The collection contains several thousand black and white prints and negatives, taken by photojournalist Norman Thomas, who was based in New Orleans in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The largest number of photos are from Mexico, with British Honduras, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Panama also represented. Included are many images of people in everyday life, street and market scenes, factories, events and parades, and overhead views of villages and cities. There also is an earlier series of photos from the 1948 Nahanni Expedition to northern Canada, and some U.S. photos, including Cape Canaveral, Florida, and a Navajo Reservation Health Program. There is some accompanying documentation for the photos, but not captions for each image.

3.2 linear feet (8 document boxes)

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

The collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.