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Finding Aid to the African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area Photograph Collection, 1963-1974
BANC PIC 1985.079  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
This collection of photographs of African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area consists almost entirely of press photographs collected by James Abajian. Many of the photographs have captions provided by the press photographer or news agency. The great majority are by San Francisco Chronicle photographers, and may have been copied from the Chronicle archive, or be duplicates acquired by Abajian. Only a few prints have Chronicle markings on the backs. Photographers include Peter Breinig, Greg Peterson, Joe Rosenthal, Bill Young, Bob Hirschfield, David Randolph, Jerry Telfer, Art Frisch, Ken McLaughlin, and a few others. For a breakdown of subjects, see the series descriptions.
Background
James de Tar Abajian (1914-1986), bibliographer and historian of African American history, was the chief librarian of the California Historical Society from 1949-1968. He was also director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Special Collection at San Francisco Public Library from 1969-1971. Abajian's writings include The Black Presence in San Francisco (1974), Blacks and Their Contributions to the American West; A Bibliography and Union List of Holdings through 1970 (1974) and Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects (1977). Abajian presented much of his significant documentary material on African Americans in California and the West, collected throughout his career, to The Bancroft Library in the 1980s. This material includes books, printed ephemera, manuscripts, sheet music, periodicals and photographs. His personal papers were donated to the library after his death in 1986.
Extent
140 photographs and 140 digital objects : gelatin silver prints
Restrictions
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
Availability
Collection is open for research.