OLD, TOBY.
Toby Old papers, 1969-2020

Restrictions on Access

Special restrictions apply: Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection.

Use copies have not been made for audiovisual material in this collection. Researchers must contact the Rose Library at least two weeks in advance for access to these items. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder the Rose Library's ability to provide access to audiovisual material.

Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance for access to unprocessed born digital materials in this collection. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder the Rose Library's ability to provide access to unprocessed born digital materials.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Related Materials in This Repository

Sid Kaplan photographs

Source

Purchased from Toby Old, 2020

Custodial History

The Rose Library contracted with movers to pack the materials at Toby Old's studio and stage them for shipment to the Rose Library.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Toby Old papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Appraisal Note

Acquired by Curator of Political, Cultural, and Social Movements collections, Randy Gue, as part of the Rose Library's holdings in modern photography. During accessioning in 2020, Rose Library staff removed and shredded a quarter linear foot of duplicate printed material. Appraisal decisions were made by Accessioning Archivist, Meaghan O'Riordan, in consultation with Randy Gue.

Processing

Arranged and described at the collection level by Meaghan O'Riordan, 2020-2022. Materials were stored in photo boxes and labeled by Toby Old. O'Riordan placed these boxes inside archival containers and listed each one, transcribing the labels provided by Old. Old created categories that he used repeatedly for these boxes, which O'Riordan transcribed and listed together intellectually in the container list, such as "minor events," "obscure celebrities," and "animals."

This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at rose.library@emory.edu.

Biographical Note

Toby Old was born Bertrand Old on October 12, 1945, in Stillwater, Minnesota. He attended Hamline University (St. Paul, Minnesota) where he majored in biology and graduated in 1967. He trained as a dentist at the University of Minnesota, earning a Doctor of Science in 1971. He was drafted into the Army Dental Core during the Vietnam War. After attending an Apieron Photographic Workshop (Millerton, New York) in 1976, Old moved to New York City and began working on his first long-term project, Standard Deviation, documenting the disco scene from 1976-1981.

In 1981, Old received a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) survey grant to document lower Manhattan (New York) below Chambers Street. During the period of the grant from 1982-1984 and afterward, this included an extended series on boxing. Since that series, his work has documented events both local and national, including county fairs, fashion shows, street performances, the Kentucky Derby (Louisville), and Frontier Days (Cheyenne, Wyoming).

Old participated in Light Work's Artist-in-Residence Program in 1980. He published Times Squared in 2005.

Old's work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in New York (New York), Minnesota, Massachusetts, Japan, France, and England. His work has been published in books and magazines, as well. He has taught classes in New York area schools, including the School of Visual Arts, Brooklyn College, and Bard College, and regularly teaches workshops through the International Center for Photography. His work is in the permanent collections of the Minnesota Museum of Art (St. Paul), the French Museum of Photography (Bieves, France), Lightwork (Syracuse, New York), Seaman Church Institute (New York, New York), and Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris).

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of the papers of American photographer Toby Old, including prints, negatives, contact sheets, Polaroids, books, exhibition catalogues, printed material, digital images, and slides, from 1969-2020. Photographs that were exhibited and/or published as books are included, such as American Moments, Standard Deviation, Believers, and Times Squared. There are also series of photographs of animals, an asylum, beaches, boxing matches, celebrities, dance, disco, fashion, minor events (including the 1988 Pat Robertson campaign), portraits, subways, and tattoos. A significant portion of the photographs are identified only by the places where they were taken, including London (England), China, Paris (France), Minneapolis and Stillwater (Minnesota), South Dakota, Italy, and Mexico. Old's work is part of some permanent collections, and there are photographs related to acquisitions made by the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minnesota) and Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris). There is also significant documentation of New York City. Books, exhibition catalogues, and printed material primarily document exhibitions that featured Old's work. There are also magazines featuring his work included in the collection, as well as photographs, printed material, and other course materials for workshops Old taught at the International Center for Photography (ICP) (New York, New York). Finally, there is some correspondence with museum and galleries about exhibiting or acquiring Old's work and some correspondence related to grants awarded to Old.

Arrangement Note

Arranged alphabetically by title.