Research Catalog

Title

Unto the Dying Lamb collection / Ted Pelatowski.

Author

Pelatowski, Theodore

Publication

[between 1946 and 1948?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987

Description

• 34 items (.3 cubic ft., one box); 26 x 21 cm and smaller.
• 30 photographic prints : gelatin silver, black and white, some mounted on cardboard and watercolor paper ;
• 4 photographic prints : gelatin silver, black and white, one mounted on corrugated cardboard ;

Summary

• Depictions of African American religious ecstasy, particularly in children, during Pentecostal church services in Harlem, New York, between 1946 and 1948. The collection consists of candid shots of congregations, mostly women and young girls, praying, singing, arms raised and eyes closed; views mostly of girls collapsing on chairs or on the church floor overcome by the Spirit; views of a woman minister preaching; an interior view of a church showing the pulpit; and an exterior view of Mt. Sinai Pentecostal Church, in Harlem. More than one Pentecostal church may be depicted in this collection.
• The collection also includes undated portraits and views of living conditions among African Americans, possibly in the rural American South, that are unrelated to the "Unto the Dying Lamb" book project.

Subject

• African Americans > Religion
• African American Pentecostal churches > New York (State) > New York
• African American Pentecostals > New York (State) > New York
• African Americans > Spiritual life > New York (State) > New York > 1940-1949
• Children > Spiritual life > New York (State) > New York > 1940-1949
• Religious services > New York (State) > New York > 1940-1949
• Ecstasy > New York (State) > New York
• African Americans > Economic & social conditions > Southern States
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.)

Genre/Form

• Portrait photographs – 1940-1949.
• Group portraits – 1940-1949.
• Gelatin silver prints – 1940-1949.

Note

• Title based on text from image.
• One photograph, possibly a proposed cover design, bears hand brushed title, and author and photographer's credit on recto. Many items bear handwritten instructions for cropping images, portions of images to be enlarged, and page placement of images. One item bears a handwritten notation for a suggested photo caption. One item, which is mounted, is accompanied by typewritten sheets of text attached to recto. Some items bear handwritten notations on image recto.
• Many items are mounted on either pieces of thin cardboard or sheets of watercolor paper; one item is mounted to corrugated cardboard. Some items are mounted back to back on sheets of watercolor paper.
• Some images are enlargements of smaller images. Some images bear cropping marks; some images are cropped. One item is missing section near upper right-hand corner of image. Some items bear thumb tack holes.

Terms of Use (note)

• Collection may be under copyright; permission of the copyright holder is required for duplication.

Biography (note)

• "Unto the Dying Lamb," was a collaborative photo/essay book project about Harlem storefront churches (ca. 1946-1948) by photographer Theodore Pelatowski and writer James Baldwin. The book, which would focus on the influence of the church in the lives of African Americans, never found a publisher and was never completed. Baldwin, based on a three page proposal for the project, was awarded a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1948.
• Theodore Pelatowski, born in Connecticut in 1923, had met Baldwin through a mutual acquaintance, photographer Richard Avedon, in 1946. After the book project was abandoned in 1948, Pelatowski moved to the East Bay region of California, where he subsequently began to focus more on painting than photography. Pelatowski was working as a carpenter during the late 1960s when he was left paralyzed and partially blind from a crane accident. He later became a disablity advocate at California State University, Hayward, in the 1970s, where he helped to establish the campus's first Disabled Students Coalition. Pelatowski would commit suicide in 1975, in El Cerrito, California, aged 51.

Call Number

Sc Photo Portfolio (Pelatowski, T.)

OCLC

1281709851

Author

Pelatowski, Theodore, photographer.

Title

Unto the Dying Lamb collection / Ted Pelatowski.

Production

[between 1946 and 1948?]

Type of Content

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Terms Of Use

Collection may be under copyright; permission of the copyright holder is required for duplication.

Biography

"Unto the Dying Lamb," was a collaborative photo/essay book project about Harlem storefront churches (ca. 1946-1948) by photographer Theodore Pelatowski and writer James Baldwin. The book, which would focus on the influence of the church in the lives of African Americans, never found a publisher and was never completed. Baldwin, based on a three page proposal for the project, was awarded a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1948.

Theodore Pelatowski, born in Connecticut in 1923, had met Baldwin through a mutual acquaintance, photographer Richard Avedon, in 1946. After the book project was abandoned in 1948, Pelatowski moved to the East Bay region of California, where he subsequently began to focus more on painting than photography. Pelatowski was working as a carpenter during the late 1960s when he was left paralyzed and partially blind from a crane accident. He later became a disablity advocate at California State University, Hayward, in the 1970s, where he helped to establish the campus's first Disabled Students Coalition. Pelatowski would commit suicide in 1975, in El Cerrito, California, aged 51.

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Added Author

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987, collaborator.

Research Call Number

Sc Photo Portfolio (Pelatowski, T.)