Matagalpa, 1980-1984
File — Box: 26, Folder: 18
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
The collection contains Margaret Randall’s portraits of family and friends, her landscape photography, and photos of events related to her life as a writer, poet, oral historian, and political activist. The collection consists of proof sheets and prints that correspond to negatives, except for a few folders that contain only negatives, which is noted in the folder description. The collection contains 5 series parsed into smaller subseries that reflect Randall’s thematic emphasis on people, landscape, and events. Although people, landscape, and events are inseparable in Randall’s work and there is obvious overlap in these categories, Randall’s own descriptions of the photo determined the category used for series and subseries placement. Margaret Randall assisted with identification of the images during the series development with written categorization on the proof folders. Many of the contact sheets have red or black marker surrounding an image that Randall used to identify photos she wanted to use in one of her books or the photography sections of her website.
Series 1: Original Accession. These folders contain photos separated from the Margaret Randall papers in 2006. There are 4 folders with images of Randall with her family; portraits of Randall used for book covers and publicity; images of Randall after her deportation hearing; images of Randall and Audre Lorde and Ron Kovic; and, photos taken of, and with, Ruth Hubbard for the various projects that they worked on together.
Series 2: People. These folders contain people that Randall photographed throughout her life. The 3 subseries group the photos into family, identified people, and events that involve people engaged in activities. Subseries 1 includes the Randall family as a grouping. These are images of Randall taken by other photographers and pictures she took of her immediate family members such as her parents, spouse, siblings, children and grandchildren. In her writing, Randall describes her family as being a favorite subject for her photography. Subseries 2 includes images of identified people that Randall photographed during her life. Some identified people appear in different series depending upon the context and date of the photos, and over the years Randall would take multiple photos of her subjects in different time periods and decades of their lives. These photos tell the story of not only change over time for her subjects, but also Randall’s own history as a photographer working with familiar subjects and treasured friends spanning several decades. Subseries 3 includes events such as poetry festivals, parades, trips around the world with family, friends and activists, and images she took of people engaged in formal and informal work settings.
Series 3: Place. These folders contain photographs of places around the world where Randall lived briefly and/or visited on trips. The first, and larger of the two subseries includes countries arranged in alphabetized order. The images contain national monuments and parks, rivers and mountain ranges, archaeological sites, animal and plant-life indigenous to the country, ancient and sacred sites, architecture, local farmers’ markets, and indoor and outdoor cityscapes and scenes. The smaller, second miscellaneous subseries contain photos that focus on cemeteries, churches, tombstones, and graveyard landscapes.
Series 4: Cuba. These folders contain photos that Randall took during the years she lived in Cuba from 1969 to 1980. The subseries follow the major themes of people, places, and events in identified groupings and unidentified groupings. The photos include Randall’s earliest images when she officially began her work as a photographer in the late 1970s working under the tutelage of Ramon Martinez Grandal. Randall describes her decision to learn photography in her book To Change the World: My Years in Cuba Rutgers: University Press, 2009.
Series 5: Nicaragua. These folders contain photos Randall took in Nicaragua from November 1979 to January 1980 during her first visit to Nicaragua, and the photos she took during the four years she lived in Nicaragua from 1980 to 1984. Similar to the other sections of the collection, the subseries is arranged with people, places and events. Notable in these images are Randall’s work where she first explores conducting oral histories with her subjects while photographing them as they describe their lives and experiences. These photographs are especially significant because they are images taken during the first years of the victorious Sandinista National Liberation Front, and include significant people and events involved in revolutionary activities. Importantly, Randall’s images create a record of the remarkable women who fought in and won the Nicaraguan revolution in such positions as field commanders, rank-and-file guerillas, messengers, intelligence agents, keepers of safe-houses and other important roles. These images compliment the many books and poems that Randall has written on the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.
Series 1: Original Accession. These folders contain photos separated from the Margaret Randall papers in 2006. There are 4 folders with images of Randall with her family; portraits of Randall used for book covers and publicity; images of Randall after her deportation hearing; images of Randall and Audre Lorde and Ron Kovic; and, photos taken of, and with, Ruth Hubbard for the various projects that they worked on together.
Series 2: People. These folders contain people that Randall photographed throughout her life. The 3 subseries group the photos into family, identified people, and events that involve people engaged in activities. Subseries 1 includes the Randall family as a grouping. These are images of Randall taken by other photographers and pictures she took of her immediate family members such as her parents, spouse, siblings, children and grandchildren. In her writing, Randall describes her family as being a favorite subject for her photography. Subseries 2 includes images of identified people that Randall photographed during her life. Some identified people appear in different series depending upon the context and date of the photos, and over the years Randall would take multiple photos of her subjects in different time periods and decades of their lives. These photos tell the story of not only change over time for her subjects, but also Randall’s own history as a photographer working with familiar subjects and treasured friends spanning several decades. Subseries 3 includes events such as poetry festivals, parades, trips around the world with family, friends and activists, and images she took of people engaged in formal and informal work settings.
Series 3: Place. These folders contain photographs of places around the world where Randall lived briefly and/or visited on trips. The first, and larger of the two subseries includes countries arranged in alphabetized order. The images contain national monuments and parks, rivers and mountain ranges, archaeological sites, animal and plant-life indigenous to the country, ancient and sacred sites, architecture, local farmers’ markets, and indoor and outdoor cityscapes and scenes. The smaller, second miscellaneous subseries contain photos that focus on cemeteries, churches, tombstones, and graveyard landscapes.
Series 4: Cuba. These folders contain photos that Randall took during the years she lived in Cuba from 1969 to 1980. The subseries follow the major themes of people, places, and events in identified groupings and unidentified groupings. The photos include Randall’s earliest images when she officially began her work as a photographer in the late 1970s working under the tutelage of Ramon Martinez Grandal. Randall describes her decision to learn photography in her book To Change the World: My Years in Cuba Rutgers: University Press, 2009.
Series 5: Nicaragua. These folders contain photos Randall took in Nicaragua from November 1979 to January 1980 during her first visit to Nicaragua, and the photos she took during the four years she lived in Nicaragua from 1980 to 1984. Similar to the other sections of the collection, the subseries is arranged with people, places and events. Notable in these images are Randall’s work where she first explores conducting oral histories with her subjects while photographing them as they describe their lives and experiences. These photographs are especially significant because they are images taken during the first years of the victorious Sandinista National Liberation Front, and include significant people and events involved in revolutionary activities. Importantly, Randall’s images create a record of the remarkable women who fought in and won the Nicaraguan revolution in such positions as field commanders, rank-and-file guerillas, messengers, intelligence agents, keepers of safe-houses and other important roles. These images compliment the many books and poems that Randall has written on the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.
Dates
- 1980-1984
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 41,720 items (28 boxes) : approximately 40,000 negatives, 1,700 contact sheets, and 20 photographic prints
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu