14

trinity reporter

fall 10

How a senior thesis project uncovered a forgotten treasure from the history of photography. by Emily Groff

Girl on assignment
trinity reporter

fall 10

15

fortuitous accidents. In doing some preliminary research, she says, I stumbled on a page on the Library of Congress Web site that listed female photojournalists from the era. At the bottom of the page, there was a number for rights to reproduction. When Simpson called the number, Brooks answered. It was her home phone. Boxes everywhere, filled with photographs and magazines When Alyssa Simpson 10 decided to write a senior thesis, she planned to focus on female photographers from the 1930s. Instead, she ended up organizing the first solo exhibition of work by Charlotte Brooks, the only
16
trinity reporter

a photographer in her own right. She drove with Lisa Kassow, the director of Trinitys Hillel and a former photographer with whom she had become close, to Brooks home at the end of a winding dirt road in rural New York, about an hour east of Trinity. She invited us in and we sat down in her living room, Simpson recalls. She was very gracious, but she didnt really answer any of my questions. I was a little frustrated and still confused about who she was. I asked her about herself and her work. She didnt quite know what to tell me, so she said, Why dont I just show you? She slowly got up and walked, oxygen tank in tow, into the back room of her house.

female staff photographer at Look magazine. Simpson, who majored in American studies, with minors in visual culture and architecture, discovered her subject through a series of

fall 10

Shana Sureck

Thinking that Brooks, who is now 91, would have worked with the women she hoped to write about, Simpson decided to meet her. At that point, Simpson was thinking of Brooks as a potential source, not as

Brooks led Simpson to the two-story room that used to be her studio and that now serves as her archive. But, as Simpson explains, its not where most people would choose to store their lifes work. The roof leaks, its dusty and rat-infested, and nothing is organized. There are cardboard boxes everywhere, filled with photographs and magazines. Some of them have labels, but whether the labels correspond to whats in the boxes is questionable. Its mostly just a big mess of really amazing material thats worth a lot of money and is getting rained on. The first female staff photographer at Look magazine Still, Simpson was impressed by Brooks work and intrigued by her personal life. Brooks doesnt identify as a lesbian, Simpson explains. But she and her partner, Julie Arden, were together for 63 years until Julies death. The fact that she was in a nontraditional relationship drew me because she brings a certain understanding to her work, which frequently featured strong, independent women, that hasnt been explored. As Simpson continued her research, she learned that Brooks was the first female staff photographer at Look, a popular biweekly magazine that told stories more through photographs than through text. In more than 450 assignments, she focused

on politics, medicine, education, race, celebrity culture, and gender roles. Brooks worked at Look from 1951 until the magazine stopped publishing in 1971. Long-overdue recognition Simpson examined four of Brooks photo essays in her thesis, and she staged Charlotte Brooks: Girl on Assignment, an exhibition in Trinitys Mather Art Space. Although her work has appeared in collective exhibitions in several galleries and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Brooks remains largely unknown. This was her first solo exhibition. Brooks was not able to make it to Hartford for the opening because she is in poor health, and, as Simpson adds, She didnt get to where she is by doing what other people want her to do. But Simpson celebrated with Brooks niece and goddaughter, along with several members of Simpsons family and her thesis adviser, Louis Masur, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in American Institutions and Values. In addition to her thesis, Simpson has co-authored an article about Brooks work with Professor Masur that will appear in the November issue of Aperture, a prominent photography magazine. She is also working on a proposal to publish a book of Brooks photos, with essays by people who knew or studied her.

Simpson graduated from Trinity in May and received the Trustee Award for Student Excellence in recognition of her work with the student government, Hillel, Green Campus, and other campus organizations. She has returned to her home state of California, but she expects to stay in touch with Charlotte Brooks. After all, Simpson says, Shes been so wonderful to me and so generous with her home and her archive. It was amazing working with her.
17

trinity reporter

fall 10