ABSTRACT
Family photograph albums and scrapbooks are considered, to anyone other than those close to their creation, ephemera. Those that end up preserved in archives and museums are exceptions. For art historians, locating one of these artifacts in one's area of research can be like winning the lottery. Social and racial segregation was particularly detrimental to black intellectuals like Gumby, who faced anti-black discrimination when attempting to publicly share his thoughts and theories about black life. A professional photograph made by a professional photographer becomes “history” seconds after it is taken, but the snapshots that fill our material memorials of personal events are exempted from such reverence, even when someone inadvertently takes a “really good” photograph. A professional photograph made by a professional photographer becomes “history” seconds after it is taken, but the snapshots that fill our material memorials of personal events are exempted from such reverence, even when someone inadvertently takes a “really good” photograph.
