Usage conditions may apply for digital images, video, and sound recordings linked within SOVA collections. While digital content may be restricted, SOVA collection descriptions and catalog records are available CC0 for re-use. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection, EEPA 1998-006
Summary
- Collection ID:
- EEPA.1998-006
- Creators:
-
Larrabee, Constance Stuart
- Dates:
-
1900-1997
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
circa 11000 Negatives (photographic)black and white and color2.5 x 2.5 inches or smallercirca 5000 Photographic printssilver gelatinblack and white8 x 10 inches or smallercirca 20 Linear feetManuscript Materials5.4 Linear feetOffice Files
- Repository:
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.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
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.
Arrangement
Arrangement
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
Biographical/Historical note
Biographical/Historical note
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).Administration
Author
Eden Orelove and Hannah Storch
Sponsor
The cataloging of the Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection was supported by a grant from The Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Donated by Constance Stuart Larabee in 1986 and 1998.
Processing Information
Metadata prepared by Kelsey Arrington-Ashford and Hannah Storch, 2018. Manuscript inventory by Emily Petro. Finding aid by Eden Orelove, 2019.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access note
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Preferred Citation
Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection, EEPA 1998-006, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Constance Stuart Larrabee collection (COR0011-MS)
Constance Stuart Larrabee collection (COR0011-MS)
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.
Keywords
Repository Contact
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
National Museum of African Art
P.O. Box 37012
MRC 708
Washington, DC 20013-7012
elisofonarchives@si.edu
