The Robert Altman photograph archive contains photographs Altman took, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area but also in New York, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, beginning in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1980s. The collection includes photographs of prominent musicians and bands, many of them taken for Rolling Stone magazine; counterculture events, gatherings, and people; anti-war demonstrations; the burgeoning environmental movement; spiritual leaders; and other political and cultural figures.

Robert Altman (October 10, 1944 – September 24, 2021) was an American photographer known for his work with Rolling Stone Magazine and for his documentation of rock and roll in the late 1960s, 1970s, and beyond. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Hunter College at the City University of New York and referenced photographic training from Ansel Adams (see the biography in his 2007 book "The Sixties", published by Santa Monica Press). Beginning in 1967, Altman took photographs, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, but also in New York City, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, of musicians, writers, counterculture gatherings, festivals and fairs, spiritual leaders, anti-war protests, the burgeoning environmental movement, and labor actions. From 1969 to 1971, he was chief staff photographer for Rolling Stone magazine. Altman later worked as a producer at KEMO television station and he maintained a commercial photography studio in San Francisco from 1975-2000. An early adopter of digital photography, he taught web design and related topics at San Francisco State University and University of California Extension from 1995 to 2005. His photographs have appeared on the covers of prominent publications and are in the collections of The San Francisco Public Library, The Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in addition to his archive at U.C. Berkeley's Bancroft Library.

40,000 photographs (39 boxes and 2 oversize folders, comprising: 1400 rolls of 35mm negatives in 26 boxes; 1200 contact sheets in 4 boxes; 800 photographic prints in 6 boxes and 1 oversize folder; 300 slides in 1 box; photocopies of original annotated negative sleeves in 1 box; and tearsheets, publications, and ephemera in 1 box) : chiefly black and white ; film width chiefly 35mm, prints chiefly 8 x 10 in.

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Copyright for material created by Robert Altman has been assigned to the University of California Regents, managed by The Bancroft Library. 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

Collection is open for research.