Hidden Treasures Discovered
Getty teams work with university administrators to sort through physical archives and identify commercially viable historical content.
Collections include photos of campus founders, civil rights leaders, notable historic figures, early campus scenes, and legendary athletes during their college years.
Illidge described finding a photo of a woman driving a vehicle in 1900, and images of Jesse Jackson interacting with students at every school visited.
“We’ve even found chrome negatives, we found a negative of Muhammad Ali in Florida at an event,” she said.
The non-profit initiative also includes quarterly calls to share best practices and mentorship programs that sign HBCU photographers as Getty Images contributors.
Initial grant recipients included Claflin University, North Carolina Central University, Jackson State University, and Prairie View A&M University.
The program later expanded to Southern University and A&M College, Lincoln University, Delaware State University, Stillman College, Bennett College, Florida A&M University, and Alcorn State University.
Illidge said the program is just starting, with 11 institutions out of over 100 HBCUs.
>>> Katie Price's Children Detail Emotional Toll of Her Drug Addiction in Documentary
“We’re just starting to scratch the surface. The more, the merrier,” she said.
Many historic campuses own culturally iconic photographs that have circulated globally without proper credit.
One example is a famous black-and-white photo of a young Black man drinking from a whites-only water fountain during the Jim Crow era.
The subject and photographer is Cecil J. Williams, an 86-year-old Claflin University alum who still practices photography.
