Irene Shwachman collection

The Irene Shwachman Collection is divided into four series: Biographical Materials, 1930-1988; Activity Files, 1959-1992; Photographic Materials, 1930s-1980s; and Berenice Abbott Materials, 1959-1986. Although sparse in information about Shwachman’s personal life, the Biographical Materials series includes information about the Quinto family; several copies of her resume; and materials related to her studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the Visual Studies Workshop at Harvard in 1972, and the University Without Walls. Of particular interest are notes from a Visual Studies class taught by Robert Heinecken in 1972. The series also includes two audio interviews with Shwachman, one in 1978 with the Brockton Art Center done in conjunction with an exhibition of her work there titled “Sightlines” and one in 1983 with Connie Springer. Additional information about Shwachman’s personal life can be found in her pseudo autobiographical manuscript, “Prior Learning Portfolio”, in the Activity Files Series.

The Activity Files series includes announcements, exhibition catalogs, and label text for exhibitions featuring Shwachman’s work, including information about “Sightlines” at the Brockton Art Center in 1978, as well as for exhibitions she curated. There is minimal material in the series related to Shwachman’s teaching but there are some class outlines and notes as well as 35mm transparencies culled from images she used in the classroom. There are several manuscripts in this series including handwritten notes about life in Puerto Rico during 1945 as well as two drafts of “Prior Learning Portfolio,” Shwachman’s pseudo autobiography/extend vita. Shwachman appeared to keep notes her entire life about possible projects so additional writings by her appear throughout the collection and not just in the Activity Files. This series also includes several work logs, 1961-1988, as well and negative registers for prints purchase by the Boston Athenaeum which were part of an exhibition of Shwachman’s photographs titled “Boston Today: The Changing Face of the City, 1959-1961,” at the Athenaeum in 1962

The bulk of the materials in the Activity Files series is contained within the subseries Photographic and Book Projects and documents several projects, published and unpublished, undertaken by Shwachman. The “Boston Document” materials (1959-1987) documents Shwachman’s project to photograph the city of Boston from 1959-1968 and is tied with her work with and interest in the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Included is correspondence with Ellie Reichlin, 1985-1987, of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, about printing the “Boston Document.” The project, however, was never completed. Other projects documented in this subseries includes books written by Shwachman – Photography for Girls: 1888 consisting of correspondence, notes, grant proposals, 35mm transparencies, and book dummies; We Grew Up In Manhattan: Notes from an Autobiography, consisting of family correspondence, a book dummy, a transcript of an oral history interview, and a bound copy of the finished book inscribed to Ellie Reichlin in 1987; and Now You Know. This Is Serious Photography, consisting of correspondence, transparencies, proof prints, book dummies, and a monograph

The Photographic Materials series, which includes both family photographs and Shwachman’s own work, consists of study prints, contact sheet, negatives and transparencies arranged, when possible, by format and then by date and/or subject. The materials related to Shwachman’s family is arranged separately within the series. The majority of the materials are 35mm transparencies and 2 1/4 negatives.

Of particular note in the collection are the materials related to Shwachman’s working relationship and friendship with photographer Berenice Abbott found in the Berenice Abbott Materials series. Shwachman kept a detailed account of her relationship with Abbott in the form of typed and handwritten notes rather than a formal journal. Beginning with a detailed account their first meeting in May 1959, events and conversations with Abbott are described by Shwachman in a personal and interpretative manner through 1986. The majority of the notes were written between 1959 and 1967, the most active years of their relationship. Additional materials include exhibition announcements and catalogs, newspaper and magazine clippings – most of which pertain to Abbott, writings by Berenice Abbott, publications, correspondence, and photographic materials. Shwachman planned a book about Abbott which would use the journal notes and selected photographs made by Shwachman but the project was never completed.

The Berenice Abbott Materials series also includes information on the beginnings of photographic exhibitions at the Carl Siembab Gallery in Boston in 1959. Included in the Carl Siembab Gallery files is correspondence from and information about gallery and museum people and photographers including Grace Mayer, Edward Steichen, Helen Gee, Paul Caponigro, and Aaron Siskind. This series also contains numerous New York exhibition catalogs from the 1960s and 1970s, information about Abbott's deliberations concerning the sale of the Atget collection, and Abbott's writings on Atget.

Photographic materials in the Abbott materials produced by Shwachman consist of contact sheets, prints, and negatives. Abbott is pictured in a variety of domestic situations as well as in formal portraits from 1960-1978. These materials are numbered and described as part of Shwachmans’ planned book project about Abbott.

NOTE: Boxes 5 and 6 were combined with other materials at time of reprocessing in 2014. Boxes 5 and 6 no longer exist but box numbers were not reused.

NOTE on Appendix: The index lists only correspondence contained in the Berenice Abbott Materials series. Correspondence with museums at universities is listed under the museum name. Folders are labeled with the date span of the materials they contain therefore the month and year of each article of correspondence is listed after the name of the correspondent to make locating the material easier.