Photographs of New York City and Puerto Rico - NYPL Digital Collections

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Description: Depictions of African Americans and Puerto Ricans living in New York City, from 1947 to 1951, and of workers and their families in Puerto Rico, in 1952, consisting of candid shots and group portraits of children, women, families, musicians, and mostly male laborers; and views of New York families at leisure, street life, construction projects, housing and living conditions, sugar cane field workers, sugar refinery workers, salt flat workers, female laundry and sewing workers, and dwellings in urban and coastal environments. A candid shot of the photographer in Puerto Rico (1952) is included. Some images are only available as contact sheets.
Names: Lachatañeré, Rómulo (Photographer)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1947 - 1952 (Questionable)
Library locations: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division; Shelf locator: Sc Photo Portfolio (Lachatañeré, R.)
Topics: African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York (N.Y.); Puerto Ricans -- New York (State) -- New York (N.Y.); City & town life -- New York (State) -- New York (N.Y.) -- 1940-1959; Street life -- New York (State) -- New York; Children -- New York (State) -- New York (N.Y.) -- 1940-1959; Black people -- Puerto Rico; Sugar industry -- Puerto Rico -- 1950-1959; Children -- Puerto Rico -- 1950-1959; Puerto Rico -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1952; Puerto Rico -- Social conditions -- 1952-; East Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
Genres: Portrait photographs; Group portraits; Photographs
Notes: Statement of responsibility: Rómulo Lachatañeré.; Content: Title based on photo captions and texts about the photographer.; Content: Many photographs bear handwritten captions on verso. Many items are mounted. Some contact sheets bear image selection marks on recto. Some items are duplicates.; Content: Images of Puerto Rico were developed and printed posthumously.; Biographical/historical: Rómulo Lachatañeré, 1906-1952, was born in Santiago de Cuba. A self-taught ethnologist and photographer who moved to New York City in 1939, Lachatañeré wrote articles and two books, "Oh Mio! Yemaya" (1938) and "Manual de Santeria" (1942), on Afro-Cuban religious beliefs. He also wrote articles and news reports on the conditions of Puerto Ricans living in the United States, and race relations in Cuba. In the mid-1940s, Lachatañeré began using photography as a documentary resource, recording the social and living conditions of African Americans and Puerto Ricans in East Harlem and Brooklyn, New York. In early 1952, after photographing the conditions of workers and their families in Puerto Rico, Lachatañeré died in a plane crash returning to the United States. Film rolls, mailed to his wife Sara, were posthumously developed and organized as an exhibition by his colleague Jack Lessinger.
Physical Description: Gelatin silver prints; Extent: 266 items (1.6 cubic ft., 7 boxes); Extent: 186 photographic prints : gelatin silver, black and white ; 26 x 21 cm and smaller.; Extent: 46 photographic prints : gelatin silver, black and white ; 36 x 28 cm and smaller.; Extent: 34 contact sheets : gelatin silver, black and white ; 21 x 26 cm; Organized into two series: I. New York City, 1947-1951; II. Puerto Rico, 1952.
Type of Resource: Still image
Identifiers: RLIN/OCLC: 1281681526; NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b22630276; Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): c5a52e30-c622-012f-2288-58d385a7bc34

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