Collection Guide
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Finding Aid to the African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area Photograph Collection, 1963-1974
BANC PIC 1985.079
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area: news photographs from the Elizabeth and James Abajian collection of Afro-Americana
Creator:
James de Tar Abajian
Creator:
San Francisco Chronicle (Firm)
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1985.079
Physical Description:
140 photographs
and 140 digital objects
: gelatin silver prints
Date (inclusive): 1963-1974
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English
Collection is open for research.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
For permission to reproduce San Francisco Chronicle photographs, direct inquiries to the Chronicle.
[Identification of item], African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1963-1974, BANC PIC 1985.079--AX, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Digital Representations Available
Digital representations of original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image files
were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto 35mm
color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD files
were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.
Other pictorial and manuscript collections created by James Abajian:
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1982.034--D:
Title: Afro-American posters.
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1982.035--PIC:
Title: Portraits of African Americans
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1982.036--PIC:
Title: Afro-American subjects
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 82/77 c :
Title: Collection of Black (African-American) ephemera
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 85/137 c:
Title: Afro-American bibliography correspondence
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 86/206 c:
Title: James Abajian index files and scrapbooks, 1950-1986
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 86/213 c:
Title: James Abajian papers
The African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area photographic collection was a gift of James Abajian in 1985. The material
forms part of the Elizabeth and James Abajian collection of Afro-Americana.
James de Tar Abajian (1914-1986), bibliographer and historian of African American history, was the chief librarian of the
California Historical Society from 1949-1968. He was also director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Special Collection at San
Francisco Public Library from 1969-1971. Abajian's writings include
The Black Presence in San Francisco
(1974),
Blacks and Their Contributions to the American West; A Bibliography and Union List of Holdings through 1970
(1974) and
Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects
(1977). Abajian presented much of his significant documentary material on African Americans in California and the West, collected
throughout his career, to The Bancroft Library in the 1980s. This material includes books, printed ephemera, manuscripts,
sheet music, periodicals and photographs. His personal papers were donated to the library after his death in 1986.
This collection of photographs of African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area consists almost entirely of press photographs
collected by James Abajian. Many of the photographs have captions provided by the press photographer or news agency. The great
majority are by San Francisco Chronicle photographers, and may have been copied from the Chronicle archive, or be duplicates
acquired by Abajian. Only a few prints have Chronicle markings on the backs. Photographers include Peter Breinig, Greg Peterson,
Joe Rosenthal, Bill Young, Bob Hirschfield, David Randolph, Jerry Telfer, Art Frisch, Ken McLaughlin, and a few others. For
a breakdown of subjects, see the series descriptions.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
James de Tar Abajian
San Francisco Chronicle (Firm)