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Table of contents What's This?
  • 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-