Register & request materials
Register as a researcher and request materials online before visiting the Rubenstein Library Reading Room. Most of our materials are stored off-site and we will need to retrieve them, so please plan ahead. Here's what to know before you arrive.
Accessing Restricted Collections: A number of our collections are tagged with physical or technical restrictions due to the fragility of the original media. They are available to view either on the Digital Repository, or via use copies when requested.
We recognize there are times when viewing the original media is warranted for research. In order to request access to the physical media or to inquire about any restrictions on collections in the Archive of Documentary Arts please email Caitlin Margaret Kelly, curator, at caitlin.kelly@duke.edu, or via phone at 919-681-7963, or you may reach out to J. Andrew Armacost, head of collection development for the Rubenstein Library.
Media, subject, & artist guides
The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library is home to many photographs, film/video, audio, and other materials from 1839 to present. The guides below highlight many of our holdings in the Archive of Documentary Arts but are not comprehensive listings of the entire collection. Use the catalog search on the Rubenstein Library homepage to search materials in all of our collections.
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Browse moving images by format including, Super 8 Film, 16mm Film, and 35mm Film. Be sure to check out our guides to the Full Frame Festival Archive, the New Day Films Archive, and the H. Lee Waters Film Collection.
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Browse photographic formats, including, Albumen Prints, Daguerreotypes, Lantern Slides, Tintypes, Salted Paper Prints, and Silver Gelatin Prints, among many others.
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Browse audio and oral history collections. (coming soon)
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Browse documentary artists by name.
Digitized Collections
A selection of materials from the Archive of Documentary Arts have been digitized and are available through Duke Digital Collections including:
- Americans in the Land of Lenin: Documentary Photographs of Early Soviet Russia
- Jesse Andrews Photographs
- Frank Espada Photographs
- Sidney D. Gamble Photographs Collection
- William Gedney Photographs and Writings
- Alex Harris Photographs
- James Karales Photographs
- Paul Kwilecki Photographs
- Hugh Mangum Photographs
- Carlo Naya Photograph Albums of Venice
- Ronald Reis Photographs
- Reginald Sellman Negatives
- Deena Stryker Photographs
- H. Lee Waters Film Collection
Use of digitized collections
Learn more about citations, permissions, and copyright for Rubenstein Library collection materials. If you plan to publish or broadcast images or other materials from the Rubenstein Library that Duke University holds a copyright interest in, it is necessary to obtain a contract for permission for non-exclusive rights from the library.
