Scope and Contents
Biographical / Historical
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Arrangement
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Related Materials
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Bob Fitch photography archive
Creator:
Fitch, Bob
Identifier/Call Number: M1994
Identifier/Call Number: 18801
Physical Description:
83.4 Linear Feet
140 containers (133 manuscript boxes, 6 flat boxes, and one map folder)
Date (inclusive): 1960-2016
Abstract: The Bob Fitch Photography Archive consists of the photographic work of activist and photojournalist Bob Fitch, documenting
the civil rights movement, the farm worker movement, the peace movement, other social justice movements and issues, cultural
change, religion, as well as his professional and personal life.
Scope and Contents
The Bob Fitch Photography Archive primarily consists of photographic materials: contact sheets, negatives, prints, and slides.
The images are predominantly black and white, however there are also color images. There is additionally a small amount of
notes, correspondence, newspaper clippings, audiovisual materials, and research materials.
The collection also contains documents, graphics, spreadsheets, databases, software programs, video, audio, and other material
created and/or stored on computers, removable media, and hard drives that were managed by Bob Fitch. The CD-ROMs have been
processed and can be accessed but the rest of the computer media is closed until processing has been completed.
The collection is composed of Bob Fitch's work as a photojournalist and activist documenting the leaders and ordinary people
involved in social justice, civil rights, labor, and peace movements. The collection also records his professional, personal,
and family life. Some of the subjects the materials cover are Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers, Dorothy Day, the Catholic
Worker movement, Martin Luther King Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the civil rights movement, Daniel
and Philip Berrigan, David Harris, Joan Baez, hippie communes and communities, and the campaigns of Ron Dellums and other
progressive politicians. The collection also documents cultural change, alternative lifestyles, sexuality, art, religion,
spirituality, reconciliation movements, nonviolence, ecology, youth, poverty, family life, and living conditions. Fitch work
was primarily based in Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area as well as the American South.
Bob Fitch used a numbering system to organize his photographs. The numbers ascend from 101 and are, on a macro level, chronological.
Each contact sheet was assigned a number which was marked on the back of the sheet. The negatives were placed in an envelope
marked with the same number. Large projects, such as the Glide Foundation, SCLC, and the UFW East Coast trip, had their own
numbering system – the initials of the organization followed by a number, again ascending from 101. Fitch arranged the negatives
from these large projects with the rest of the materials from that project and they were separated from the main group of
negatives. The numbering system, where existent or legible, has been noted in the scope and contents at the file level in
this guide.
Some materials containing privacy and confidentiality issues have been closed for 80 years from the date it was created. Within
this guide, these files will be marked with a note specifying the extent of the closure period.
Biographical / Historical
Bob Dewitt Fitch (1939-2016) was an activist, photojournalist, union steward, community organizer, minister, housing program
manager, and musician. He was born in Los Angeles, California on July 20, 1939. His father, Robert, was a professor of Christian
ethics and a United Church of Christ minister. Bob Fitch's mother, Marion Weeks Dewitt, was a homemaker. In 1950 the family
moved to Berkeley, California, where Fitch became involved with socially committed families of Communist and Socialist organizers,
was active in the folk music scene, and interned at the community-supported radio station KPFA. He graduated from Berkeley
High School in 1957.
In 1961 Bob Fitch graduated from Lewis and Clarke College in Portland, Oregon with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology and
then received a Bachelor's and Master's in Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. While in
the seminary Fitch read James Baldwin's
The Fire Next Time and had an experience where he felt the need to somehow be artistically involved in portraying the elements emphasized in
the book. He settled on photography as the best medium to achieve this goal. Fitch was ordained as a United Church of Christ
minister in 1965. After graduating from the Pacific School of Religion Fitch interned with the Glide Foundation in San Francisco,
where he was a community organizer working with street gangs, the homeless, hippies, and gay, lesbian, and transsexual groups.
The Glide Foundation asked Bob Fitch to do photography for books published by them. Without any formal training in photography,
Fitch studied the works of Dorothea Lange and Henri Cartier-Bresson, talked to professional photographers, took free courses
on photography, and began documenting the groups he was working with in San Francisco.
In 1965 Fitch was invited to be a staff photographer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the civil rights
movement. He worked in areas and situations where it was considered to be too dangerous for African-American journalists
to operate. His role was to take photographs and file stories, acting as a wire service for national African-American newspapers
and magazines. Fitch photographed voter registration, voting, and recruitment and training for African-American political
candidates during the first election following the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. He also documented the everyday
lives of African-Americans, including marches, demonstrations, meetings, SCLC's organizing efforts in Chicago, Martin Luther
King Jr.'s People-to-People tours in Alabama, and the Meredith Mississippi March Against Fear.
In 1968 Bob Fitch moved back to Oakland, California where he continued to document and be involved in social justice movements.
After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in April 1968, Fitch photographed Coretta Scott King and her family during the
funeral and afterwards. Discouraged after attending an interracial retreat on nonviolence in the Santa Cruz Mountains which
devolved into divisiveness, a vision of Martin Luther King Jr., appeared to Fitch and told him "Bob! Continue the work!"
The next day Fitch made a list of leaders in social justice movements that he admire and respected. He wanted to document
them before they too were killed, beaten, or jailed. These activists included David Harris and Joan Baez, Cesar Chavez, Dorothy
Day, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, and Pete Seeger. He also sought to document cultural and spiritual movements including hippies,
communes and the anti-war movement.
Fitch documented political campaigns and local and national politicians including Ron Dellums, Warren Widener, Betty Ann Bruno,
Shirley Chisholm, and Andrew Young. He also photographed journalists, photographers, activists, clergy, and artists including:
Cornell Capa, Don Devereaux, Betita Martinez, Evan Golder, Robert Olmstead, and Ali Luterman. In his photography he emphasized
the role of the rank and file as agents for social change and he was propelled by a desire to not just observe movements but
to be deeply involved in them. In 1978 Fitch started working for California's Department of Housing and Community Development,
where he helped develop affordable housing in rural communities.
After retiring in 1996 Fitch continued his involvement in social justice movements by working with the Resource Center for
Nonviolence in Santa Cruz and travelling to Israel and Palestine, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Brazil, and Mexico. He also worked for
immigrants' rights and for Luis Alejo's campaign for California Assembly. Bob Fitch died of complications from Parkinson's
disease on April 29, 2016 in Watsonville, California.
Bob Fitch wrote several books, his photographs have been featured in books and in exhibits, including at the Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research with exception of some files as noted below. The majority of audiovisual material in the
collection has been digitally reformatted for preservation and materials that are unrestricted are available to view in the
Special Collections Reading Room; audiovisual materials not already reformatted are not available in original format, and
must be reformatted to a digital use copy. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Conditions Governing Use
There is no fee for non-commercial image downloading and use. Commercial use requires permission from the Department of Special
Collections and University Archives prior to publishing or rebroadcasting any item or work, in whole or in part, held by the
Department. More information can be found on our permissions page [http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish].
Arrangement
The collection is organized into 9 series. Series 1: Subject Files, Series 2: Classics, Series 3: Southern Christian Leadership
Conference/Coretta Scott King, Series 4: United Farm Workers/United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, Series 5: Glide Foundation/Glide
Memorial United Methodist Church, Series 6: Black Star Agency, Series 7: Negatives, Series 8: Business Records, Series 9:
Computer Media/Digital Materials.
The collection is in original order and the series mostly reflect Bob Fitch's original titles and organization.
Many of the images in Series 2: Classics, Series 6: Black Star Agency, and Series 9: Computer Media/Digital Materials either
duplicate, overlap, or complement materials in other series. Additional related images may be found in other series.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased; 2013, 2014, and 2015. Accessions 2013-194, 2013-209, 2014-076, 2014-077, 2014-095, 2015-008, and 2015-009. Gift;
2016. Accessions 2016-133 and 2017-052.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], Bob Fitch photography archive (M1994). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Gurudarshan Khalsa; with Griselda Mercado.
Related Materials
Stanford University Libraries created an exhibit from images Bob Fitch selected and digitized. The physical originals of these
images can be found in this collection. A portion of Series 9: Computer Media/Digital Materials is composed of these digitized/digital
images.
The exhibit galleries and catalog can be viewed here:
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/fitch
There are two additional galleries:
Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka, 2005
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/hh188hp7947
Marches, Demonstrations, Social Justice, 1964-2011
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/nb583sk7324
The contact sheets from the Bob Fitch photography archive have been digitized and can be viewed using this link:
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10257777
Stanford University Libraries has also scanned and digitized a number of books either authored by Bob Fitch or featuring his
photographs. The images used in the books can be found in the collection. The books are catalogued as the Bob Fitch Collection
and can be viewed using this link:
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/catalog?q=%22Bob+Fitch+Collection.%22&search_field=subject_terms
Other related materials:
1. The Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Movements for Change, Stanford University Libraries
2. Black Star Collection, Ryerson Image Centre, Ryerson University
3. Daniel and Philip Berrigan Collection, #4602. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
4. Dorothy Day – Catholic Worker Collection, Marquette University, Department of Special Collections and University Archives
5. Farmworker Movement Documentation Project, University of California San Diego Library
6. The King Center
7. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Archive, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University
8. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
9. The Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers, African American Museum and Library at Oakland
10. SNCC Legacy Project, Duke University
11. Southern Christian Leadership Conference records, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University
12. United Farm Workers, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University
13. War Resisters League Records (DG 040), Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Subjects and Indexing Terms
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century
African Americans -- History -- 20th century -- Pictorial works
African Americans -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Agricultural laborers -- California -- History -- 20th century
Agricultural laborers -- Labor unions -- Organizing
Agricultural laborers -- Labor unions -- Organizing -- United States -- 20th century
Catholic Worker Movement
Civil rights demonstrations -- United States
Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Civil rights workers -- United States
Communal living -- United States
Conscientious objectors
Demonstrations
Documentary photography
Elections
Hippies -- United States -- Pictorial works
Hispanic American politicians
Immigrants -- Civil rights -- United States
Labor unions -- United States
Labor unions -- Organizing -- United States
Mexican Americans
Navajo Indians
Nonviolence
Peace movements -- United States
Photographs
Photographers -- Political activity -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Photographers -- Political activity -- United States -- History -- 21st century
Photography -- United States -- 20th century
Political activists -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Political campaigns -- United States -- History
Protest movements -- United States
Social justice -- United States -- 20th century
Social justice -- United States -- 21st century
United States -- Social conditions -- 1960-1980
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Civilian relief
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- United States
war -- Religious aspects -- Catholic Church
United States -- Social conditions -- 1960-1980 -- Pictorial works
Alejo, Luis, 1974-
American Indian Movement
Baez, Joan
Berrigan, Daniel
Black Panther Party
Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993
Day, Dorothy, 1897-1980
Dellums, Ronald V., 1935-
Gaskin, Stephen
Glide Foundation of San Francisco
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church (San Francisco, Calif.)
Harris, David, 1946-
Jackson, Jesse, 1941-
King, Coretta Scott, 1927-2006
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Rainbow Family of Living Light
Resource Center for Nonviolence (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014
Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
United Farm Workers
United Farm Workers Organizing Committee
Wheeler, William, 1940-
Young, Andrew, 1932-