A Guide to the David Hume Kennerly Photographic Archive, 1966-

Biographical Note

David Hume Kennerly began his professional career in 1966 as a photographer for the Oregon Journal. After joining United Press International in 1967, Kennerly worked in Los Angeles (1967-1968), New York (1968-1969), and Washington, D.C. (1969-1970). In 1971, UPI sent Kennerly to South Vietnam, where in 1972 he won a Pulitzer Prize for his feature photography of the Vietnam War. Kennerly also received the Wilson Hicks Award for excellence in reporting with a camera, first prize in the World Press Photo Contest for his coverage of Cambodia, and the Overseas Press Club's Olivier Rebbot Award for his inside story of the Reagan/Gorbachev Summit in Geneva.

From 1972 until 1974, Kennerly worked as a contract photographer for Time magazine. In August 1974, President Gerald R. Ford invited Kennerly to serve as his personal photographer. As Family Week later reported, the Pulitzer Prize winner accepted the job only on the condition that he have "the freedom to walk in and out of the President's office at will to take whatever pictures he felt were part of history." As a result, Kennerly's pictures from his three years in the White House have an immediacy rarely matched by the work of previous official presidential photographers.

From the 1970s through the 1990s Kennerly worked as a photographer for Time (1973-1974, 1977-1990), Life (1972, 1993-1996), and George (1996-1999) magazines, and as a writer and television producer/director. Shooter, his autobiography, was published in 1979, followed by Photo Op: A Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer Covers Events that Shaped Our Times (1995) and Photo du Jour: A Picture-A-Day Journey through the First Year of the New Millennium (2002). The Center for American History has presented photographic exhibitions based on the latter two publications. Kennerly's television productions include Shooter (1987) and The Taking of Flight 847 - The Uli Derickson Story (1988), the latter the recipient of an Emmy award nomination. He is currently a contributing editor to Newsweek magazine.

Scope and Contents

Mr. Kennerly is at work on a long-term project to digitize his vast archive of images currently existing in transparent formats (positive and negative film). When completed, these materials will be accessible on CD. Until then, a limited number of photographic prints may be viewed at the Center for research purposes. For photographic reproductions, please contact Mr. Kennerly at www.kennerly.com.

Restrictions

Unrestricted and restricted access.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

David Hume Kennerly Photographic Archive, Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Detailed Description of the Archive