Guide to the Helen Nestor Free Speech Movement Photographs

Processed by Oakland Museum staff; machine-readable finding aid exported programmatically from Access database by Michael C. Conkin
The Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, California 94607
Phone: (510) 238-2200
Fax: (510) 238-6579
Email: museumca@museumca.org
URL: http://www.museumca.org/
© 2001
Oakland Museum of California. All rights reserved.

Guide to the Helen Nestor Free Speech Movement Photographs

Paul Mills Library and Archive of California Art



Oakland Museum of California

Oakland, California

Contact Information:

  • The Oakland Museum of California
  • 1000 Oak Street
  • Oakland, California 94607
  • Phone: (510) 238-2200
  • Fax: (510) 238-6579
  • Email: museumca@museumca.org
  • URL: http://www.museumca.org/
Processed by:
Oakland Museum staff
Encoded by:
Michael C. Conkin
© 2001 Oakland Museum of California. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Helen Nestor Free Speech Movement Photographs
Photographer: Nestor, Helen
Repository: Oakland Museum of California
Oakland, California 94607
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

The records are open for research with no restrictions under the conditions of the museum's access policy. Appointments may be made by calling (510) 238-2200

Publication Rights

Researchers are responsible for obtaining copyright permission to use material not produced by museum personnel.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Helen Nestor Free Speech Movement Photographs, Oakland Museum of California.

Scope and Content

The Helen Nestor photographic collection at the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland, California contains more than 2,000 prints and 20,000 negatives, is the life's work of an important documentary photographer who specialized in recording the political and social changes of the 1960s and beyond in California. The 39 photographs presented here are a selection from her negatives taken during the Free Speech Movement in the Fall of 1964.
Nestor's prolific career is all the more remarkable in that she is seriously disabled. Like Dorothea Lange (with whom she was acquainted), Nestor was afflicted with polio; unlike her more famous colleague, she could not walk without the assistance of crutches and, eventually, a wheelchair. Despite this she produced compelling work in often threatening situations. Born in 1924, Nestor earned a B.S. degree in public health at U.C. Berkeley before being stricken with polio in 1951. She studied photography in the early 1960s with Ansel Adams, Morley Baer, Minor White, and Dorothea Lange - her spiritual mentor.
Nestor's work appeared in Ramparts magazine as well as in several monographs including Equal Start (1968), On the Go (1968), The Trouble in Berkeley (1965) and Field Trips (1966). In the 1970s she became increasingly interested in changing family constellations, creating a series entitled Non-Traditional American Families, which exhibited in several galleries including the Focus Gallery in San Francisco. In 1988 she rephotographed these families for a book titled Family Portraits in Changing Times (1992).
Nestor has also photographed the disabled, focusing on disabled working women and artists. She has mounted ten solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group showings.

 

Students on Sproul Steps holding protest signs. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Student and Policeman at protest rally. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Sherriff's bus followed by motorcycle policemen leaving Sproul Hall after arrests. Dec. 2, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Students on Sproul Hall balcony with flag. Dec. 2, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Rally in Sproul Plaza with Sproul Hall in background. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Free Speech rally in Sproul Plaza with Sproul Hall in background. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Free Speech rally in Sproul Plaza. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Students and policeman on Bancroft way observing rally on Sproul Plaza. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Sproul Hall with FSM signs hanging over the balconies. A student holds the American flag on the south balcony. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Sproul Hall balcony. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Student with American flag on Sproul Hall balcony. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Students in Sproul Plaza. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Pickets at Bancroft and Telegraph during the general strike. Dec. 3, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Woman at Free Speech Movement rally. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Dusty Miller and other students with STRIKE and FSM cards. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Women at Free Speech Movement rally. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Students fasting on Sproul Steps during the Free Speech Movement. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Picketers sitting on Sproul Steps. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

International Workers of the World (IWW) sign in front of the Student Union on Sproul Plaza during the general strike. Dec. 5, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Jack Weinberg and Steve Weissman. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Crowd at the Greek Theater for the Special Convocation. Dec. 7, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Newsmen and photographers at the Greek Theater with audience in the background. Dec. 7, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Crowd at Greek Theater. Dec. 7, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Bettina Aptheker, Art Goldberg and others on stage at Greek Theater. Dec. 7, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Bettina Aptheker, Art Goldberg and others on the Greek Theater stage. Dec. 7, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Free Speech supporters in front of Sproul Hall. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Crown in lower Sproul Plaza and on roofs of Golden Bear. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Students at Free Speech Movement rally. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Crowd in upper Sproul Plaza. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Woman speaking at CORE rally at Bancroft and Telegraph. Dec. 15, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Woman speaking at CORE rally at Bancroft and Telegraph. Dec. 15, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

James Farmer giving the V sign at a CORE rally at Bancroft and Telegraph. Dec. 15, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Joan Baez singing on the Sproul Steps. Dec. 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor
 

Joan Baez singing on Sproul Hall steps. Dec. 2, 1964

Call #: Oakland Museum of California

Photographer: Helen Nestor