Oral history interview with Fred McDarrah
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 25 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: McDarrah, Fred W., 1926-2007
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
label: Names
content: Club (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Littlefield, William Horace, 1902-1969
label: Names
content: Nelson, Cyril I.
label: Names
content: Pavia, Philip, 1915-2005
topic: label: Topic
content: Photography -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: McDarrah, Fred W., 1926-2007
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Fred McDarrah (1926-2007) was a photographer from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 75 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1971 June 15-July 15
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mcdarr71
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Fred McDarrah conducted 1971 June 15-July 15, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: McDarrah speaks of his early family life and extreme poverty during the Depression period in Brooklyn; family influence; his first photographic efforts in the 1930s; his U.S. Army service; going to photography school at New York University; life in Greenwich Village in the 1940s and 1950s; his involvement with rock and roll music; getting his work into publications; the comparison between the "hippie" and the "beat" cultures; working as a photojournalist for Village Voice; his techniques and equipment; experiences covering public events; his philosophy on photography and its uses. He recalls Bill Littlefield, Philip Pavia, Cyril Nelson, and The Club.