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Voices of Photography

The Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, is home to the Voices of Photography, an oral history project in existence since 1975.

Mission

Voices of Photography is a series of audio/video interviews with:

• Photographers whose archives are at the Center for Creative Photography and those who have knowledge and experience with the lives and work of the photographers whose archives are at the Center.
• Photographers and historians who have knowledge and views about the evolution of contemporary photography since 1970.
• Past and present Directors, Curators, and staff who have direct experience in establishment and evolution of the Center for Creative Photography.

Goals

The primary goals of the Voices of Photography project are to preserve, on modern media, significant present and older interviews that are in danger of deterioration, and to sort and annotate significant content in existing tapes to provide future researchers greater access to archive photographer interviews.

History of the project

This project continues as an oral history program that begun at the Center under its first director, Harold Jones, in 1975. Its goal is to add depth and breadth to the Center's archives through the creation of taped interviews with noted figures in photography. Each interview is researched, planned, and conducted by graduate students from the University of Arizona's studio photography and art history programs under the direction of Program Coordinator Harold Jones, Professor Emeritus, and Program Director Kate Palmer Albers, Assistant Professor of Art History. In addition, students create annotations for taped interviews already in the Center's video archive. The outcomes of the program include providing students with knowledge of oral history techniques, videotaping skills, and project planning experience. Currently, all the videotaped interviews are available to scholars at the Center. In the future, tapes will be made available over the Center's interactive website. Past participants have included:

• Program Director Kate Palmer Albers, Assistant Professor of Art History
• Program Coordinator Harold Jones, Professor Emeritus
• 2005-2009 Program Director, Amy Rule, Former Head of Research

Use of the collection

The taped interviews constitute a non-circulating collection available for viewing on site at the Center. Users may view the tapes in the Center's library or, by appointment, in the Research Center. The loaning or copying of individual tapes is not permitted due to copyright restrictions, but viewers may purchase written annotations to selected tapes from the Research Center. Currently, the interviews are not available online. The existing Voices of Photography collection consists of:

• Formal audio/video interviews by past Directors and/or Staff
• Public Lectures at CCP
• Non-CCP purchased or gifted commercial products
• Interviews by others.

Project internships

Students enrolled in the University of Arizona are eligible to serve as associate directors and to earn course credits as interns on the Voices of Photography. Working with the Voices project gives students the opportunity to meet and interview people who have shaped the history of photography. In addition, students gain experience with oral history interviewing techniques and videotape equipment. Three credit units are available for internship participants each semester. Contact the School of Art, artadvis@email.arizona.edu.

Video clip sample

The video clip on this website is an excerpt of an interview with photographer and teacher Jack Welpott. In August 2005, Harold Jones went to Inverness, California, for four days to interview Welpott in his home. The resulting seven one-hour interview tapes include detailed information on Welpott's life in photography. Through his memories, Welpott illuminates his friendships with Henry Holmes Smith, Jerry Uelsmann, John Gutmann, Brett Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Minor White, Aaron Siskind, Frederick Sommer, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, and others. The tape also includes footage of Welpott playing the piano.

Contacts

For more information about the Voices of Photography project contact (520) 621-6273.