Jonestown community photo documentation project collection
Abstract
This collection consists of 10 boxes of photographs and administration materials related to the Jonestown Community Photo Documentation Project. Photographs are located in Boxes 1- 8. The photographs consist of more than 10,000 images, primarily 35mm black and white negatives. Photographic prints, mostly 8x10, were created from many of the negatives and are identified in the container list. Contact Sheets were created from a majority of the negatives and are housed with the corresponding negatives.
Please Note: The container list/inventory for this collection is available as a PDF below. Click "Expand All" and scroll down to the "External Documents" section to view.
Dates
- 1994-1996
Creator
- Davis, Jakeria (Photographer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Boxes 9 and 10 contain release forms, model releases, and other administration materials from the project. These materials are restricted from public use. The remainder of the collection is open to the public without restrictions. For information about how to purchase digital reproductions and for permission information, please visit our rights and reproductions webpage.
Conditions Governing Use
The reproduction of materials in this collection may be subject to copyright restrictions. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine and satisfy copyright clearances or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information visit the MCHC’s Rights and Permissions page.
Biographical / Historical
From 1994 to 1996, the Baltimore City Life Museum sponsored a program for nineteen children, ages 10 through 15, who lived in Flag House Court, Lafayette Courts, and Perkins Homes, public housing projects in the Jonestown neighborhood surrounding BCLM. Roland Freeman, a professional photographer, taught nine of the children to shoot photographs and develop film. Given 35mm cameras of their own, the children then photographed their families, neighborhood, and homes beginning in the summer of 1994. The other 10 children collaborated on three murals at the housing projects. An exhibit was later created at BCLM, showing the children’s work. In August of 1995, Lafayette Courts were demolished; Flag House closed in 1998 and was imploded in 2001. Perkins Homes, Baltimore’s oldest housing project, is still standing as of November 2015.
Extent
10 Linear Feet (10 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is organized into 15 series by photographer or subject:
Series I. Jakeria Davis
- Negatives located in Box 1
- Photographic Prints located in Box 5
Series II. Shawn Gibson
- Negatives located in Box 1
- Photographic Prints located in Box 5
Series III: Jerome Jessup
- Negatives located in Box 1
- Photographic Prints located in Box 5
Series IV: Japonicka Jones
- Negatives located in Box 2
- Photographic Prints located in Boxes 5-6
Series V: Reginald Marable
- Negatives located in Box 2
- Photographic Prints located in Box 6
Series VI: Victoria Perkins
- Negatives located in Box 2
- Photographic Prints located in Boxes 6-7
Series VII: Dwayne Sewell, Jr.
- Negatives located in Box 3
- Photographic Prints located in Box 7
Series VIII: Melinda Steel
- Negatives located in Box 3
- Photographic Prints located in Box 7
Series IX: Donald Woodard
- Negatives located in Box 3
- Photographic Prints located in Box 7
Series X: Bill Gaskin, Photo mentor
- Negatives located in Box 3
- Photographic Prints located in Box 7
Series XI: Natalie Walker, Photo mentor
- Negatives located in Box 4
- Photographic Prints located in Boxes 7-8
Series XII: Lafayette Courts High-Rise Implosion
- Negatives located in Box 4
- No Photographic Prints available
Series XIII: Mural Project
- Negatives located in Box 4
- Photographic Prints located in Box 8
Series XIV: Post Project and miscellaneous
- Negatives located in Box 4
- Photographic Prints located in Box 8
Series XV: Administration Materials
- Located in Box 9 – 10 (RESTRICTED FROM PUBLIC USE)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Collection was created as a project conducted by the Baltimore City Life Museum from 1994 - 1996. In 1997 the Baltimore City Life Museums/Peale Museum closed due to lack of funding. Its collections were transferred to the Maryland Historical Society in 1998.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 10 boxes of photographs and administration materials related to the Jonestown Community Photo Documentation Project. Photographs are located in Boxes 1- 8. The photographs consist of more than 10,000 images, primarily 35mm black and white negatives. Photographic prints, mostly 8x10, were created from many of the negatives and are identified in the container list. Contact Sheets were created from a majority of the negatives and are housed with the corresponding negatives.
Boxes 9 and 10 contain release forms, model releases, and other administration materials from the project. These materials are restricted from public use.
Some of the negative sleeves are grouped by themes, which were apparently devised before the photos were taken: “Home,” “Outside the Home,” “Market/Religion,” and “4th of July.” Identification by theme does not occur consistently, but the selection of shots seems to have been guided by those classifications. The collections contains hundreds of identified portraits of the family and neighbors of the participants; interiors and exteriors of the Perkins Homes, Lafayette Courts, and Flag House Court housing projects, and various businesses and institutions in the surrounding area. Subjects of particular interest include Nation of Islam security guards at Lafayette, Housing Authority workers at Flag House, owners and workers of local businesses, tenants inside the Helping Up Mission, and the demolition of the Lafayette Courts in August of 1995.
Creator
- Davis, Jakeria (Photographer, Person)
- Gibson, Shawn (Photographer, Person)
- Jessup, Jerome (Photographer, Person)
- Jones, Japonicka (Photographer, Person)
- Marable, Reginald (Photographer, Person)
- Perkins, Victoria (Photographer, Person)
- Sewell, Dwayne, Jr. (Photographer, Person)
- Steel, Melinda (Photographer, Person)
- Woodard, Donald (Photographer, Person)
- Gaskin, Bill (Photographer, Person)
- Walker, Natalie (Photographer) (Photographer, Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Jonestown community photo documentation project collection
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- Damon Talbot
- Date
- 2017-03
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2020-08-28: Manually entered into ArchivesSpace by Emily Somach.
Repository Details
Part of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library Repository
H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore MD 21201 United States
4106853750
specialcollections@mdhistory.org