- About
Introduction to the collection
- Inventory
Browse the collection inventory
- Images
View sample photographs and albums
- Events & News
Past, present, and future Winterton events
- Feedback
Ask a question; send a comment
Northwestern has been awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant to digitize the Winterton Collection. Read the full Press Release.
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| All albums are now available. |
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 Because
photographs are integral to the study of Africa, the Melville J.
Herskovits Library of African Studies includes photographs in its
collections and is committed to making them available for scholarly
research and curricular support. In December 2002, the Herskovits
Library acquired the Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African
photographs. Comprised of about 7,600 photographs organized in 75
separate albums, scrapbooks or loose collections and taken primarily
in East Africa between about 1860 and 1960, the Winterton Collection
adds immeasurably to the breadth and depth of the Herskovits Library’s
photographic collections.
Assembled by the British collector Humphrey Winterton over about
30 years, the collection depicts the breadth of African experience,
documents African life, European life in Africa in all its manifestations
and the African landscape, in particular as it changed over time.
Included are photographs showing the building of East Africa’s
railways, the growth of its urban centers and the development of
European colonial administration. The photographs extensively document
rural life as well as the travels and work of European colonial
officials and private businessmen. There are outstanding examples
of portraiture some of which were taken by commercial studios. Other
photographs produced by commercial studios were specifically taken
for sale and distribution in Europe and North America. The Winterton
Collection also provides an unsurpassed resource for the study of
the history of photography in East Africa. The Winterton Collection
complements the exhaustive resources in print and microform in the
Herskovits Library for the study of East Africa. Purchase of this
extraordinary collection was made available through use of the Charles
Deering McCormick Endowment for Special Collections and the George
and Mary LeCron Foster Endowed Fund.
This website provides access
to the Winterton Collection inventory and a sample of 101
images from the collection. When you view the images available on this
site, you will find the album and image numbers from the inventory
adjacent to the image. The inventory was compiled prior to the
acquisition of the collection by Northwestern University and
is a listing by
album and then by photograph. The descriptions in the inventory
of each photograph are taken directly from the album or were
assigned
when the inventory was compiled prior to Northwestern University’s
purchase of the collection. Where no descriptions appeared, Mr.
Winterton and those working with him compiling the inventory, provided
descriptions when possible.
This web site provides only a sample of the richness of the 6,500
images in the Winterton Collection. Plans for the future include
digitization of many of the images and making them available in
addition to what is already here. Watch this web site for announcements
of availability of further images from the Winterton Collection.
Onsite access to the entire collection is open to researchers
during library hours, Monday-Friday, 8.30 a.m.- 5 p.m. Contact
the Herskovits
Library for further information. E-mail: africana@northwestern.edu
David L. Easterbrook
George and Mary LeCron Foster Curator
Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies |
