Photographs and Media, circa early 1920s to early 2010s

Series — Multiple Containers

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection of both professional and personal photographs and media across nearly eight decades of Marshall's life provides a vivid glimpse into her personal journey and political legacy. Viewed in tandem with Marshall's documentary history, these graphic materials show Marshall's many roles and activities throughout the years as she participates in events such as local Queens community rallies, speaks before an audience of colleagues on the New York State Assembly floor, celebrates her election as Queens Borough President with family and close friends, and engages in other activities. Some photos within this series were captured by professional photographers hired to document political events or ceremonies, including Queens-based photographer Dominick Totino. Others were taken by Marshall herself, as well as her colleagues, friends, and family members.

Marshall's photos reflect both change and continuity over time regarding her personal and professional relationships, her presence in the media across different phases of her career, and the evolution of her individual style and fashion choices as a public figure from the late 1960s to the mid-2010s. Scholars may be interested in the unique ability of these images to visually describe Marshall's dynamic identity as a woman, wife, mother, teacher, community organizer, and politician. Containing images ranging from professional portraits to candid shots of rallies, parties, and other gatherings, this series possesses high research and educational potential for scholars interested in New York and Queens history, political science, women and gender studies, and Black or Africana studies between the 1920s and mid-2010s.

Dates

circa early 1920s to early 2010s

Creator

Totino, Dominick (Photographer, Person)

Language of Materials

From the Collection:

Majority of the materials are written in English. A small quantity of correspondence is in Spanish and Korean. It is possible that there are other languages present throughout the correspondence, though it would be a very small percentage.

Conditions Governing Access

Appointments to examine materials must be made in advance. Please email QC.archives@qc.cuny.edu for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Extent

11.46 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Arrangement

This series is arranged by material format and type. Audiovisual materials are separated from photos to create a format-based subseries, while photos are categorized based on professional or personal distinctions. Professional photos have been further organized by size and date as much as context permits. Personal photos have been arranged chronologically, and family objects and documents have been separated to form a distinct file.

Processing Information

This series contains a very large quanity of photos that did not appear to be arranged following any particular schema prior to processing. Thus, most photos were reorganized by size and date keeping preservation concerns in mind, although original groupings were maintained as much as possible to preserve context. For example, many photos were originally housed in envelopes from the print shop or vendor that produced them, meaning multiple unrelated events such as a family birthday party and a political award ceremony were printed and stored in the same envelope with the same date of production (even if the events appeared to have occurred some time apart from one another). To help facilitate viewing access, groupings of photos such as these were separated by professional or personal nature, retaining any dates or notes about who or what is depicted therein, and then arranged by size and date within these subseries.

In terms of preservation needs, this collection may require more specialized attention for long-term storage and potential digitization. Specifically, items such as negatives, reels, and photo albums (which have been retained for context but may become a potential preservation concern due to degrading plastics) should be addressed.