Imogen Cunningham papers
name: label: Creator
content: Cunningham, Imogen, 1883-1976
label: Names
content: George Eastman House
label: Names
content: Group f.64
label: Names
content: Henry Art Gallery
label: Names
content: Witkin Gallery
label: Names
content: Aalto, Alvar, 1898-1976
label: Names
content: Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984
label: Names
content: Andreson, Laura
label: Names
content: Bissantz, Edgar, 1901-
label: Names
content: Bourke-White, Margaret, 1904-1971
label: Names
content: Bristol, Horace
label: Names
content: Bullock, Wynn
label: Names
content: Butler, John Davidson, 1890-1974
label: Names
content: Coburn, Alvin Langdon, 1882-1966
label: Names
content: Feininger, Lyonel, 1871-1956
label: Names
content: Graves, Morris, 1910-2001
label: Names
content: Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984
label: Names
content: Kanaga, Consuelo, 1894-
label: Names
content: Lange, Dorothea
label: Names
content: Mann, Margery
label: Names
content: Moholy-Nagy, László, 1895-1946
label: Names
content: Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993
label: Names
content: Newman, Arnold, 1918-2006
label: Names
content: Noskowiak, Sonya, d. 1975
label: Names
content: O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986
label: Names
content: Partridge, Roi, 1888-1984
label: Names
content: Schoener, Allon
label: Names
content: Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965
label: Names
content: Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973
label: Names
content: Steinert, Otto, 1915-
label: Names
content: Strand, Paul, 1890-1976
label: Names
content: Struss, Karl, 1886-
label: Names
content: Toklas, Alice B.
label: Names
content: Van Dyke, Willard
label: Names
content: Weston, Edward, 1886-1958
label: Names
content: White, Minor
label: Names
content: Witkin, Lee D.
label: Names
content: Zorach, William, 1887-1966
topic: label: Occupation
content: Photographers -- California -- San Francisco
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Photographers
label: Topic
content: Photography, Artistic
label: Topic
content: Portrait photography
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women photographers
label: Topic
content: Women educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Imogen Cunningham in 1974 and 1976, and by her son, Gryffyd Partridge, in 1991.
creator: label: Creator
content: Cunningham, Imogen, 1883-1976
setName: label: See more items in
content: Imogen Cunningham papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of photographer and teacher Imogen Cunningham, date from 1903 to 1991. The collection measures 5.9 feet of material, including correspondence, business and financial records, writings, printed matter, and photographs, and provides a good overview of Cunningham's life and career.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Born in Portland, Oregon on April 12, 1883, Cunningham's family moved to Seattle in 1889. Inspired by Gertrude Kasebier's work, she purchased her first camera in 1901. After studying chemistry and botany at the University of Washington, she worked for the Edward S. Curtis Studio, Seattle, from 1907 to 1909. Receiving a scholarship, Cunningham studied for a year at the Technische Hochschule, Dresden.

Upon her return to Seattle in 1910, she opened a studio and had the first major exhibition of her work at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1912.

In 1915, Cunningham married printmaker Roi Partridge and gave birth to her first son, Gryffyd. Two years later, her family moved to California, where she gave birth to twin sons, Padraic and Rondal. In 1920, the family moved to Oakland, where her husband taught at Mills College. During the 1920s, she exhibited her art work and began photographing plant forms.

Along with Ansel Adams, John Paul Edwards, Sonya Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke, and Edward Weston, Cunningham formed the f/64 Group, a society of purist photographers in 1932. During the same year she began working for Vanity Fair and other magazines and began a career as a portrait photographer, including Martha Graham, Cary Grant, Morris Graves, Alfred Stieglitz, and Spencer Tracy as her subjects. She divorced her husband in 1934.

In 1947, Cunningham established a studio in her San Francisco home, and continued to exhibit extensively until her death on June 24, 1976.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.9 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1903-1991
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.cunnimog
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Illustrated letters
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into ten series according to material type:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1907-1981, undated (box 1; 4 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1991, undated (boxes 1-4; 3.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1944-1976 (box 4; 15 folders)

Series 4: Notes, 1959-1968 (box 4; 10 folders)

Series 5: Teaching Files, 1964-1971 (box 5; 4 folders)

Series 6: Writings, circa 1910-1976 (box 5; 21 folders)

Series 7: Interview Transcripts, 1951, undated (box 5; 2 folders)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1903-1991 (boxes 5-7; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographs, 1916-1976 (box 7; 12 folders)

Series 10: Oversized Material, 1947-1948, 1967, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and the finding aid written by Jean Fitzgerald in 1995. The finding aid was modified by Stephanie Ashley in 2001 prior to EAD conversion.
altformavail: label: Alternative Forms Available
content: The collection is available on 35 mm microfilm reels 5034-5041 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Illustrated letters
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of photographer and teacher Imogen Cunningham, date from 1903 to 1991. The collection measures 5.9 feet of material, including correspondence, business and financial records, writings, printed matter, and photographs, and provides a good overview of Cunningham's life and career. 3.6 linear feet of correspondence comprise the bulk of the collection.