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Collection Number: P0018

Collection Title: Paul and Lafayette Buchanan Photographic Collection, circa 1920s-1930s

This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.

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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 37 items)
Abstract The collection of white photographers Paul Buchanan (1910-1987) and Allen Lafayette “Fate” Buchanan (1868-1951) contains 37 black-and-white photographic prints made from original negatives loaned to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archive. The images depict unidentified individuals from North Carolina counties Mitchell, Yancey, Avery, and McDowell where the Buchanans worked between the 1920s and 1930s. Their photography was not stylized, and images appear spontaneous. Some images include dogs and horses.
Creator Buchanan, Lafayette.



Buchanan, Paul, 1910-1987.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No image in this collection may be reproduced without the permission and consent of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Paul and Lafayette Photographic Buchanan Collection #P0018, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
In 1987, Mrs. Paul Buchanan allowed the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to make prints from the original glass negatives in her possession. The University Photographic Archivist selected images from the collections to have duplicated.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, 1997

Encoded by: Patrick Cullom, May 2010

Edited by Rebecca Stubbs, July 2019

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Paul Buchanan was born around 1910 and lived at Hawk in Mitchell County, N.C. He learned photography from his father, Lafayette "Fate" Buchanan, who engaged in the business on a part-time basis. In the 1920s, Paul Buchanan started working in the medium professionally and often traveled in the mountain counties of Mitchell,Yancey, Avery, and McDowell in search of subjects. Paul Buchanan died in 1987.

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The collection consists of 37 prints made from original negatives loaned to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives for printing. Buchanan's photography is not stylized; his subjects dressed as they wished and his photographs appear spontaneous. The images show unidentified men, women, and children in the mountain counties where Buchanan worked. Some of the people are posed in front of quilts. A few of the images include dogs and horses. The photographs appear to have been made in the 1920s and 1930s.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Paul and Lafayette Buchanan Photographic Collection, 1920s-1930s.

37 items.

Arrangement: Original order.

The images show unidentified men, women, and children in the mountain counties where Buchanan worked. Some of the people are posed in front of quilts. A few of the images include dogs and horses. Most of the photographs date from the 1920s and 1930s.

Print Box 1

Black and White 5x7 Photographic Print P0018/01

Photographic Prints

Black and white photographic prints

37 images
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