University of Louisville's Photographic Archives contains over two million photographs and associated records and manuscripts. This includes the Fine Art Photography collection, which is maintained in support of the teaching program in the Allen R. Hite Art Institute as well as for exhibitions. This collection contains original prints by photographers who have used photography as a medium for artistic expression. It includes work by Ansel Adams, Shelby Lee Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Harry Callahan, Julia Margaret Cameron, Peter Henry Emerson, Betty Hahn, Lewis Hine, Gertrude Kasebier, Andre Kertesz, Helen Levitt, Danny Lyon, Vivian Maier, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Cranston Ritchie, Aaron Siskind, Jerry Uelsman, Edward Weston, Minor White, and Gary Winogrand. Not yet digitized, most of its prints are freely accessible in-person in the UofL ASC reading room.
Contained within the collection are several prints that embrace the genre-blending nature of Her Body and Other Parties, including several featured in this guide.
For more information about the collection, please visit the ASC website.
Jo Ann Callis
ca. 1980
Dye transfer print, 20 x 24 in.
Michael Garlington
2000
Gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 in.
Deirdre Skaggs
ca. 1987
Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.
Francesca Woodman
from the "Self Deceit" series
1978
Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in.
Searching for Visual Material in Manuscript and Book Collections
Archives and Special Collections (ASC) is brimming with visually-rich materials to explore representations of gender. However, finding them within text-heavy collections, such as those focused on manuscripts and books, requires a bit of imaginative searching.
Summary: Key Resources
Rare Book Collections
This photo shows two pages of the 1928 edition of the book "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. As visible on the right-hand page, this version included illustrations from artist Arthur Rackham, whose distinctive style mixed horror with childlike wonder.
Published works, such as rare books, in ASC collections can be searched for using the standard library catalog. To limit your search to materials stewarded by ASC, navigate to the left-hand search panel and click "Archives and Special Collections" under the header "Held by Library." Once you begin your search, there is the possibility that records for more recent publications will populate with images of their covers for you to explore. However, for exploring older book art or learning more about illustrations inside a work, you will need to click on an individual search record and head to the section "Physical Description".
The catalog record for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with the field "Physical Description" highlighted
Exploring Related Fiction
Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties pulls on a variety of artistic lineages, such as folklore and the world of speculative fiction. The Rare Books section of Archives and Special Collections contains a host of related books for you to explore in the library catalog.
Some search areas and relevant collections include:
If a book seems relevant, you can place a request to see it through the Archival Registration system. Hours for research with rare books are 10 AM to 5 PM, Monday-Friday.
Personal and Organizational Papers
Scan of a flyer from the Kentucky Civil Liberties Union/ACLU of Kentucky Records. The document features the stories of four women each under the question "will abortion services be there when you need them?"
Surfacing visually-rich materials in archival collections requires a number of approaches, as the level of available description can vary across collections and record types. Our team in ASC has put together a host of resources to help with searching our archival catalog that range from getting started with a search to interpreting our form of description (i.e. finding aids). For seeking visually-rich resources related to gender, three possible approaches are:
Surfacing Records of Gender
The Archives and Special Collections team has put together two LibGuides that offer a host of queer and gender-diverse collections. While both guides are not exhaustive in covering the very wide range of ways gender is centered in collection material, both serve as meaningful introductions to some specific collections that may be of interest.
Special Collections Librarian
Archives & Special Collections
Imaging Manager
Archives & Special Collections