The Archive of Documentary Arts Photobook Club

The Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University has established a photobook club to explore and appreciate photography books found in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The inaugural meeting of the photobook club is Tuesday, October 14 with a group discussion about "The Americans," an iconic photobook by Robert Frank. Three copies of "The Americans" will be on reserve for public viewing at the Rubenstein Library before the meeting. Please note that the discussion on October 14 will take place at the Center for Documentary Studies while the books themselves are held at Duke's Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.  The photobook club is free and open to the public."The Americans" is a highly influential photobook that documents the realities of post-war America. First published in the United States in 1959, the photographs featured in "The Americans" create a complicated portrait of the time period it captured, examining both high and low strata of American society. Says NPR's Tom Cole, "there are few single works of art that have changed the direction of their medium. In 1959, ["The Americans"] dramatically altered how photographers looked through their viewfinders and the way Americans saw themselves."