Digitization of the Louis Draper Papers and Archives

FAIN: PW-253706-17

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA 23220-4007)
Stephen Bonadies (Project Director: July 2016 to November 2022)

Cataloging and digitization of the archive of Louis Draper, an African American photographer and educator, who captured the urban life of African-Americans, mostly in New York City, over the latter half of the 20th century.  Draper’s archive consists of 20 linear feet of prints, negatives, contact sheets, color and black and white slides, as well as photographic equipment, notebooks, and manuscripts.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) seeks a grant from the NEH: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Implementation program in the amount of $173,833 for a 29-month project to digitize, preserve and disseminate the entire archive of the important 20th-century African American photographer and educator, Louis Draper. Containing over 50,000 objects, the Draper archive is the most significant acquisition in the history of the VMFA Archives. Through this project, VMFA will improve its stewardship and care of this comprehensive archival collection and its associated content.