Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Morgan (Barbara and Willard) photographs and papers
LSC.2278
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Barbara and Willard Morgan photographs and papers
Creator:
Morgan, Barbara Brooks, 1900-1992
Creator:
Morgan, Willard D. (Willard Detering) , 1900-1967
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2278
Physical Description:
478.8 linear feet
(616 boxes)
Physical Description:
2 audiovisual carriers
(1 unprocessed film reel, 1 unprocessed videocassette)
Physical Description:
2 born-digital carriers
(2 unprocessed optical discs)
Physical Description:
25.8 linear feet
(23 unprocessed boxes)
Physical Description:
53.4 Gigabytes
(22,675 unprocessed files)
Date (inclusive): 1850s-2008
Date (bulk): 1919-1985
Abstract: The Barbara and Willard Morgan photographs and papers relate to the personal lives and professional careers of artists and
photographers Barbara Brooks Morgan (1900-1992) and Willard Detering Morgan (1900-1967). The collection includes correspondence;
writings; publications; professional papers; exhibition materials; and individual and collaborative project materials. Visual
materials comprise a significant portion of the collection: Barbara and Willard Morgan's photographic archives, as well as
Barbara's drawings, paintings, and prints. The collection reflects the Morgans' close associations with photographers, dancers,
architects, and other artists, including Martha Graham, Ansel Adams, and Richard Neutra. Family letters, documents, photographs,
and ephemera, as well as business materials related to the family publishing business, are also included.
Physical Location: Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant
permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted
in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on
behalf of the UCLA Library Special Collections.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS DIGITAL, AUDIO, AND AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed digital, audio,
and audiovisual materials. For information about the access status of the material that you are looking for, refer to the
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed digital,
audio, and audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9977219453606533
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase/Gift from the Morgan family, 2014. Additional gifts from the Morgan family, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
[Identification of item], Barbara and Willard Morgan photographs and papers (Collection 2278). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Following the passing of Willard Morgan, then Barbara Morgan, multiple Morgan family members maintained the materials and
managed the archives for many years.
Processed in phases by: Kelly Kress, Julia Hause, and Jessica Tai, 2016-2018; Lauren McDaniel and Jessica Tai, 2017-2018;
Lauren McDaniel and Claire Gordon, 2019. Extensive preservation and conservation treatment performed throughout by the UCLA
Library Preservation Studios, with additional help from the following Library Special Collections student assistants: Alex
Adame, Cristina Aida Delgado, Kenia Matia Gomez, Jessica Reid, Cecile Riviere-Cazaux, Brooke Urick, and Alice Jingyi Zhang.
Additional rehousing by Octavio Olvera. Additional description by Kelly Besser and Tess Livesley-O'Neill in 2020. Additional
description by Genie Guerard in 2023. Final processing by Genie Guerard and Kelly Besser with assistance from Paola Salazar,
Preksha Ambrish, Sky Bassiry, and Liz Gost, 2023.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's library collections and archives.
Administrative/Biographical History
Barbara Brooks Morgan was born in 1900 in Buffalo, Kansas, and Willard Detering Morgan was born in 1900 in Snohomish, Washington.
Their families later relocated to Southern California, and they met while students at Pomona High School. Willard attended
Pomona College, and later earned a living writing articles and illustrating them with his own photographs. Barbara attended
UCLA from 1919 to 1923 and joined the art faculty there in 1925, where she taught Design, Landscape and Woodcut. Willard continued
to photograph around the Los Angeles area, inspired by the architectural work of his friend Richard Neutra, as well as quintessentially
local structures such as drive-in markets. The Morgans married in 1925, and spent their summers traveling the Southwest with
painting and photography equipment, experiences that were deeply affecting for both. On these trips the Morgans experimented
with 35mm Leica cameras, novel at the time for their small size.
In 1930, when Willard Morgan received a job offer from E. Leitz, Inc., the manufacturer of Leica cameras, the couple moved
to New York City. Barbara put painting aside at that time to focus primarily on photography, a decision that coincided with
the birth of the couple's two children, Douglas in 1932 and Lloyd in 1935. While Willard worked for Leica and moved on to
other photography-related jobs with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
Life magazine, and
Look magazine, Barbara achieved recognition photographing modern dancers and experimenting with photomontage. While a student
at UCLA, she was guided by Arthur Wesley Dow's principles of art synthesis, and the Chinese Six Canons of Painting, whose
principles of "rhythmic vitality" or the essence of life force directed her artistic expression. Working as a photographer
allowed her to partner light energy with the physical and spiritual energies in dance. Her photographs from the 1938 Bennington
College Festival of Modern Dance, and a book project,
Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs, cemented her reputation as a significant contemporary photographer. She was invited to exhibit and teach at Black Mountain
College in 1943, mounted a solo exhibition at MoMA in 1945, and, with a consortium of other photographers, founded
Aperture magazine in 1952. Over the years her interests also included children's growth, which resulted in photography projects with
camps, schools, and colleges, and culminated in her book
Summer's Children.
Meanwhile, Willard had started a publishing business which focused primarily on photography books and manuals. The company
published a variety of how-to books and technical manuals, including The Leica Manual and early editions of Ansel Adams'
Zone System book series. Willard also edited
The Complete Photographer, the ten-volume
Encyclopedia of Photography published by the National Educational Alliance, and also maintained a typography collection and working print shop in the
basement of the family's Scarsdale home. Willard Morgan died in 1967.
Barbara Morgan continued to make photographs, as well as lecture, write, and teach on photography in the decades following
Willard's death. In the 1970s, she was invited to participate in a number of workshops, including with Ansel Adams in Yosemite,
and also mounted a second solo show at MoMA. Her photography continues to be exhibited widely, and her life and work is the
subject of numerous articles and interviews. Barbara Morgan died in 1992.
Collection is comprised of materials related to the personal and professional lives of Barbara Brooks Morgan and Willard Detering
Morgan. Collection includes correspondence, writings, exhibition materials, and professional papers, as well as photographic
prints, slides, and negatives related to the photography careers of Barbara Morgan and Willard Morgan. Materials reflect the
Morgans' personal and professional associations with photographers, dancers, architects, and other artists, including Ansel
Adams, Martha Graham, and Richard Neutra.
Barbara Morgan materials include personal and professional correspondence; professional papers related to the management of
her photography career; materials related to book projects, including
Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs, and
Summer's Children; articles, lectures, and teaching materials; personal journals; biographical articles; and subject files. Photographic material
consists of negatives, slides, and prints covering the majority of her professional output, including original negatives and
exhibition quality prints featuring modern dancers such as Martha Graham and José Limón; nature; children, and her experimental
photomontage and photograms. Barbara Morgan's drawings, paintings, and prints are also in the collection.
Willard Morgan materials include correspondence and papers related to his positions with E. Leitz Inc., MoMA, and
Life magazine, as well as his writing and editing career; personal journals; biographical materials; working files; and correspondence
and documents related to his longtime interest in printing and typography. Photographic material includes negatives, slides,
and prints primarily related to the architecture of Southern California, including the work of Richard Neutra.
There is also material related to the early collaborative work of Barbara and Willard, including journals and images of their
trips through the American Southwest in the late 1920s, documentation of the Barnes Foundation collections, and photographs
of their early days in New York City. Due to the collaborative nature of this work, authorship of the photographic material
is sometimes ambiguous. Also in the collection is Morgan family materials, such as correspondence (including early courtship
letters between Barbara and Willard), genealogy documents, and photographs. Additionally, the collection contains correspondence,
book proofs, and other materials related to the family publishing business.
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Barbara Morgan exhibition materials
- Series 2: Barbara Morgan correspondence
- Series 3: Barbara Morgan professional materials
- Series 4: Barbara Morgan photographic projects
- Series 5: Barbara Morgan writings
- Series 6: Barbara Morgan UCLA student and teaching career
- Series 7: Barbara Morgan professional activities
- Series 8: Barbara Morgan personal and biographical materials
- Series 9: Barbara Morgan photographic material
- Series 10: Barbara Morgan drawings, paintings, and prints
- Series 11: Barbara Morgan subject files
- Series 12: Willard Morgan photography career
- Series 13: Willard Morgan writings and published materials
- Series 14: Willard Morgan architectural photography and projects
- Series 15: Willard Morgan typography files
- Series 16: Willard Morgan personal and biographical materials
- Series 17: Willard Morgan working files
- Series 18: Collaborative work
- Series 19: Family materials
- Series 20: Publishing company materials
- Series 21: Artifacts and audiovisual materials
Twenty-six boxes of nitrate negatives were removed from the collection and housed in two flammable safety cabinets. Nitrate
negatives must be digitized in order to be available for access. Please contact Special Collections reference (AskLSC@library.ucla.edu)
for more information.
Additionally, 8 boxes of acetate negatives, prints, and contact sheets were separated for treatment by UCLA Library Preservation
Studios.
Collection about Barbara Morgan (Collection 1112) . Available at Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Barbara Morgan Wight Gallery collection (Collection 1872) . Available at Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Barbara Morgan photographs (Collection 1873) . Available at Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographers -- United States -- Archives.
Women photographers -- Archives.
Morgan, Willard D. (Willard Detering) , 1900-1967 -- Archives
Morgan, Barbara Brooks, 1900-1992 -- Archives
- Collection Overview
-
Collection Details
- Conditions Governing Access
- Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
- UCLA Catalog Record ID
- Immediate Source of Acquisition
- Preferred Citation
- Custodial History
- Processing Information
- Administrative/Biographical History
- Scope and Content
- Arrangement
- Separated Materials
- Related Material