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Charles (Roland) Collection
TBC.RCH
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Roland Charles Collection
Creator:
Charles, Roland M. (1938-2000)
Identifier/Call Number: TBC.RCH
Physical Description:
41 linear feet
Physical Description:
328 Gigabytes
Date (inclusive): 1930-2013
Abstract: The Roland Charles
Collection is an extensive photographic collection that largely consists of people
photography, art gallery and exhibit documentation, images of street scenes in Los Angeles,
and documentation of a long-term project on Bobtown, a small town in Louisiana. Roland
Charles was a Black professional photographer and gallery director who was born in Louisiana
and lived in Los Angeles for most of his life. His work has appeared in publications, album
covers, exhibits, and permanent collections since the 1960s. In 1984, he co-founded and
directed the Black Gallery and the Black Photographers of California. A majority of the
collection's materials were created from the 1970s to the late 1990s. The collection
primarily consists of negatives, prints, slides, paper records, and audiovisual
materials.
Language of Material:
English.
Roland Charles was born in 1938 in New Orleans and grew up in Louisiana. After serving in
the U.S. Air Force, he moved to California. He received his bachelors in Communications from
Windsor University, and also received formal training in television production and
photography at Otis College of Art and Design, L.A. Trade-Tech College, and USC.
Charles was a commercial, documentary, fashion, and freelance Black photographer who
specialized in people photography. His work has appeared in publications, album covers,
exhibits at the Black Gallery, CAAM (California African American Museum), and MAAA (Museum
of African American Art), and in the permanent collections of CAAM, the Schomburg Center for
Research in Black Culture, and the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities.
He completed several photographic profiles of motion picture, television, and music
personalities for entertainment publications, public relations firms, and advertising
agencies. His list of clients include the following:
TIME,
LIFE,
Cash Box,
Record World Magazine,
Home
Magazine,
Rona Barrett's Preview,
Hollywood Reporter, Laufer Company, Security Pacific Bank,
Continental Bank, Herald Publications, Players International Publications, Johnson
Publishing Co., Meta 4 Productions, Motown Records, ABC Records, A and M Records, Warner
Bros., Inc., Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Platt Music Corporation, and Tabu Productions.
In addition to being a professional photographer, Charles co-founded and directed the Black
Gallery and the Black Photographers of California (BPC) from 1984 onwards. The BPC was a
non-profit educational institution and a photography collective dedicated to promoting,
presenting, and preserving the photography of established and emerging photographers of
color. At the gallery, they presented exhibits, programs, and special projects that
challenged, informed, and educated through photography. They primarily exhibited the work of
African Americans and people of color, and welcomed artists from all communities at a time
when white artists dominated art spaces. Prior to 1984, he owned the photography studio,
Contemporary Photography, on Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood. As a part-time photography
instructor, he taught young adults at the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Center in Culver City.
He co-founded the Jazz Photographers Association and Photo Friends with the Los Angeles
Public Library. In 1992, he co-edited the publication,
Life in a Day
of Black L.A.: The Way We See It,
which included his images along with other BPC
photographers. The book realized his vision of capturing positive images of Black Los
Angeles through the lens of Black photographers, in contrast to the negative and
sensationalized images of Black communities spreading from the media, which especially
became pervasive during the 1992 Rodney King trial and the L.A. Uprising.
He married Deborah Wilson and they lived in the Mid City neighborhood of Los Angeles. He
died in 2000.
The Roland Charles Collection consists of more than 50,000 images from the years 1930 to
2013, with the bulk created from 1970 to 1999. The majority of subjects are Black and the
majority of images were photographed in Los Angeles. For those images not taken in Los
Angeles, the location is typically noted if known. Charles's people photography, Black
Gallery documentation, Los Angeles street scenes, and long-term documentary project Bobtown
feature prominently in this collection. Materials include negatives (predominantly 35mm, as
well as medium and large format), contact sheets, prints, slides, paper records, ephemera,
videocassettes and audiocassettes. Most negatives are paired with their matching contact
sheet and most images are in black and white. For dates, the copyright date that appears on
some images may not be the date of creation of the image. For copies, most are in the format
of slides. Strengths of the collection include strong visual documentation of the work of
Los Angeles Black photographers from 1980 to 1999, intimate portraits of Bobtown, Los
Angeles neighborhoods, and Val Verde, as well as images of Black individuals who made
significant contributions to the arts and athletics. Weaknesses of the collection include an
absence in record of clients for whom Charles photographed assignments for. Although the
1992 L.A. Uprising is mentioned and influences photography in this collection, there are not
many images of the event itself.
The first series,
Black Gallery, Exhibits, Photography Events, and
Copies,
consists of a variety of materials documenting the following: the Black
Gallery's activities; exhibits in Los Angeles and elsewhere; photography and art programming
and projects; artwork; and copies of other artists' works. This series spans the years 1946
to 2013. Charles was director of the Black Gallery, an art space operated by the Black
Photographers of California (BPC) that was dedicated to exhibiting works from artists of
diverse ethnic backgrounds, to programming, and to elevating photography as a fine art and
profession. The Black Gallery and the BPC maintained archives for the conservation and
restoration of photographs, and had a slide registry of works that were made available to
curators, educators, and others. The gallery opened in 1984 and closed in 2001. Its address
was 107 Santa Barbara Plaza in the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Charles curated or exhibited his images in many of the exhibits listed in this series. Some
exhibits, projects, and publications bear similar titles and had slightly different working
titles based on iterations and the evolution of the same theme, such as Black Los Angeles.
Several other photographers' and artists' works (copies) are present in this series. Most
were in Charles' network of photographers who exhibited at the Black Gallery and some were
BPC members who collaborated on multiple exhibits and projects with Charles. Copies are
typically in the format of slides, negatives, and prints. This series contains negatives,
contact sheets, slides, prints, paper records, ephemera, clippings, correspondence,
drawings, audiocassettes, videocassettes, diskettes, and posters.
The second series,
Bobtown and Louisiana, is a small series that
focuses on Bobtown and related materials. This series spans the years 1937 to 2006. Bobtown
is a small town located in the Terrebonne Parish of southern Louisiana. Roland Charles spent
his childhood in Bobtown. Charles's grandfather, Robert Celestin, a cousin of the famous
jazz musician Papa Celestin, founded the town by acquiring the property in 1898. Bobtown was
Charles's long-term documentary and ancestry project which he continued to record and
research from the 1970s to his death. The majority of materials are portraits and scenes
from daily life of the few families who resided there, especially those of the Celestin
family. This series also includes research and grant files from Charles's Louisiana exhibits
on Bobtown, as well as images of New Orleans, Marrero, and Houma. This series contains
negatives, contact sheets, prints, slides, paper records, research materials, ephemera,
clippings, publications, correspondence, audiocassettes, and videocassettes.
The third series,
Commercial, Objects, and Still Life, is the
smallest series consisting of Charles's commercial business photography and images of
non-human subjects, such as clothing and flowers. This series spans the years 1965 to 1999.
Charles's images of electronics for the Platt Music Corporation are prominently featured.
This series contains negatives, contact sheets, prints, slides, publications, and
stamps.
The fourth series,
Events and Productions, is the second largest
series. It consists of images of a wide range of events, including the following: sports
events, such as track and field meets; significant social and cultural events, such as
festivals, award shows, and weddings; film and media productions; and theatrical
performances. This series spans the years 1965 to 2000. This series contains negatives,
contact sheets, prints, slides, event ephemera, clippings, correspondence, and 16mm film.
The fifth series,
People, is the largest series and consists of
images of individuals and groups taken from portraiture, public relations assignments, media
features, event photography, and casual shots. This series spans the years 1930 to 1999. If
the subject's professional or social role is known, their most recognized role has been
added in parentheses after their name. The range of subjects' roles include activists,
actors, artists, athletes, authors, business owners, educators, models, musicians,
photographers, politicians, photographers, scientists, and T.V. and radio personalities.
Individuals and groups of interest found in this series include Stevie Wonder, Sonny
Reginald Burke, Melvin Van Peebles, William Marshall, Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks, Wilma
Rudolph, Muhammad Ali, Prince Mama Mohammed, Howard Morehead, James Van Der Zee, The Jackson
5, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Charles's nude photography is also featured. Individual
subjects are alphabetized by last name, or first name if no last name is present. This
series contains negatives, contact sheets, slides, prints, audiocassettes, publications,
correspondence, clippings, paper records, a videocassette, a calendar, and a recording.
The sixth series,
Places, consists of images of places in Los
Angeles and from Charles's domestic and international travels. This series spans the years
1960 to 2000. Common themes found in this series include the following: street scenes and
bus stops of major Los Angeles streets, such as Hollywood Boulevard, Central Avenue, and
Crenshaw Boulevard; visual documentation of neighborhoods, such as Leimert Park, Fairfax,
Venice, and Baldwin Hills; and buildings, such as churches with Christian crosses. Val
Verde, a small community in northwest Los Angeles County, is featured in this series. Val
Verde was an ongoing documentary project Charles researched and photographed for over two
decades that he later exhibited on. This series contains negatives, contact sheets, prints,
slides, paper records, research materials, clippings, and periodicals.
Collection folders are arranged alphabetically by title.
Series I: Black Gallery, Exhibits, Photography Events, and Copies, 1946-2013
Series II: Bobtown and Louisiana, 1937-2006
Series III: Commercial, Objects, and Still Life, 1965-1999
Series IV: Events and Productions, 1965-2000
Series V: People, 1930-1999
Series VI: Places, 1960-2000
Of images and history : five African-American photographers in Los Angeles : an oral history project
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright
status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) 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 owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Deborah Charles, 2010, 2011, and Carolyn R. Wilson, 2022
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the Citing Archival Materials guide.
Elizabeth Peattie, 2023
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographs
Documents
Audiovisual materials
Ephemera