THE ARCHIVE OF BOB ADELMAN: 'My life's work, in addition to being about race relations, is about the many and diverse social concerns in the great tradition of American documentary photography: poverty, mental illness, alcoholism, inadequate housing, the immigrant experience, prostitution, delinquency, illiteracy, and on and on.'.

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The Library of Congress has announced the acquisition of the archive of Bob Adelman, one of the best-known photographers of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The collection, containing 575,000 images--50 prints, with the rest negatives and slides--is a gift from an anonymous donor. The materials, which represent a wide range of images covering the latter half of the 20th century, now are housed in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Adelman (1930-2016) photographed many of the important leaders and events of the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington. He also photographed people, events, and other social issues of the day, including pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and short-story writer and poet Raymond Carver.

"My life's work, in addition to being about race relations, is about the many and diverse social concerns in the great tradition of American documentary photography: poverty, mental illness, alcoholism, inadequate housing, the immigrant experience, prostitution, delinquency, illiteracy, and on and on," said Adelman.

Born in New York City, Adelman grew up on Long Island. He earned a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University and a master's in philosophy from Columbia University and took law at Harvard.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963.

Adelman studied photography under Alexey Brodovitch, the famed art director of Harper's Bazaar magazine. As a working photographer and producer of photographic books, Adelman pursued an avid interest in social and political activities. This interest began with coverage of events related to civil rights, such as sit-ins by students across the American South and demonstrations by the Congress of Racial Equality in the early 1960s.

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