James S. Roberts Photographs

The James S. Roberts Photographs incldues 2 boxes of materials and 510 megabytes as a born-digital file. The collection includes photograph prints, color slide transparencies, 35 millimeter black-and-white negatives, an autobiographical sketch written by Roberts describing his experiences at Northwestern and how he discovered his passion for photography, and a born-digital photobook in which Roberts curated a selection of his photographs.

The collection's photographs are largely undated but they were created from 1969-1972 as Roberts began photography during his second year as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University. The born-digital photobook was created in 2021.

Thematic subjects of Roberts' photography include antiwar movement, Mexico, Northwestern University people and campus activities, Evanston and Chicago scenes, and landscapes.

Box one contains approximately 170 prints of black and white photos taken by James Roberts. The prints are made from some of the 35 millimeter negatives contained in the binder. Box one also includes the biographical sketch by Roberts. Box two contains the binder which holds 6 sleeves of approximately 120 individual color slide transparencies and 170 sleeves holding 35 millimeter negatives (totally to almost 6,000 individual images). Some slides have captions labeled by Roberts. The born-digital file is a photobook titled "1969-1972 The Only Years" and contains a selection of the photgraphs created by Roberts.