Collection Guide
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Herron (Matt) photography archive
M2866
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Matt Herron photography archive
Creator:
Herron, Matt, 1931-2020
source:
Herron, Jeannine H.
Identifier/Call Number: M2866
Physical Description:
42 Linear Feet
(57 manuscript boxes, 1 half-box, 56 flat boxes, 1 card box, 2 oversize map folders)
Date (inclusive): 1950s - 2020
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.
Language of Material: English
Physical Location: Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 36 hours in advance.
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was purchased by Stanford University, Special Collections in March 2022.
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.
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.
[identification of item], Matt Herron photography archive (M2866). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
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.
Bob Fitch photography archive: https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8vd74ms/
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.
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documentary photography
Photojournalism
Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
Herron, Jeannine H.