Inventory of the Carl Mydans photographs, 1935-1968

Abstract

Photojournalist (1907-2004) for the Farm Security Administration and Life magazine.

Collection includes (66) 8x10 and 11x14 photographs made for the Farm Security Administration and for Life magazine from 1935-1968.

Descriptive Summary

Repository: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Creator: Mydans, Carl.
Title: Carl Mydans photographs, 1935-1968
Language of Material: English
Extent: 2.0 Linear Feet, 66 Items
Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Collection (2010-0023) consists of 66 black and white photographs spanning Carl Mydans' career. Images from his early work for the Farm Security Administration include photographs of cowboys and ranchers from Freer, Texas; migrant workers and rural life in Texas and Arkansas; a photograph of the Capitol building through a Washington, D.C. slum; and political banners from the 1936 presidential election.

The majority of the collection dates from his time working for Life magazine as a war photographer. Mydans' subjects include the Sino-Japanese war beginning in 1941, his time in the Philippines and the battle for Manila, his coverage of the Allies in France and Italy during the liberation of Europe, and his travels with General Douglas MacArthur during MacArthur's return to the Philippines and the subsequent surrender of the Japanese. Mydans' World War II images are fairly evenly split into equal parts combat and street scenes: there seem to be just as many photographs of tea rooms and markets in China as there are photographs of Japanese bombing raids in the Philippines. This portion of the collection also includes some of Mydans' most famous and memorable photographs, including a portrait of General MacArthur with his sunglasses and pipe, a photograph of MacArthur leading the army ashore in the Philippines, and an image of a collaborater being shaved following the liberation of France.

Another significant component of the collection is Mydans' post-World War II images, which include Japanese war crimes tribunals, Korean War coverage, portraits of coal miners and politicians in Europe, and photographs taken during the Fukui earthquake. Also included is a self-portrait of Mydans in Vietnam, the only photograph taken in color, from 1968.

Nearly all of the photographs have handwritten captions on the back, which have been transcribed in the Collection Description portion of the finding aid. Some of the handwritten captions have been supplemented by a caption list, available in hard copy in Box 3. [Brackets] indicate information added by processors. Some prints have also been signed by Mydans.

Administrative Information

A majority of collections are stored off site and must be requested at least 24 business hours in advance for retrieval. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for educational, non-commercial use. Copyright is retained by the creator.

However, collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this form before using this collection.

Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Contents of the Collection

Browse List of Series

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Photographs, 1935-1968

(3 boxes)

Texas fence rider, 1938

Box 1

County Store, Big Bend County, Texas, 1937

Box 1

Japanese bombing of Chung King, China, 1941

Box 1

Yellow River Fort roadway trench, Sian area, China, 1941

Box 1

Surrendering the sword to the U.S. Marines at the Kurihawa Naval Base, Japan, 1945

Box 1

Fight for Manila, 1945

Box 1

MacArthur portrait, 1945

Box 1

General Jiro Minami at War Crimes Tribunal, Tokyo, 1947

Box 1

Opium den, Singapore, 1941

Box 1

3 amazed men at Village Table, near Chungking, 1941

Box 1

Collaborist [getting her head shaved] during the Liberation of Southern France, Marseille, August 1944

Box 1

[Soldiers] Near Verdun after German breakthrough at Sedan, France, 1940

Box 1

French tank brigade near Verdun after the German breakthrough at Sedan, France, 1940

Box 1

Mutinous soldiers of the South Korean army taken prisoner after aborted uprising, 1948

Box 1

[People running during an] earthquake, Fukui, Japan, 1948

Box 1

Earthquake, Fukui, Japan, 1948

Box 1

Daily morning gathering at City Hall, Batesville, Arkansas, June 1936

Box 1

Daughter of migrant workers near Raymondsville, Texas, 1937

Box 1

Shelling of Walled City, Manila, Philippines, 1945

Box 1

American and Filipino guerillas join forces in attack on Japanese, Northern Luzon, Philippines, 1945

Box 1

Chinese nationalist troops at the front, Pengpu, China, 1945

Box 1

View of the nation's capitol through a nearby slum area, Washington, D.C., 1935

Box 1

Political banners for the 1936 election span a street in Hardwick, Vermont, 1936

Box 1

Tea room, Lung Chuan-I Village, China, 1941

Box 1

Surrendar on the Missouri, 1945

Box 2

One hundred year old man, Sian Area, China, 1941

Box 2

[Dead men], Korea, 1950

Box 2

[2 camels in the] Egypt desert, undated

Box 2

Sand hogs in a New York City tunnel, 1939

Box 2

Ezra Pound portrait, Milano, Italy, 1940

Box 2

De Valera portrait, Ireland, 1954

Box 2

Pavolini, Fascist official and propaganda minister, Rome, 1940

Box 2

Tojo, War Crimes trials in Tokyo, 1947

Box 2

Working in the 18 inch seam, British coal miners, 1952

Box 2

MacArthur in The Bataan during the Korean War, 1950

Box 2

MacArthur leading at Luzon, 1945

Box 2

War near Pengpu, China, 1949

Box 2

Chungking, 1941

Box 2

[Boats in] Shanghai, undated

Box 2

Migrant worker and children, Lower Rio Grande near Raymondsville, Texas, 1937

Box 2

Tea room scene, Chungking, China, 1941

Box 2

Fukui [earthquake], Japan, 1948

Box 2

Japan, undated

Box 2

Conscripts of the Chinese National Army walk through Chungking on a labor detail, China, 1941

Box 2

Battle for Manila, 1945

Box 2

Village main street, Lung Chuan-I, China, 1941

Box 2

Japan's first post-war vehicle, Hiroshima, 1947

Box 2

Village street with temple bell, Lung Chuan-I, China, 1941

Box 2

Vladamir Nabokov, novelist and lepidopterist, in Ithaca, NY, 1958

Box 3

Woman standing on a boat, Hong Kong, 1950

Box 3

Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 1950

Box 3

Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, Premier of Iran, at his trial in Tehran, Iran, 1953

Box 3

White-faced steer charging the camera, Texas, 1937

Box 3

Rector and church, Warleggan, England, 1953

Box 3

Roustabouts take time off from their jobs in Freer, Texas, oil boom town, 1937

Box 3

Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Biggleswade, England, 1955

Box 3

Loungers hang around the Duval Club lunchroom in Freer, Texas, 1937

Box 3

Police chief [cowboy boots], Freer, Texas, 1937

Box 3

Coal miners in British pub, 1952

Box 3

Corregidor just before the Japanese attack, Philippines, 1941

Box 3

Minister's meeting [parking lot] in Fascist Italy, Rome, 1940

Box 3

A mother carrying her baby and worldly goods flees the fighting around Seoul, Korea, 1951

Box 3

Bucket carrier on the road from Kamakura to Kugenuma, Sugamo Bay, Japan, 1949

Box 3

Self portrait of Mydans, Vietnam, 1968

Box 3

Hat seller, Lung Chuan-I, China, 1941

Box 3

Historical Note

Carl Mydans was an American photographer who spent most of his career with Life magazine. Some of his most memorable photographs were taken during World War II.

Born on May 20, 1907, Mydans studied journalism and photography in Boston in 1930 and spent some time as a writer in New York. He began working for the Farm Security Administration in 1935, where he documented rural and farm life, including migrant farm families, in the South and in New England. In 1936, he was hired as one of the first staff photographers for Life magazine. His early assignments included documenting cattle ranchers in Freer, Texas, and tunnel sand hogs in New York City. He married his wife, Shelley Smith, in 1938, and they became a writer-photographer team for Life. When World War II began, the Mydanses traveled throughout Europe and Asia. They were captured by the Japanese after the fall of the Philippines in 1941, and spent almost two years as prisoners-of-war in Manila and Shanghai. Following their release, Carl Mydans went back to the front in Europe and covered the liberation of Italy and France. His acquaintence with General Douglas MacArthur led to his covering MacArthur's return to the Philippines in 1944 and the eventual surrender of Japan in 1945.

In 1947, the Mydanses became Time-Life's bureau chiefs in Tokyo, and they remained in the Pacific area for the next several years. Carl Mydans was present during a 1948 earthquake in Fukui, Japan, and also covered the Korean War in 1950 and 1951. He traveled the world through the 1960s and 1970s, and worked for Life until it ceased weekly publication in 1972. He continued to work as a photographer for Time and other publications until his eighties. He died on August 16, 2004.