A Guide to the Carol Spencer Mitchell Photographic Archive

Biographical Note

Carol Spencer Mitchell began her career in photojournalism in 1975 in the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. She moved to Jerusalem in 1984 as a member of the foreign press corps and spent the next decade covering the Middle East and North Africa. Her photographs have appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek, both of which she worked for extensively. She also traveled on special assignment for U.S. News & World Report, Look, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and numerous European publications.

The diary she created became the basis of her book, Danger Pay. Carol Spencer’s writing and photographs chronicle the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip before, during, and after the Intifada, historic meetings between world leaders, the sea jacking of the Achille Lauro, and profiles of dignitaries such as Yassar Arafat, Anwar Sadat, and King Hussein of Jordan. She passed away in 2004 at age 50.

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Scope and Contents

Collection spans the career of photojournalist Carol Spencer Mitchell and her extensive coverage of world events from the 1970s through the 1990s. Her photographic work is captured in 46 notebook binders of slides as well as other small caches of slides and contact sheets. Included are related papers and documentation.

Collection also includes the detailed research papers of Ellen Spencer Susman. These papers represent Susman's research for a book on Carol Spencer Mitchell.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Carol Spencer Mitchell Photographic Archive, 1975-2007, Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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