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Finding Aid to the Miles Everitt Photographs
Coll2013.100
Coll2013.100
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Table of contents
Title: Miles Everitt photographs
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2013.100
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
66.8 linear feet.
13 archive boxes, 2 archive cartons, 20 archive binders, 9 archive shoe boxes, 38 archive flat boxes.
Date (inclusive): 1932-1987
Abstract: Photographic prints, negatives, and slides by Miles R. Everitt, a Los Angeles photograher. The bulk of his works date from
the early 1960s to the late 1980s. He primarily photographed African-American nude male models. Fearing he would lose his
position as an electrical engineer for the city of Los Angeles and later in the aerospace industry, Everitt never publically
displayed his photography. However a small number of buyers, photographers, and publishers knew of his works including Robert
Mapplethrope. In the late 1970s or early 1980s, Everitt met Mapplethrope when he visited Los Angeles. Everitt died of heart
disease in April 1994.
creator:
Everitt, Miles R., 1912-1994
This collection is arranged in the following series:
Series 1. Documents
Series 2. Photographic prints
Series 3. Photographic prints, mounted
Series 4. 35mm and other color slides
Series 5. 35mm color stereo slides
Series 6. 35mm and other negative rolls
Series 7. Black-and-white and color negatives
Series 8. Minimally processed photographic prints (boxes)
Series 9. Minimally processed photographic prints (envelopes)
Series 10. Minimally processed negatives
Series 11. Minimally processed slides
Series 12. Vinegar syndrome negatives
Miles R. Everitt was a Los Angeles photographer of African-American nude models primarily from the late 1950s into the early
1990s. He learned to develop his own film and slides to avoid the censorship and confiscation of works by film developers.
Everitt has been credited with developing the technique of shooting African-Americans using a black background, however this
remains unsubstantiated.
He was born in 1912 in Oregon to Mrs. Louie Everitt, née Tillock and Mr. Fredrick Everitt. The family relocated to Los Angeles
between 1920 and 1930. In the early 1930s Everitt came to know members of the f/64 Group. According to 1940 United States
census records, he resided with his parents in the family home at 5735 Alviso Avenue in Los Angeles. The census record described
his occupation as "telephone equipment installation" and that he had completed his third year of college. A second entry in
the census listed a Miles Everitt with the same birth year and state, living in boarding house in San Diego, California. In
the summer of 1941, he was selected for service as a warrant officer and appears to have served in the Army Airways Communication
Service (AACS) through the duration of World War II.
Photographs in the collection document his travel to Iceland and Europe during the period 1943-1945; later photographs document
his attendance at a reunion of the AACS alumni. After the war he primarily photographed African-American male models. A small
number of buyers, photographers, and publishers knew of his works. The Jack Fritscher and Patricia Morrisroe biographies of
Robert Mapplethorpe mention the meeting of Everitt and Robert Mapplethorpe in Los Angeles during the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Everitt died of heart disease in April 1994.
“History.” Air Force Communicators & Air Traffic Controllers Association. http://afcommatc.org/history.html (December 10,
2013).
Fritscher, Jack. Mapplethorpe:
Assault with a Deadly Camera : a Pop Culture Memoir, an Outlaw Reminiscence. Mamaroneck, NY: Hastings House, 1994.
Morrisroe, Patricia.
Mapplethorpe: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1995.
Walker, Mitch. “The Photography of Miles Everett.” 3D News: from the stero club of Southern California, November 1994.
Please contact the ONE archivist regarding access restrictions to rolled negatives and minimally processed materials.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Original located in Coll2011-002 International Gay & Lesbian Archives records (IGLA), box 2, folder 47.
Deed of gifted dated December 21, 1992.
Photographic prints, negatives, and slides by Miles R. Everitt, a Los Angeles photographer of primarily African-American nude
male models. The bulk of his works date from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. The collection also includes some of his travel
and vacation photography, along with a number of photographs to test equipment, exposure, and lighting. Everitt used a variety
of camera equipment and film formats including 35mm, 127, 120, and large format 4" x 5" negatives. He experimented with shooting
outdoors, various backgrounds, and stop-motion photography.
The Hairy One (Eddy) (not Eddy Johnson), Ron Alexander (Ron Cannon), Edward Branden (Eddy), Thomas Brokaw (Tyrone), Earnest
Curry (Tony), Edrich Harris (Pee Wee), James Sapp (Junior), Napoleon Stafford (Little Joe), Shabaal Tabuantii (Tabu), Aubrey
Warren (Worren), and Lenard Williams (Michael)
Collection processed by Arthur Eads, Bradley Brady, Ian Stulberg, and Michael C. Oliveira, January 2013.
A portion of the collection was processed prior to 2006 by Mitch Walker. The mounted photographic prints were cataloged into
the ONE database using a "4ME" item number. A majority of the color 35mm slides were cataloged into the database using a "7ME"
item number. The majority of stereo slides were also cataloged into the database using a "7ME9" item number.
Everitt encoded the mounted slides with a pattern of dots/colors on the top edge of the slide mount to identify the model.
The chart to decode the patterns is in box 19, folders 1-2.
[Box/folder #, or item name] Miles Everitt Photographs, Coll2013-100, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Gay erotic photography
Photographers--California.
Photography of men
Photography of the nude