Skip to main content

Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African photographs

 Collection
Identifier: 037

  • Staff Only
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African photographs is comprised of about 6,500 photographs organized in 75 primary collections of separate albums, scrapbooks or loose collections. Primary collections range from a single photograph to a set of several photograph albums plus envelopes of loose photographs.

Dates

  • 1860-1960
  • Majority of material found within 1880-1920

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

To inquire about access to this collection, please contact the Herskovits Library at africana@northwestern.edu.

Conditions Governing Use

The images and documents on this web site, from the collections of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies of Northwestern University, are provided for use by its students, faculty and staff, and by other researchers visiting this site, for research consultation and scholarly purposes only. Further distribution and/or any commercial use of the images from this site is not permitted.

History

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.

Biographical / Historical

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.

Extent

6500 items (75 albums, scrapbooks, and loose collections.)

Abstract

The collection is comprised of about 6,500 photographs organized in 75 separate albums, scrapbooks or loose collections, taken primarily in East Africa between about 1860 and 1960.

Acquisition Information

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.

Original documents

Original collection available at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies of Northwestern University.

Existence and Location of Copies

Collection has been digitized and is available at: http://winterton.library.northwestern.edu/index.html

Title
Guide to the Winterton Collection of East African photographs
Author
Benn Joseph; Gary Strawn
Date
2002
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Library Details

Part of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Repository

Contact:
Main Library, 5th Floor, East Tower
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-467-3084