Robert C. Farrell (Nappy Chin) Photograph Collection

Title: Robert C. Farrell (Nappy Chin) Photograph Collection

Dates: 2000-2004

Collection Number: SFP 97

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 1 flat box with 21 prints

Repository: San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center

Abstract: The photograph collection of 21 prints (18 black and white and 3 color digital prints) document neighborhood events and activities on 6th Street between Market and Howard in the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco between 2000 and 2004.

Language of Material: English

The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center's Photo Desk hours.

All requests for permission to publish from photograph collections must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Robert C. Farrell (Nappy Chin) Photograph Collection. San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center

Gift from photographer. 2006-52 and 2008.

Robert C. Farrell (Nappy Chin) is a local, African-American photographer and Sixth Street icon of San Francisco. Nappy Chin was born in 1945 and participated in the Million Man March in Washington D. C. in 1995. He is a tenant of an SRO and active member of the Central City SRO Collaborative (CCSRO). Nappy Chin co-founded Sixth Street Photography Workshop in San Francisco in 2003. Nappy Chin’s story and photographs are in the publication “Indelible Memories: Tales of Survival, Struggle and Heart: Tenderloin, San Francisco” (2009). Nappy Chin was interviewed for the documentary theater piece “Tenderloin” commissioned in 2012.

The photograph collection of 21 prints (18 black and white and 3 color digital prints) document neighborhood events and activities on 6th Street between Market and Howard in the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco between 2000 and 2004. Photographs include the Positively Sixth Street fair committee members and the opening and anniversaries of District Attorney Terrance Hallinan’s Community Justice Office in Sunnyside Hotel run by Joann Babiak. Buildings documented include Sunnyside Hotel, Rose Hotel, Baldwin Hotel and the conversion of Delta Hotel to Bayanihan House. People documented include Mayor Willie Brown, District Attorney Terrance Hallinan, attorney Joann Babiak, San Francisco Police Department, community residents, and members of Cityteam. Photographs in the collection had been on exhibit for a joint show “Sublime Sixth – Works by Reclusive Artists” in the Community Justice Office, December 2003. Each photograph has handwritten descriptions and dates on the backside by the photographer. There is one oversize digital print of the construction of the Federal Building on Mission at Seventh Street.