- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186152", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22905186", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Saunders 1993", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1970-1974", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1970/1974"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Richard Saunders audio collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"17 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Multiple languages"}
{"value"=>"English, French."}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Saunders, Richard, 1922-1987", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Richard Saunders (1922-1987) was a Black photojournalist who documented African life for the United States Information Agency.</p> <p>Saunders was born in Bermuda in 1922. He developed an interest in photography when his family lived in the United States during a brief period in the 1930s. Saunders relocated to New York City in 1945, where he studied photography at Brooklyn College, and humanities and sociology at the New School for Social Research.</p> <p>Early in his career, Saunders photographed for organizations such as the photo agency Black Star, and the United States Farm Security Administration, as well as publications including <span class=\"title\">Ebony</span>, <span class=\"title\">Fortune</span>, <span class=\"title\">Ladies Home Journal</span>, <span class=\"title\">Look</span>, and the <span class=\"title\">New York Times</span>. His subjects included his wife Emily Saunders, a seamstress who often worked as his assistant; displaced Black families in the Lower Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an assignment that earned Saunders a Young Photographers Contest Prize from <span class=\"title\">Life</span> magazine; and civil rights leaders Malcolm X and James Farmer.</p> <p>From 1967 to 1986, Saunders was the international editor and photographer for <span class=\"title\">Topic</span>, an internal magazine of the United States Information Agency (USIA). USIA was a US government organization that promoted US policies to audiences abroad from 1953 to 1999. The magazine was distributed to USIA outposts throughout Africa. While based in Tunisia, Saunders traveled throughout Africa and the Middle East, recording interviews with subjects including Beninese artist Armand Aniamboussou, Lebanese architect Samir Khairallah, and the Ethiopian poet Mengistu Lemma. He also reported on industries in Kenya, cooperative farms in Niger, and childcare in Nigeria.</p> <p>Saunders retired in 1986, and passed away in Washington, DC, in 1987.</p> <p>See the finding aids for the Richard Saunders photographs, Sc Photo Richard Saunders Collection, and the Richard Saunders papers, Sc MG 984, for more information about Saunders's life and work.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection consists of seventeen audio recordings of interviews and photograph captions, dating from 1970 to 1974. They are organized alphabetically by title. The collection contains interviews and photograph caption information by Saunders that would go on to appear in <span class=\"title\">Topic</span> magazine. The recordings cover arts and culture, economic development, and industry in Benin, Ethiopia, Gabon, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and the United States.</p> <p>The original format of the bulk of the audio recordings was cassette, with many items containing two or more parts. Some items are described separately. Interviews are in English unless otherwise noted. Magazine issue numbers are indicated when known. Item titles originate from Saunders's documentation, and reflect the subject and location of the assignment. Dates reflect the date of recording. When indicated by original documentation, item scope and content notes include dates that reflect the creation of written transcripts. Transcripts can be found in the Richard Saunders papers, Sc MG 984.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated to the Schomburg Center in 1991, 1992, and 1993.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Richard Saunders papers, Sc MG 984.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for the Richard Saunders photographs, Sc Photo Richard Saunders Collection.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Emily Dunne</span> and <span class=\"name\">Anika Paris</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Lyric Benjamin-Hunter</span>, archivist. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2026</span>.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division for issues of <span class=\"title\">Topic</span>, Sc Ser.-N .T67.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Item AMI identifiers, titles, scope and content notes, and extent notes updated to facilitate public access by Lyric Benjamin-Hunter.", "date"=>"2026-06-02"}
- date_start
-
1970
- keydate
-
1970
- date_end
-
1974
- date_inclusive_start
-
1970
- date_inclusive_end
-
1974
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Richard Saunders audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>" The collection consists of seventeen audio recordings of interviews and photograph captions, dating from 1970 to 1974. They are organized alphabetically by title. The collection contains interviews and photograph caption information by Saunders that would go on to appear in <span class=\"title\">Topic</span> magazine. The recordings cover arts and culture, economic development, and industry in Benin, Ethiopia, Gabon, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and the United States.", "generated"=>true}