P13: Collier Cobb Collection

Creator: Collier Cobb

Extent: 470 photographs

Format(s): glass negatives, glass slides, and photographs

Access: no restrictions

Provenance: gift from Collier Cobb family, 1976 (accession numbers 28724--28870; 30408)

Biographical Sketch: Collier Cobb, the son of Needham Bryan Cobb and Martha Louisa Cobb, was born in Wayne County, North Carolina on March 21 1862. He taught school intermittently in North Carolina, then attended Harvard University where he received a B. A. degree in geology in 1889 and an M. A. in 1894. Cobb taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at Boston University. In 1892 he became instructor of geology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The following year he became chairman of the newly-established Department of Geology and served in that post until 1934, the year of his death.

Collection Description: Cobb's photography stemmed from his work in geology and the sciences. He traveled extensively and used photography to document his interests. In the 1890s Cobb built a darkroom in his Chapel Hill home where he developed and printed negatives. He sometimes recorded precise technical information on negative sleeves, which have been retained, including the date and time of day photographs were taken along with negative exposure times and aperture settings on his camera. The North Carolina Collection also has two cameras owned by Cobb.

Most of the photographs date from ca. 1890 through ca. 1920. A separate Collier Cobb Manuscript Collection in the Southern Historical Collection's Manuscripts Department also includes some photographic material. The Cobb Collection in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives includes images within the following subject categories:

• Alaska/Canada/Siberia - Eskimos and Eskimo life.
• Chapel Hill, N. C. - houses and churches.
• Logging - western North Carolina.
• Schools - In the North Carolina Counties of Bertie, Columbus, Craven, Durham, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Harnett, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Onslow, Robeson, Sampson, and Wake.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - buildings and grounds, and African Americans.

Other Collections | Photographic Archives Menu | Restrictions and Copyright

Copyright © North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill, 1997. All Rights Reserved.