Subject librarians
Robert Trujillo
Associate University Librarian, Special Collections, University Librarian's Office
Benjamin Stone
Curator for American and British History, Humanities Resource Group
About the Photography collection
Special Collections steward a distinguished photography collection that ranges from mid-19th-century daguerreotypes of early California to work by contemporary practitioners. Highlights include:
- Seminal works by early California photographers, including mammoth plate albumen silver prints, panoramic views, and albums by Carleton E. Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge, and Isaiah W. Taber.
- Wide-ranging depictions of Chinese Americans and life in San Francisco Chinatown, consisting of portraits by Lai Yong, street scenes by Arnold Genthe, and studio photographs by May’s Photo Studio.
- Photographic works by the Swiss-American photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter.
- Negatives and prints by Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado of the everyday lives of Filipino American and African American communities living in San Francisco’s Western Addition, Fillmore District, Bayview Hunter’s Point, and the Presidio during the 1940s and 1950s.
- Negatives, contact sheets, and prints by the American poet Allen Ginsberg.
- Archives of photographers Bob Fitch, David Bacon, and Matt Herron, whose works provide first-hand visual accounts relating to social justice, civil rights, and labor issues.
- The comprehensive archives of San Francisco-based photographers Irene Poon and Charles Wong.
- Doug Menuez’s photographic documentation of Silicon Valley from 1986-2006.
- Several photographic projects by the Chicana photographer Laura Aguilar along with a selection of her papers.
- Significant holdings of work by contemporary photographers Mark Ruwedel and Arthur Tress.
