Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Fred McDarrah

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.mcdarr71
Creators:
McDarrah, Fred W., 1926-2007
Cummings, Paul
Dates:
1971 June 15-July 15
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
75 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Fred McDarrah conducted 1971 June 15-July 15, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
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.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Fred McDarrah (1926-2007) was a photographer from New York, N.Y.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
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.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 25 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Photography -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Littlefield, William Horace, 1902-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nelson, Cyril I. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pavia, Philip, 1915-2005 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Club (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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