The Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) at Emory University has announced the opening of the Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection to the Emory community online.

The rare collection contains nearly 12,000 photographs depicting African American life from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The images are of ordinary people in their daily lives, studio portraits, military and class photographs, fashion shots, nursing school graduates, musicians, religious leaders, artists – people from all walks of life. The collection was acquired by MARBL in 2012 from photograph collector Robert Langmuir of Philadelphia.

Images from the Langmuir collection are accessible to Emory faculty, staff and students with an active Emory user ID through the Luna Digital Media Gallery. In addition to enhanced searching and viewing capabilities, Emory users will be able to utilize tools in the Luna system such as slideshows for in-class use and personal research. Access to the digital collection is also available to all researchers using the MARBL reading room.

“The completion of this project is an important milestone for MARBL's continuing mission to increase access to our collections,” says Elizabeth Russey Roke, a MARBL digital archivist and project manager for the Langmuir online project. “We are excited about being able to provide enhanced access to the Langmuir collection to Emory students, faculty and staff through Luna because of the potential for these unique images of African American life to be used in classrooms and student projects across campus.”