers only, and it is in alphabetical order by photographer. In general the boxes follow each photographer's career chronologically, occasionally ending with a portfolio of exhibition prints. Box descriptions that are seven digits long (e.g., 1944001) are for specific stories; the first four digits represent the year of the story and the last three digits represent the story number within a given year.

Series II, Personalities, consists of images of notable figures from around the world. Included are portraits and snapshots of world leaders, politicians, artists, authors, activists, sports figures, actors and actresses, designers, architects, musicians, and other celebrated people. Each personality received his or her own folder, so the majority of boxes show a range of names rather than a single name. Individual names are displayed either as they appear in nationally recognized authority sources, including the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF), the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), or the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), or have been formed in accordance with the American Library Association's guidelines for Resource Description & Access (RDA). Dates appearing in conjunction with names are the life and/or death dates of the subject.

The third series, Subjects, consists of generic, domestic topical subjects, and excludes personalities and foreign countries. All subjects are listed alphabetically.

Series IV, Geographical, is divided first by continent or world region, and then subdivided by country and listed alphabetically.

The final series, Magnum, is comprised of portraits and snapshots of Magnum photographers, staff, contributors and meetings. Additionally there are groups of images collected by Magnum members for specific projects. Individual names are displayed as they appear in nationally recognized authority sources. Dates appearing in conjunction with names are the life and/or death dates of the subject.

Photographers with works in the archive include: Abbas (Iranian, 1944-2018), Bob Adelman (American, 1930-2016), Antoine d'Agata (French, born 1961), Chris Anderson (Canadian, born 1970), Alecio de Andrade (Brazilian, 1938-2003), Eve Arnold (American, 1912-2012), Micha Bar-Am (Israeli, born Germany 1930), Bruno Barbey (French and Swiss, born Morocco, 1941-2020), Eddie Becker, Jonas Bendiksen (Norwegian, born 1977), Ian Berrie, Ian Berry (British, born 1934), Werner Bischof (Swiss, 1916-1954), René Burri (Swiss, 1933-2014), Cornell Capa (American, born Hungary, 1918-2008), Robert Capa (American, born Hungary, 1913-1954), Henri Cartier-Bresson (French, 1908-2004), Chien-Chi Chang (Chinese, born 1961), Martin J. Dain (American, 1924-2000), Henri Dauman (French, 1933-2023), Bruce Davidson (American, born 1933), Luc Delahaye (French, born 1962), Raymond Depardon (French, born 1942), Michelangelo Durazzo (Italian, born 1935), Thomas Dworzak (German, born 1972), Nikos Economopoulos (Greek, born 1953), Elliott Erwitt (American, born France, 1928-2023), Misha Erwitt (American, born 1954), Martine Franck (Belgian, 1938-2012), Stuart Franklin (British, born 1956), Leonard Freed (American, 1929-2006), Roland Freeman (American, born 1936), Paul Fusco (American, 1930-2020), Cristina García Rodero (Spanish, born )1949, Charles Gatewood (American, 1942-2016), Jean Gaumy (French, born 1948), Bruce Gilden (American, born 1946), Burt Glinn (American, 1925-2008), Jim Goldberg (American, born 1953), Ed Grazda (American, born 1947), Philip Jones Griffiths (Welsh, 1936-2008), Harry Gruyaert (Belgian, born 1941), Ara Güler (Turkish, 1928-2018), Ernst Haas (American, born Austria, 1921-1986), Philippe Halsman (American, born Latvia, 1906-1979), Hiroshi Hamaya, Charles Harbutt, Erich Hartmann, David Alan Harvey, Bob Henriques, Thomas Hoepker, David Hurn, Torre Johnson, Richard Kalvar, Carl de Keyzer, Kent Klich, Josef Koudelka (Czech, born 1938), Hiroji Kubota, Joachim Ladefoged, Elliott Landy, Mark Leong, Guy Le Querrec (French, born 1941), Erich Lessing, Xiao Ming Li, Herbert List, Paul Lowe, Danny Lyon (American, born 1942), Xiao-hu Ma, Alex Majoli, Roger Malloch, Constantine Manos, Peter Marlow, Fred Mayer, Chris Maynard, Steve McCurry, Susan Meiselas (American, born 1948), Gideon Mendel, Wayne Miller, Inge Morath (American, 1923-2002), John Nance, Michael Nichols, Trent Parke, Martin Parr (British, born 1952), Paolo Pellegrin (Italian, born 1964), Gilles Peress, Gueorguy Pinkhassov, Mark Power, Dölf Preisig, Raghu Rai, Seymour Raskin, Eli Reed (American, born 1946), Marc Riboud (French, 1923-2016), Eugene Richards (American, born 1944), Miguel Rio Branco, George Rodger (British, 1908-1995), Jinx Rodger, Lise Sarfati, Ferdinando Scianna, David "Chim" Seymour (American, born Poland, 1911-1956), Marilyn Silverstone (American, born 1976), Helen Foster Snow, Alec Soth (American, born 1969), Bill Stanton, Chris Steele-Perkins (British, born 1947), Dennis Stock (American, 1928-2010), Kryn Taconis, Nicolas Tikhomiroff, Larry Towell, Burk Uzzle, John Vink (Belgian, born 1948), Alex Webb (American, born 1952), Adam Wiseman, Yinxian Wu, Donovan Wylie, and Patrick Zachmann.

Researchers seeking additional information about the original arrangement of the collection or any of Magnum's original filing schemes may contact the Head of Description and Access, Visual Materials. Errors in the finding aid should also be brought to their attention.

This collection was originally described with a preliminary inventory that described much of the collection at the box-level. Since that time, all materials were archivally housed in accordance with current preservation standards for photographic materials. All photographs were placed in protective sleeves and new boxes. For the protection of the materials, photographs measuring more than 8 1/2 x 11 inches were separated from the smaller prints. The smaller prints are housed in folders and stored vertically in standard document boxes. All larger prints are housed in sleeves with a backer board for support. In order to minimize the handling of these prints while still maintaining access to the information contained on their versos, the versos were reproduced on archival paper and placed in the sleeve, on the opposite side of the photograph, behind the backer board. Researchers who used the collection prior to 2020 should be aware that the box numbers in earlier requests are no longer valid; researchers should resubmit any requests using box and folder numbers found in the new and vastly expanded finding aid. Due to the size of the document, please be aware it may take up to five minutes for the finding aid to fully load.

Acknowledgment of Potentially Harmful, Offensive, and Graphic Language and Imagery
The materials in this collection are a product of their time and may use language or depict scenes and acts that are not acceptable by today’s standards. Further, due to the nature of the collection and the broad range of subjects, people, places, and events covered, some materials depict and describe sensitive or graphic scenes and acts that could be emotionally triggering. The original folder titles found in the finding aid may not always sufficiently indicate the breadth of content held within the folder, leading to encounters with potentially disturbing content without direct warning.
This statement is not intended to censor, divert, or discourage users from accessing this collection. Instead, the aim is to provide users with the opportunity to consciously engage with the materials along with their historical context. Through their study, users may develop new and deeper comprehension, while fostering thought and discussion pertaining to the various topics covered within the Magnum Photos Photography Collection.

Accession No(s):

185,000 prints from the Magnum Archive; All of donor's right, title, and interest to the Magnum Photos collection of nearly 200,000 photographic prints (1,320 boxes and 39 portfolios) from the Magnum Photos' New York bureau photograph morgue. The collection consists largely of black-and-white gelatin silver prints dating from 1929 to 2004. The photographs show the world and its people, events, issues, geography, and personalities as captured through the lenses of Magnum members and their affiliates.

Finding Aid URL:

https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00502

Location(s):

Permission from the Curator of Photography plus advance notice is required to page this unhoused material Magnum Portfolios 38-39
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Permission from the Curator of Photography plus advance notice is required to page this unhoused material. Magnum Portfolio Boxes 1-37
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Request materials through finding aid Magnum OV Boxes 1-1607
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Request materials through finding aid Magnum Boxes 1-0853
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Request materials through finding aid Magnum Transparencies Boxes 1-67
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Request materials through finding aid Magnum OV Boxes 1608-1865
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Request materials through finding aid Magnum XL OV Box 1
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Item(s):

See Also:

Postcards from America Photography Collection

Postcards from America

Russell Miller Magnum Photos Interviews Collection