Olmstead (G. Dwoyid) Photograph Collection, 1939-1955

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Summary

Title:
G. Dwoyid Olmstead Photograph Collection
Dates:
1939-1955
Creators:
Olmstead, G. (Gilbert) Dwoyid (1914-1985)
Abstract:
G. (Gilbert) Dwoyid Olmstead was a Black photographer who documented and lived in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. Olmstead was born in 1914 in Steubenville, Ohio. The collection consists of negatives documenting people, organizations, places, and events in Pennsylvania, California, and Ohio with bulk dates of late 1930s to the mid-1950s. The negative formats are 4x5 (most common), 120mm, and 35mm.
Extent:
2.46 linear feet
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materials guide.

Background

Scope and content:

G. (Gilbert) Dwoyid Olmstead was a Black photographer who documented and lived in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. Olmstead was born in 1914 in Steubenville, Ohio. The collection consists of negatives documenting people, organizations, places, and events in Pennsylvania, California, and Ohio with bulk dates of late 1930s to the mid-1950s. The negative formats are 4x5 (most common), 120mm, and 35mm. Early on as an industrial self-taught photographer in Pittsburgh, he learned lighting techniques while photographing in shipyards and mills, and he experimented with the medium as evident in his art show submissions. He worked for the Pittsburgh Courier. A significant project while in Pittsburgh was documenting the predominantly Black community of Hill District during the 1940s. After moving to Los Angeles, he started studying photography at Fred Archer and Ansel Adam's Art Center with the support of Roy Stryker and a Julius Rosenwald fellowship. He worked for the Los Angeles Sentinel and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. His network of photographers included Harry Drinkwater, Howard Morehead, Bob Moore, Paul Beret, Ramette Coleman, and Bob Douglas. He died in 1985.

Most negatives are located in cold storage and require 24-hour advanced notice to access. Most negatives contain numeric IDs created by Olmstead. The IDs are written on the top right-hand corner of the negatives' sleeves. The negatives were previously stored in envelopes and wrappers that contain some information on subjects with few dates. Some lacked description and were discarded. The negatives and the original containers have been separated for storage purposes and can be matched via the IDs, which are written on both materials. On the container, the ID is listed on the back and the subjects are listed on the front.

Common subjects photographed are the following: portraits, such as Cecil Poole (attorney), Homer Brown (attorney), Mark Bonel (Marcel) Boniface (accordionist), Percival L. Prattis (journalist), Jacques Pills (singer), and Lena Horne (actor); family, such as Olmstead's wife Freda, daughter Sydney, and their house on Aaron Street; groups, such as the Urban League (including Maurice Moss, Bill Berry, and Alphonso Hemingway), Art Center dancers, the Drum Majorettes, and the YMCA; houses, interiors, and furniture, such as the West Adams residence of S. P. (Simon Peter) Johnson, co-founder of Connor Johnson Company funeral home, and the Thompson House in Los Angeles; businesses and schools, such as West Coast Electronics Company (WCEC), Antioch College, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, and Connelley Trade School; events, such as The Beulah Show anniversary party for Louise Beavers, weddings, sports games, Polka for Polio fundraiser, and disasters; and urban communities, such as Pittsburgh's Hill District.

Some negatives were discarded due to severe cracking and channeling from deterioration accelerated by previous poor storage conditions.

Collection folders are arranged alphabetically by title.

Acquisition information:
Sydney Olmstead Williams, 2025
Processing information:

Elizabeth Peattie, 2026

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Photographs

About this collection guide

Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-02-17 11:05:42 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materials guide.

Location of this collection:
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330, US
Contact:
(818) 677-4594
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