Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Herron, Matt, 1931-2020 and Herron, Jeannine H.
- Abstract:
- Photography archive of Matt Herron containing prints, negatives, and contact sheets spanning his career from the 1950s through 1990s. Also included are some files pertaining to Herron's publications, correspondence, and work with photography organizations.
- Extent:
- 42 Linear Feet (57 manuscript boxes, 1 half-box, 56 flat boxes, 1 card box, 2 oversize map folders)
- Language:
- English and English
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Matt Herron photography archive (M2866). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of photographic materials from photographer Matt Herron's career. The bulk of the collection is made up of negatives, slides, contact sheets, and prints from various photography projects and assignments between the 1950s and 1990s. These photographs focus largely on the 1960s civil rights movement in the American South, as well as other activism surrounding AIDS in the 1970s and environmental movements in the 1980s. A small second series includes other papers from Herron's career, including his publications and involvement with professional organizations.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Matt Herron (1931-2020) was born in Rochester, New York. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 with a degree in English and studied the Middle East at University of Michigan. As a conscientious objector during the Korean War, he taught at a Quaker school in Ramallah on the West Bank. While in the Middle East, he met and married Jeannine Hull. After returning to Rochester, he briefly worked as a corporate photographer for Kodak and was mentored by photographer Minor White. He began to take photography assignments for Life and Look as civil rights sit-ins were occurring in Tennessee and North Carolina. Following an arrest for attempting to integrate an amusement park in Maryland, the Herrons moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963. There, Herron worked as a photojournalist for major news magazines; took documentary photographs of the American South; and took propaganda photographs in service of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and other civil rights organizations. In the summer of 1964, Herron organized the Southern Documentary Project to record civil rights efforts in voter registration and education. Photographers George Ballis and Danny Lyon joined and Dorothea Lange served as an informal project advisor. That year, Herron won the World Press Photo Contest for his picture of a Mississippi highway patrolman taking an American flag from a five-year-old Black child. During the 1970s, Herron began writing articles for Smithsonian and other publications. He was a photographer for the first two Greenpeace anti-whaling voyages, as well as Sea Shepherd's voyage to St. Lawrence to disrupt harp seal hunts. He also photographed the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington, DC. In the 1980s and 1990s, Herron became active with the American Society of Media Photographers and later served as its president from 1993 to 1995. This role led to work on photography copyright, electronic image exchange, and photography business practices. He was the founder of Take Stock: Images of Change, which sought to disseminate photographs of social movements from photographers including himself, Ballis, Ernest Lowe, Ivan Massar, Art Rogers, Maria Varela, and Bob Fitch.
- Acquisition information:
- This collection was purchased by Stanford University, Special Collections in March 2022.
- Processing information:
-
Physical processing of photographic materials was done by type of material. Negatives are grouped with negatives; prints with prints; et cetera. This means that a "file" corresponding to a single photo assignment may be spread across multiple physical boxes as noted in the finding aid.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged in two series. Series 1 makes up the bulk of the collection and covers Herron's photography archives – including slides, negatives, contact sheets, prints, and notes. It is arranged using Herron's numbering system, which seems to correspond to his assignments and projects. Some projects were unnumbered and are collected at the end of the series; other distinct projects use the same number and are designated using 'A' and 'B'. Series 2 contains materials relating to his publications and involvement with photography organizations.
- Physical location:
- Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 36 hours in advance.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Born-digital and audiovisual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
- Terms of access:
-
Some materials may be subject to copyright. While Special Collections maintains the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Matt Herron photography archive (M2866). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Department of Special Collections, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6004, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022