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Bert Morgan photographic collection, ca. 1960-1989.
Amount:
92 cubic ft. (360,427 4"x 5" and 2.25" negatives, color and b&w; 292,248 contact prints, b&w)
Medium Included:
negatives contact prints
Organization/Arrangement:
Chronological and numerical by photographer's image number.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Bert Morgan (1904-1986) was a photographer whose best-known work was his photographs of Palm Beach high society people and events. He often worked with his son Richard Morgan (1936-2012).
Born in England, Bert Morgan moved with his family to the United States in 1911. He began his photography career at the age of 15 as a photograph syndication salesman for the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News. He began working as a full time freelance photographer in 1930, specializing in high society events including weddings, polo matches, horse shows, private parties, and charity balls.
Morgan was also the official track photographer of the New York Racing Association. His son Richard started his career in photography by assisting Bert in transmitting photographs by wire from racetracks to newspapers and magazines, and later by filling in for Bert as photographer when Bert was unavailable. Later, the two photographed the social scene together in locations such as Palm Beach, New York, Southampton, Newport, Saratoga, Key West, Nassau and Jamaica.
Bert Morgan moved his base of operations to Palm Beach, Florida in the late 1950s and began to concentrate on photographing the Florida east coast social scene, particularly Palm Beach. His work was regularly published in magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Town and Country, and The Social Spectator.
Summary:
This collection consists of more than 360,000 photographic negatives taken by Bert Morgan and his son Richard from the 1960s through the 1980s documenting Palm Beach high society people, places, and events. Included are images of parties, charity balls, sporting events, gallery openings, street scenes, and other events and locations. Nearly every prominent individual or public figure who lived in or passed through Palm Beach during this time was captured in these images, including several photographs of John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. The images are primarily 120 color film negatives. Accompanying the images is an extensive card index.
Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form:
Select images have been digitized and are available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials:
Additional Bert Morgan images are available from Getty Images (search "Bert Morgan" at http://www.gettyimages.com/) and the Bert Morgan Archive (http://www.morganarchive.com/).
for detailed listing.