Tag Archives: photographs

Melissa Shook: Inside and Out – Photographs on display in the University Hall and Grossmann galleries

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Melissa Shook: Inside and Out, a two-part exhibition in the University Hall Gallery and in the Grossmann Gallery on the fifth floor of the Healey Library, brings together photographs, video works, objects, and ephemera spanning six decades to honor the life’s work of artist, educator, and activist Melissa Shook (1939-2020). The exhibition is co-curated by Senior Lecturer II in Art History Carol G.J. Scollans and University Hall Gallery Director Samuel Toabe and will be on view from September 6 through October 29, 2022.

Woman stands in front of a mirror holding a camera, taking a picture of herself
Self-portrait, Melissa Shook, circa 1970s

Best known for her self-portraits and documentary-style photography representing and humanizing members of marginalized communities – including immigrants, queer people, elderly people, and people experiencing houselessness – Shook’s practice expanded throughout her career to include writing, book making, drawing, sculpture, video art, and social practice art through direct action and mutual aid projects. Shook joined UMass Boston in 1979, where she taught photography in the Art and Art History Department for thirty-one years, leaving an indelible mark on the department’s pedagogy as well as generations of students. A catalog with images of Melissa’s photographs will accompany the exhibition, including an introduction by Samuel Toabe, a contextual essay by Carol G.J. Scollans, and texts by Professor of Art Margaret Hart and Melissa’s daughter Krissy Shook. The University Hall Gallery presents the personal side of Shook’s practice, photographing and writing about her own life, as well as sculptural works and video experiments. Healey Library’s Grossmann Gallery features a large selection of her series -Streets are for Nobody, along with archival materials reproduced from the library’s collection of Melissa’s papers, as well as handmade books, sculptural objects, and a collection of her film and pinhole cameras. 

A public reception will be held on Saturday, September 17, 2022, from 2:00-4:00 p.m., starting in the University Hall Gallery.

The establishment of the Melissa Shook Documentary Photography Award in honor of the artist coincides with the exhibition. This fund will provide an annual prize to one or more UMass Boston students or graduating seniors who demonstrate exceptional skill or promise in photography, with a preference for documentary photography skills. The award will be presented this year for the first time to Chloe Tomasetta whose photographic work in 2021 documented busy street scenes in Boston’s historic Haymarket district during the height of the pandemic. 

The exhibition and catalog are supported by the Paul Hayes Tucker Fund as well as a generous gift by Caleb Stewart and Richard Snow. The Melissa Shook Documentary Photography Award is made possible with a generous gift by Nancy and Wendell Lutz. To contribute to the Melissa Shook Documentary Photography Award, please donate via this link.

For more information, please email UHGallery@umb.edu.

Melissa Shook donated her papers to University Archives and Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston. The collection contains files kept by Shook and includes correspondence, manuscripts, notes, interviews, research materials, workshop catalogs, show announcements, archival photographic prints, slides, hard drives, MiniDV tapes, DVDs, CDs, a VHS tape, and a selection of framed photographs and text from Shook’s 1994 publication Streets are for Nobody. Additional archival collections related to Shook include University of Massachusetts Boston, Art Department student photographs of the Healey Library, 1982-1984 and a collection of photographs taken by Shook for the Writers’ Workshop hosted by the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences.

For more information about these collections, please email library.archives@umb.edu.

In the Archives: François Sully and the Vietnam War

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Author: Kayla Allen, Archives Assistant and graduate student in the History MA Program at UMass Boston

Black-and-white photo of Francois Sully standing in a foxhole holding his camera

Sully in foxhole at Binh Gia,  January 9, 1965

One of the largest digital photograph collections we have in the University Archives and Special Collections is that of François Sully. Sully was a soldier with the French Army until he was discharged in Saigon in 1947. After he left the French forces, he became a photojournalist and documented the war for news sources including Time and Newsweek. He took photographs of politicians and officers, soldiers and civilians, and villagers and their villages. Many of his photos show the destruction and violence of the long war, while others show people going about their daily lives as best they could. Some of the subjects include religious figures, the aftermath of battles, celebrations such as Tet, ancient monuments and tombs, student protests, and the lives of Europeans in Vietnam. 

The Imperial tombs: Tomb of Emperor Minh Mang completed in 1843, Hue, Republic of Vietnam, circa 1968-1969
U.S. and Vietnamese special forces strike force company in action near the Dau Tieng rubber plantation. Strike force is in blocking position during the day. Republic of Vietnam, August 1964
Vice Consul Edie Smith at the Saigon Circle Sportif’s swimming pool, Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, 1966

Later on, Sully created two publications about the war and the experiences of those that lived through it: Age of the Guerilla: the New Warfare (New York: Parent’s Magazine Press, 1968; reprinted by Avon, 1970) and We the Vietnamese: Voices from Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1971).

Children crossing Luong Hoa footbridge, Luong Hoa Village, Republic of Vietnam, July 1965
Girl taking water from river for cooking, Luong Hoa Village, Republic of Vietnam, July 1965
Scenes of Kontum, Kontum, Republic of Vietnam, February 1968

Our digital collection includes more than 1,000 photographs taken by François Sully and his companions. Check it out here, as well as its finding aid. You can also request access to Sully’s written materials by emailing us at library.archives@umb.edu. 

Catholic sisters and girl students fishing in the lake at La Grenouillerere, Tuyen Duc, Republic of Vietnam, 1967
Child swimming in canal, Luong Hoa Village, Republic of Vietnam, July 1965
Students arriving in Hue to help with the refugee work, Hue, Republic of Vietnam, March 1968

If you are interested in learning more about the US experience in the Vietnam War, we have several oral histories recorded and transcribed of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients that served in the Army, the Marine Corps, and the Navy at the time. Interviews were conducted by student veterans in Professor Erin Anderson’s course, “Oral Histories and the Veteran Experience.” Three of the interviews, those of Jack H. Jacobs, Harvey C. Barnum Jr., and Thomas G. Kelley, discuss the war in Vietnam. 

Identification and Care of Photographs Workshop offered at UMass Boston

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William A. Cowles in uniform, 1863. SC-0012 William A. Cowles papers.

Workshop is full – a waiting list has been started

Interested in learning how to identify and care for historic photographs? Join us on Saturday, November 10, 2018 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm for a FREE workshop presented by Monique C. Fischer, Senior Photograph Conservator, Northeast Document Conservation Center.

Participants are encouraged to bring a few photographs for discussion and examination.

The workshop will be held in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Directions to campus. Parking is available on campus at the new West Campus Garage.

Registration is required; limited to 15 participants. Register for the workshop by November 1, 2018, by emailing library.archives@umb.edu.


About this workshop

This workshop offers an introduction to the preservation of photographs, including their identification, deterioration, and care. Participants will learn how to recognize various photographic formats and study the preservation problems associated with each format type. The workshop will also discuss storage concerns and preservation priorities, including environmental guidelines and proper care and handling. Participants are encouraged to bring photographs for examination and discussion.

Schedule

9:00-9:30 am   |   Registration and Introductions

9:30-11:15 am   |   Identification of Photographic Materials

  • A system of identification
  • Hands-on practice

11:15 – 11:30 am   |   Break

11:30 am- 1:00 pm   |   “Photographic Conservation Checklist”: Storage Concerns and Preservation Priorities for Photographic Materials

  • Discussion will include environmental guidelines for the storage of photographs and proper enclosures, care, and handling

1:00 pm   |  Adjourn

Logo for National Endownment for the Humanities

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations in this program do not necessarily express those of the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Registration is required; limited to 15 participants. Register for the workshop by November 1, 2018, by emailing library.archives@umb.edu.

This workshop has been made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Read more about this grant here.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.

 

Photographs by Doug Clifford show Cuba in December 2015, six months after restored diplomatic relations with the U.S.

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exhibit-photo

Cuban artist, on the spot paintings of the local surroundings. (December 2015)

Exhibition: “Cuba Photographs, December 2015” by Doug Clifford

Opening Reception: Thursday, December 8, 2016 | 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Location: Walter Grossmann Gallery, Joseph P. Healey Library (5th floor) | UMass Boston | 100 Morrissey Blvd. | Boston, Mass. | Click here for directions.

Just 6 months after the United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in 2015, UMass Boston alumnus Doug Clifford and his wife spent eight days traveling around Cuba, from Havana and Cojimar to Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad.

On Thursday, December 8, University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston invites you to the opening of an exhibition that features more than 30 photographs that document that trip.

From Doug Clifford’s introductory statement about the exhibition: “These pictures show some of the places we saw and some of the people we encountered. They do not show the extent of the strength and perseverance of the Cuban people. Cuba is a resilient and vibrant country, and I hope these images portray some of the energy and beauty we experienced there.”

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Doug CliffordAbout the photographer
When Doug Clifford (class of 1974) started his studies at UMass Boston, he had just gotten out of the military after almost four years and had returned from Vietnam less than six months before his classes began. Though he majored in English, Clifford also studied photography while at UMass Boston with Warren Hill and Steve Trefonides. Clifford’s entire professional career was in education, from his work as a tutor in the Veterans Program at UMass Boston through his retirement from the English Department faculty at Bunker Hill Community College. He has had photographs published in venues ranging from student newspapers to the Time-Life series of books on Vietnam. In 1988, the Grossmann Gallery hosted an exhibition of photographs by Clifford called “Return to Vietnam.” Photographs from that exhibition are available online here.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.