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Albert Durant Photography Collection, AV Collection AV-92.1, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Purchase, 1991.
In processing this collection, an effort has been made to preserve the organization Durant used for his photographic materials. Negatives arrived in good order, filed in metal cabinets with index tabs identifying broad subject categories and individual identifications on negative envelopes providing more specific information. This arrangement is recorded in the computerized negative log, which was prepared by taking negatives from the drawers in consecutive order and entering their identifications into the computer.
Photoprints, slides, and oversize prints arrived in boxes in a less discernible order. They have been sorted and filed according to the subject categories Durant used for his negatives. Framed photos were removed from their frames except for those which were fused to the glass. Most photos were also removed from acidic mats, unless the mats were considered to have artifactual significance. In instances where there more than two copies of the same image in a particular format, the two images in the best condition were selected for retention and the others were returned to the donor. Slides, negatives, and prints which were extremely deteriorated were also weeded out of the collection.
Albert Wadsworth Durant was born on February 2, 1920 in New York City to Samuel and Bessie Durant. His mother was a native of Williamsburg who moved with her husband to New York and worked as a domestic servant for a family. After the death of her husband, who was originally from the West Indies, Bessie Durant and her children re-located to Williamsburg, Virginia in 1929.
At age 36, Durant married Elsie Lucille Ferguson on August 18, 1956. They raised three sons, Albert W. Durant, Jr., Byron Murphy, and Roderick Ferguson and two daughters, Yvette Durant and Deanna Ferguson.
Albert Durant ran his own chauffeuring and limousine business in the Williamsburg area, providing services to many distinguished visitors to the city, including the Queen Mother of England, the Prince of Japan, and various chief justices. He often took his customers on excursions to local historic sites, including Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and the James River plantations. Through course work at the College of William and Mary, Durant acquired a background in American history which enabled him to provide historical commentary as he drove customers through the countryside.
Durant's contacts at the College of William and Mary sparked his initial interest in photography and once he had obtained equipment and training, Durant began creating his own historical record of the Williamsburg area. As the first city licensed black photographer in Williamsburg, Durant produced hundreds of portraits documenting the families and activities of African-American residents and also documented significant events, places, and person in and around Williamsburg.
In addition, Albert Durant worked to improve the conditions for African-Americans in Williamsburg by serving in various positions in the city's government. He acted as the first black Justice of the Peace and Bail Commissioner in Williamsburg and served as the first black magistrate of the General District Court from his appointment in 1962 until his retirement in 1975.
Albert Durant died at age 71 on April 14, 1991.
The Albert Durant Photography Collection encompasses photoprints, negatives, slides, and personal papers which document the photographic production of Williamsburg's first black city-licensed photographer, Albert Durant. In addition, these materials offer a visual archive of the African-American experience in Williamsburg between the 1930s and 1960s.
African-American family life is documented in both formal and informal family portraits and portraits of infants and children. Family events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals, and holiday celebrations, are also represented in formal group portraits and candid shots of events taking place.
The collection provides a fascinating glimpse into African-American social life in Williamsburg during the 1940s and 1950s. Durant captures the atmosphere of local jazz and nite clubs through scenes of performers singing and dancing and audiences socializing. Many different taverns and clubs are represented, including Yorkie's Tavern in Lightfoot, Va., the Hillside Cafe Beer Garden, and various clubs in West Point and Hampton. Entertainers pictured in the images include Grant's Trio, Mell-O-Tones, and the Atomic Swingsters. Since Durant occasionally took trips to New York to meet members of well-known blues and jazz bands, the collection also features a few portraits of such musicians as Count Basie.
Durant also acted as photographer for many African- American clubs and organizations. Along with taking formal group portraits, he documented these groups through informal shots of meetings, dinners, and special events. Many African-American women's clubs dedicated to social reform, as well as women's missionary circles, are documented in these photos. The series of club portraits also encompasses occupational groups, such as hairdresser's clubs and doctor's conventions, as well as garden clubs, musical performance groups, hunting and fishing clubs, and community service groups. Several African-American organizations dedicated to fighting for civil rights are also represented, including the Yorktown Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Corlored People.
African-American student life during the late 1940s and early 1950s is also featured in this visual archive. Durant acted as a portrait photographer for Junior-Senior Proms at local black high schools and also documented the sports teams, marching bands, choirs, students, and faculty at Bruton Heights School in Williamsburg. The series of images he categorized as relating to "School Affairs" encompasses Homecoming parades and assemblies, football and basketball teams, theater productions, graduation portraits, and group portraits of classes, clubs, and faculty at various high schools. His negative identifications for this series indicate that he photographed students at Frederick Douglas School, James Weldon Johnson School in Yorktown, Charles City School, Bruton Heights School, Mathew Whaley School, and at various schools in Isle of Wight and Charles City counties.
Various clubs and student organizations are featured in images of parades in Williamsburg and Smithfield. Among the parades represented are the College of William and Mary's Homecoming parades, a Shriner parade, and a parade celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Williamsburg. These photos show various floats prepared by such groups as the Puritan Club, the Junior Women's Club, the Smithfield Players, and college glee clubs and fraternities and sororities.
A popular summer recreational area for Williamsburg's African-Americans in the 1940s and 1950s was Log Cabin Beach. Durant took dozens of souvenir portraits of men, women, and children at this beach along James River. The collection includes numerous examples of these souvenir portraits, some of which are still in their original mats with the Log Cabin Beach inscription.
African-American spiritual life is also well-documented by the collection. Durant photographed church groups, such as choirs and missionary circles, as well as individuals participating in rituals, at many different black churches in the Williamsburg area. Included in this collection are negatives and photoprints of members of the congregations of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in Grove, Va., New Zion Baptist Church in Lightfoot, Va., First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Va., and several other Baptist churches in the area. A series of photos also captures Baptist ministers performing full-immersion baptisms in a river.
Occupations, working conditions, and business opportunities for African-Americans in Williamsburg are also documented in this collection. The photos show African-Americans working in restaurants, beauty and barber shops, stores, offices, dry cleaners, and gas stations. Since he often picked up customers at the Williamsburg Inn and Williamsburg Lodge, Durant enjoyed photographing other chaffeurs and taxi drivers waiting at the hotels, as well as African-American porters and bell captains who were stationed at the entrances. African-American costumed interpreters at Colonial Williamsburg are also captured in some of his informal portraits.
Durant compiled a photographic record of the white community in Williamsburg in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as he fulfilled commissions for wedding pictures, school portraits, businesses, nightclubs, organizations, and special events. Since he chauffered many distinguished visitors around Williamsburg, Durant had opportunities to capture the visits of such heads of state as Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain and the Prince of Japan. In addition, Durant photographed various members of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s family at Bassett Hall and at various sites around the Historic Area.
Colonial Williamsburg's buildings, employees, and programs are also featured in many photos. As part of his photography business, Durant prepared Christmas photo cards with snow scenes of the Historic Area. In addition, he took a series of color slides which document the filming of
Crime, accidents, and disasters in Williamsburg were also recorded on film by Durant, who appers to have provided photographic services to the Police Department. A series of photos provides a graphic visual record of a fire at the Brick House Tavern in the Historic Area. Durant also recorded automobile accidents and police investigations.
Other local events commemorated in Durant's photos include the trial run of the S.S. United States, a ship built by the Newport News Shipyard and Drydock Co. (now known as Newport News Shipbuilding.) This series of photos documents staff on board the ship, as well as the interiors of various rooms and the exterior of the ship. Durant also compiled photographic documentation of the groundbreaking for the Anheuser-Busch plant and of the Bicentennial at Yorktown in 1976.
Although this collection provides little documentation of Durant's personal life, it does include one box of personal papers relating to Durant's limousine business and to his activities as a member of the city government. Some of these papers were removed for preservation purposes from a scrapbook and are retained in their original order in a folder. They include certificates, correspondence, news clippings, and photos documenting Durant's activities as a magistrate, notary public, and chauffeur. Durant's concern about equal opportunities for African-Americans is reflected in news clippings about housing discrimination, as well as a letter from President Johnson's secretary personally thanking Durant for his comments on the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The scrapbook materials also include several letters from satisfied customers who enjoyed Durant's driving and historical commentary.
This collection has been organized into 5 series:
Series 1. Photoprints
Series 2. Negatives
Series 3. Slides
Series 4. Oversize Prints
Series 5. Personal Papers
The subject matter of this visual archive is well-documented in a negative log prepared from the identifications found on Durant's original negative envelopes. As negatives were re-housed in acid free envelopes, information from the original envelopes was transferred to this log. Researchers can conduct keyword searches in the computerized version of this log to locate specific individuals, organizations, places, and events. The log also provides dates for some of the images. Although some photoprints have been matched up to their corresponding negatives, the process of linking prints to negatives is very time consuming and is still continuing. Researchers who wish to locate the print made from a particular negative must examine all of the prints in a particular subject series in order to find a match. It is hoped that in time each photoprint will have a negative number on its back linking it to a specific negative in the negative file.
Contains black and white and color photoprints ranging in size from wallet-sized snapshots to 8 x 10 inch prints.
A group of these photoprints have been arranged in sub-series to correspond with the arrangement devised by Durant to organize his images. This arrangement was derived from notations on the envelopes housing negatives. Most of Durant's negatives were filed in envelopes having a numeric series designation and a subject. Since not all of the series were represented on the envelopes received with the photoprints, the sub-series below are not always consecutively numbered. Instead, they reflect the numeric designation originally assigned by Durant to a particular series.
Consists of black & white and color portraits of male and female African-Americans. Most of the prints are carefully posed portraits, although some of them appear to be candid shots taken of the subject involved in an activity. A group of male portraits within this sub-series has been identified as faculty portraits for the Surry County Training School. Some of the female portraits appear to have been taken for a special occasion, such as a prom, engagement or birthday. A few of the female portraits date from the very early twentieth century, showing African-American women in Edwardian attire.
Arranged by gender into male and female portraits.
Includes black and white formal portraits of African American couples and their wedding parties, as well as photos of the bride and groom, the wedding party, and guests at the wedding ceremony and reception.
Contains formal black and white photos of African American infants and children. These photos range in size from snapshots to 5x7 and 8x10 inch prints. Most of the baby pictures are of the infant alone, although a few also feature the parents. This sub-series includes formal portraits of siblings and of parents with their children. In addition, it features some informal portraits of children playing or participating in special events, such as birthday parties. A few of the pictures appear to be of a kindergarten class graduation ceremony.
Arranged into Single Baby and Children categories.
Consists of formal black and white portraits of African American families posing in their homes or gathered for a special event, such as Christmas.
Includes 5x7 and 8x10 inch black and white photos of African American couples and groups at formal dances during the 1950s.
Contains 5x7 and 8x10 inch black and white photos of African American funerals, as well as of dead adults and babies in their coffins.
Includes black and white portraits of groups of individuals participating in the meetings and events of a wide variety of social, religious, occupational, and community service clubs for African Americans. Clubs represented include usher boards at churches, church choirs, church missionary circles, Park Social Club, Eastern Stars, Carver Garden Club, Peninsula Undertakers, Just Us Club, Beautician's Club, Williamsburg Baseball Team, Elks Club, Ironbound Rd. Quartet, Barley Corn Quartet, Smithfield Hunt Club, and the Yorktown Chapter of the NAACP. Many other groups are still unidentified.
Arranged by type of club.
Consists of black and white record photography Durant took for the Police Department of automobile accidents.
Includes 5x7 and 8x10 inch black and white prints of African American couples. Many of these pictures appear to have been taken to commemorate an engagement or wedding anniversary.
Consists of 8x10 inch black and white prints of African American businesses, including barber and beauty shops, a dry cleaning shop, restaurants, groceries, and offices. In addition, this sub-series contains images of African Americans working in various occupations.
Contains black and white 5x7 and 8x10 inch prints of African American students participating in activities at various schools in the Williamsburg area, including Bruton Heights School. These images document Homecoming courts, parades, and dances, sports teams and cheerleaders, singing groups, graduations, Junior/Senior Proms, marching bands, theater productions, and faculty members. Some of the faculty portraits have been identified as staff of the James City County Training School and the Hampton Institute. A few photos are also present of the exterior of Bruton Heights School and Frederick Douglas School.
Arranged alphabetically in broad subject categories.
Includes black and white copy prints Durant made from old photographs for various clients. Although these images are not as crisp as direct prints, they do provide some interesting examples of early twentieth century African American portraits and reveal another facet of Durant's photography business.
Contains black and white and color prints in various sizes recording events in and around Colonial Williamsburg, as well as community events organized by the city of Williamsburg. This sub-series encompasses a few photos of buildings in the Historic Area and also features photos of both white and African American costumed interpreters. In addition, it includes aerial views of Williamsburg and scenes of homes and neighborhoods throughout the city.
Consists of black and white and color prints in various sizes of white people. Durant placed in this category all photography featuring white people, whether the images were of families or of a business or organization. The sub-series encompasses portraits and special events, parades and other activities at the College of William and Mary, and white people working at businesses, participating in clubs, or socializing at nightclubs.
This sub-series also includes photos of the Queen Mother's visit to Williamsburg on November 12-14, 1954, as well as visits of Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Japan. In addition, it contains black and white and color photos of various members of the Rockefeller family during visits to Williamsburg. Durant also placed some of his record photography of policemen performing investigations in this category.
Arranged alphabetically in broad subject categories.
White people with their cars.
Three framed photos. The first shows the Rockefellers at the door fo Bassett Hall. The second and third show three people on the steps of the President's House, College of William and Mary.
Includes 5x7 and 8x10 inch black and white prints of African American churches in Williamsburg, Grove, Lightfoot, Grafton, Smithfield, and other communities. These prints record such rituals as baptisms and communion, as well as ministers preaching and interacting with congregations. In addition, they include many group portraits of choirs, usher boards, Sunday school classes, and women's missionary circles. Churches and groups which have been identified include First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in Grove, New Zion Baptist Church in Lightfoot, Oak Tree Church, St. John's Church, the Shiloh Church Choir, the Lily of the Valley Club, and the Smithfield Church Club.
Consists of 5x7 and 8x10 inch black and white prints of African Amerian night clubs in the Williamsburg area. These prints capture both audiences conversing at tables and performers giving floor shows at such places as Yorkie's Tavern, Aberdeen Garden, and the Hillside Cafe Beer Garden. Since Durant often traveled to other locations to photograph jazz musicians and singers, this series includes a few portraits of such well known jazz performers as Count Basie.
Includes 8x10 inch color prints of what appears to be the ground-breaking ceremony for the Anheuser-Busch plant in Williamsburg in 1969.
Consists of black and white prints of cats and color prints of turkeys.
Contains black and white photos of individuals posing with their automobiles or driving in parades.
Includes color snapshots of a Bicentennial celebration at the Yorktown Victory Center in 1976.
Includes black and white and color prints of African American men hunting and fishing. Most of the hunting photos are formal portraits of hunting clubs displaying the game they caught. The fishing photos are candid shots of groups engaged in fishing on boats or along rivers.
Consists of color prints of costumed interpreters and visitors at the reconstructed Jamestown fort and of the monument on Jamestown Island.
Includes souvenir portraits of African Americans taken at Log Cabin Beach on the James River. A selection of these portraits are still in their original mattes.
Contains one 8x10 inch black and white photo of performers in a minstrel show.
Consists of black and white Christmas photo cards featuring scenes of Colonial Williamsburg, family portraits, and jazz performers.
Arranged into broad subject categories.
Contains 8x10 inch black and white prints of the S.S. United States during a trial run. These photos include portraits of kitchen and wait staff on board the ship, as well as interior and exterior views of the ship.
Includes 8x10 inch black and white copy prints of photos drawn from various sub-series which were exhibited at the Williamsburg Regional Library in October 1993.
Arranged by subject.
Consists of 5,188 original negatives and 125+ copy negatives which are individually described in a negative log. Each negative has been assigned a negative number. The copy negatives correspond to the copy prints in Series I, Sub-series 11.
Arranged in negative number order.
Includes color 35mm slides of a wide variety of subjects similar to those featured in the series of photoprints. Of particular interest is a group which documents the filming of "Story of a Patriot" at Colonial Williamsburg. The slides also record a brick-laying ceremony for First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, sports teams and Homecoming celebrations at Bruton Heights School in Williamsburg, distinguished visitors to Williamsburg, and several plantations along the James River.
Arranged by subject.
Stereographs of landscapes, a wedding, a church, and a monument.
Contains large-format black and white color photoprints of a variety of subjects, including the Queen Mother of England visiting Williamsburg, nightclub performers, a high school band, graduation and wedding portraits, and church groups.
Consists of correspondence, newsclippings, pamphlets, and memorabilia relating to Durant's career and personal life. Some of the materials in this series were removed from a scrapbook compiled by Durant. Several portraits of Durant are also present.
Arranged chronologically by format.