Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection
name: label: Photographer
content: Larrabee, Constance Stuart
place: label: Place
content: Botswana
label: Place
content: Lesotho
label: Place
content: South Africa
label: Place
content: Swaziland
label: Place
content: Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Lobedu (African people)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated by Constance Stuart Larabee in 1986 and 1998.
creator: label: Photographer
content: Larrabee, Constance Stuart
culture: label: Culture
content: Ndebele (African people)
label: Culture
content: Zulu (African people)
label: Culture
content: Xhosa (African people)
label: Culture
content: Swazi (African people)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection dates from 1900 to 1997 and mostly includes images taken in South Africa.  The images document the peoples of South Africa, particularly the Loved, Ndebele, San, Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu peoples.  Locations photographed include Basutoland (now Lesotho), Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Johannesburg, Natal, Pretoria, Soweto, Swaziland, Transkei, Transvaal, the Umzimkulu Valley and Zululand.  Manuscript and office files include clippings, correspondence, exhibition announcements, invitations and reviews, notes, essays, receipts, and other materials that document Larrabee's career, family history, and personal life.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Photographer Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914-2000) was best known for her images taken in South Africa. Born in Cornwall, England, she was raised in Pretoria.  She studied photography in London (1933-1935) and at the Bavarian State Institute for Photography in Munich (1935-1936), where she was influenced by the avant-garde work of artists at the Bauhaus. Returning to South Africa, Larrabee set up a studio and photographed many leading cultural and political figures of the period. During World War II she served as South Africa's first woman war correspondent, and in 1950 she married American Sterling Larrabee and moved to the United States.

Larrabee began photographing the peoples of South Africa in the late 1930s. She published extensively, including a portfolio produced for the book Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1948). Her work has appeared in exhibits throughout the world, including the following: The Lovedu in Pretoria, 1947; The Family of Man (Museum of Modern Art, 1955); Tribal Photographs (Corcoran Art Gallery, 1984; and Go Well, My Child (National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1986).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: circa 11000 Negatives (photographic) (black and white and color, 2.5 x 2.5 inches or smaller)
label: Extent
content: circa 5000 Photographic prints (silver gelatin, black and white, 8 x 10 inches or smaller)
label: Extent
content: circa 20 Linear Feet (Manuscript Materials)
label: Extent
content: 5.4 Linear Feet (Office Files)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1900-1997
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.1998-006
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Negatives (photographic)
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Negatives
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Arranged by format into 3 series:

Series 1: Photographs, circa 1936-circa 1988

Series 2: Manuscript Materials, circa 1936-circa 1996

Series 3: Office Files, 1900-1997
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Metadata prepared by Kelsey Arrington-Ashford and Hannah Storch, 2018.  Manuscript inventory by Emily Petro.  Finding aid by Eden Orelove, 2019.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Negatives
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection dates from 1900 to 1997 and mostly includes images taken in South Africa.  The images document the peoples of South Africa, particularly the Lovedu, Ndebele, San, Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu peoples.  Locations photographed include Basutoland (now Lesotho), Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Johannesburg, Natal, Pretoria, Soweto, Swaziland, Transkei, Transvaal, the Umzimkulu Valley and Zululand. 

Notable people photographed include Noel Coward, Gwen Ffangcon Davies, Athol Fugard, Nadine Gordimer, Norman Hackforth, Freida Lock, Ivor Novello, Alan Paton, Alexis Preller, Gerard Sekoto, and Marda Vanne.  

The manuscript materials and office files are comprised of clippings, correspondence, exhibition announcements, invitations and reviews, notes, essays, receipts, and other manuscript materials that document Larrabee's career, family history, and personal life.
relatedmaterial: label: Constance Stuart Larrabee collection (COR0011-MS)
content: Collection held at the George Washington University Archives and Special Collections. Includes artifacts, correspondence, exhibition files, photographs, negatives, and publication files of Constance Stuart Larrabee, photographer and South Africa's first woman war correspondent. A bulk of the materials document Larrabee's time in Europe as a correspondent and photographer during World War II.