Scope and arrangement
The Morgan and Marvin Smith papers document the careers of the Smith brothers as professional photographers, in the television and sound industry, and as needlework artists. Marvin's career as a set decorator and his artwork are also discussed. Only a small amount of correspondence is contained in this collection. As major photographers in Harlem from the 1930s through the 1950s whose work appeared on covers and within magazines, as well as in print ads, a significant portion of the collection consists of their published photographs.
The Morgan and Marvin Smith papers are arranged in four series:
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1933-1999
The first series consists of biographical information about the two brothers as well as their joint career. An interview conducted with them by the International Black Photographers in 1982 is included, along with news clippings and printed articles. There is also a scrapbook of news clippings containing many of the photographs they took for the New York Amsterdam News and the Pittsburgh Courier, some articles about them, and Kentucky newspapers in which the brothers were featured or articles which interested them (1933-1948). One folder of printed material concerns their photography studio in Harlem. Their television and sound careers are represented by lists of equipment used in their work in the United States and Spain, instructions from the networks, and newsletters of the Motion Picture Studio Local 52, in which the twins were featured. Morgan's early interest in sound is demonstrated by correspondence regarding the purchase of sound equipment for the installation of a studio in their photograph studio, 1957-1959. His sound work for a television series about President Harry S. Truman (1963) is represented by the script with technical instructions. The collection includes information regarding Morgan's coverage of the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions as well as many television specials.
Exhibitions of the Smith brothers' photographs at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the University of Kentucky Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution are documented by planning material, exhibition catalogs, and news clippings (1988-1996). The 1995 film M and M Smith: For Posterity's Sake by Heather Lyons and Nikky Finney, and the book Visual Journey: Harlem and D.C. in the Thirties and Forties, 1996, edited by Deborah Willis and Jane Lusaka, are documented in this series. Also included is printed material collected by the twins about their friend, Romare Bearden, with whom they shared studio space, as well as on other performers, writers, and individuals. The Smiths' involvement in needlework is demonstrated by articles (with accompanying correspondence) showing the patterns they created and sold to such magazines as McCalls's Needlework and Crafts and Good Housekeeping Needlework, 1972-1988.
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1931-1993
The Morgan Smith series includes biographical information; programs for performances of his wife, coloratura soprano Monica Mais; a small amount of correspondence regarding publication of photographs and photographing specific individuals; printed material; and obituaries. Of interest are drafts of articles that Morgan wrote about photography, as well as a newspaper column entitled "From Harlem to Broadway", which appeared in The Entertainer, 1945-1946.
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1931-1998
This series includes biographical information, some correspondence, his sketchbook, printed material in which his artwork is mentioned, material related to his role as a photographer with the U.S. Navy Seabees in the South Pacific during World War II, and material on his career as a set decorator in television and film.
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ca. 1930-1959
The publications in which their photographs can be seen in this collection include Color, Ebony, Flash, Newspic, Opportunity, Sepia, the Harlem School of Nursing 1948 Profectus, and booklets for the Welfare Council of New York City.