Finding aid for the Barbara Morgan Wight Gallery Collection LSC.1872
Finding aid prepared by Sukey Garcetti in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT) with assistance from Kelley
Wolfe Bachli, 2010; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 2020 October 9.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Barbara Morgan Wight Gallery collection
Creator:
Morgan, Barbara Brooks, 1900-1992
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1872
Physical Description:
3.2 Linear Feet
(8 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1938-1967
Abstract: The collection includes 143 mounted photographs, 137 of which were taken by Barbara Morgan and 6 by her husband, Willard D.
Morgan. The photographs include images of dancers, nature, Camp Treetops, a Southwest series, New York cityscapes, and a junkyard
series.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant
permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted
in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on
behalf of the UCLA Library Special Collections.
[Identification of item], Barbara Morgan Wight Gallery Collection (Collection 1872). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processed by Sukey Garcetti in the
Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT) with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli, 2010.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
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UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9968052423606533
Barbara Morgan was a twentieth century photographer best known for her photographs of dancers, photomontages, and light drawings.
The University of California at Los Angeles Wight Gallery acquired this collection of Morgan photographs before becoming part
of the Hammer Museum.
The Wight Art Gallery at University of California at Los Angeles originally opened in 1964 under the name UCLA Art Galleries
and exhibited works on paper, paintings and sculpture. In 1974, the gallery is renamed to the Frederick S. Wight Art Galleries
in honor of the former dean of the University of California at Los Angeles Art Department dean. Once the University of California
at Los Angeles assumed control of the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in 1994, the operations of the Wight
Gallery were moved there and the gallery was dissolved.
Barbara Brooks Morgan was born in Buffalo, Kansas on July 8, 1900, but grew up in Los Angeles, CA. She attended UCLA from
1919 to 1923 where she trained as a painter and later joined the art faculty (1925-30). Her shift away from painting and interest
in the medium of photography grew out of meeting Edward Weston.
She married Willard D. Morgan and then relocated to New York in 1930. After the birth of her two sons, Douglas (1932) and
Lloyd (1935), she began to concentrate on her photography career. An accomplished designer, author, artist, and photographer,
she is best known for her photographs of American modern dancers, among them, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Pearl Primus,
José Limón, and Charles Weidman. She contributed articles and reviews to various publications and published several books
including,
Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs (1941),
Summer's Children: A Photographic Cycle of Life at Camp [Camp Treetops] (1951), and
A Collection of Material about Barbara Morgan (1972), as well as having a photo in
Family of Man (1955). She died August 18, 1992 in Scarsdale, NY.
The collection includes 143 mounted photos, 137 of which were taken by Barbara Morgan and 6 by her husband, Willard D. Morgan.
These photos include photos of dancers, nature, various portraits, Camp Treetops (a children's camp featured in her book
Summer's Children), a Southwest series, New York cityscapes, and a junkyard series. Examples of her experimental photomontages and photograms
are also included, as are photos taken with the first Leica Model A camera by her and her husband.
Arranged in the following series:
- Dance
- Portraits
- Nature
- Experimental photographs
- Auto junkyard series
- Camp Treetops
- Southwest series
- Packing labels
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women artists.
Women photographers -- Archives.
Morgan, Barbara Brooks, 1900-1992
Dance. 1935-1944.
box 1, folder 1
box 1, folder 2
box 1, folder 3
box 1, folder 4
box 1, folder 5
box 1, folder 6
box 1, folder 7
box 1, folder 8
box 1, folder 9
box 1, folder 10
box 1, folder 11
box 1, folder 12
box 1, folder 13
box 1, folder 14
box 1, folder 15
box 1, folder 16
box 1, folder 17
box 1, folder 18
box 1, folder 19
box 2, folder 1
box 2, folder 2
box 2, folder 3
box 2, folder 4
box 2, folder 5
box 2, folder 6
box 2, folder 7
box 2, folder 8
box 2, folder 9
box 2, folder 10
box 2, folder 11
box 2, folder 12
box 2, folder 13
box 2, folder 14
box 2, folder 15
box 2, folder 16
box 2, folder 17
box 2, folder 18
box 2, folder 19
box 2, folder 20
box 2, folder 21
box 2, folder 22
box 2, folder 23
box 3, folder 1
box 3, folder 2
Portraits. 1940-1958.
box 3, folder 3
box 4, folder 4
box 4, folder 5
box 4, folder 6
box 4, folder 7
box 4, folder 8
box 4, folder 9
box 4, folder 10
box 4, folder 11
box 4, folder 12
box 4, folder 13
box 4, folder 14
box 4, folder 15
box 4, folder 16
box 5, folder 1
box 5, folder 2
box 5, folder 3
box 5, folder 4
Nature. 1937-1970.
box 3, folder 4
box 5, folder 5
box 5, folder 6
box 5, folder 7
box 5, folder 8
box 5, folder 9
box 5, folder 10
box 5, folder 11
box 6, folder 1
box 6, folder 2
box 6, folder 3
box 6, folder 4
box 6, folder 5
box 6, folder 6
box 6, folder 7
box 6, folder 8
box 6, folder 9
box 6, folder 10
box 6, folder 11
box 6, folder 12
box 6, folder 13
box 6, folder 14
Experimental photographs. 1938-1970.
box 5, folder 12
box 5, folder 13
box 5, folder 14
box 5, folder 15
box 5, folder 16
box 5, folder 17
box 5, folder 18
box 5, folder 19
box 7, folder 1
box 7, folder 2
box 7, folder 3
box 7, folder 4
box 7, folder 5
box 7, folder 6
box 7, folder 7
box 7, folder 8
box 7, folder 9
box 7, folder 10
box 7, folder 11
box 7, folder 12
Auto Junkyard Series. 1940-1947.
box 4, folder 1
box 4, folder 2
box 4, folder 3
Camp Treetops (Summer's Children). 1940-1948.
box 3, folder 5
box 3, folder 6
box 3, folder 7
box 3, folder 8
box 3, folder 9
box 3, folder 10
box 3, folder 11
box 3, folder 12
box 5, folder 20
box 8, folder 1
box 8, folder 2
box 8, folder 3
box 8, folder 3
box 8, folder 4
box 8, folder 5
box 8, folder 6
box 8, folder 7
box 8, folder 8
box 8, folder 9
box 8, folder 10
box 8, folder 11
box 8, folder 12
box 8, folder 13
box 8, folder 14
box 8, folder 15
box 8, folder 16
box 8, folder 17
box 8, folder 18
Southwest Series. 1928-1929.
box 3, folder 13
box 3, folder 14
box 3, folder 15
box 3, folder 16
box 3, folder 17
box 3, folder 18
box 3, folder 19
box 8, folder 19
box 8, folder 20
Packing instructions. undated.