Research Catalog

Title

Avery Willard photographs, 1919-1993, (bulk 1940-1970)

Author

Willard, Avery, 1921-1999.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Powers, Marie, 1910-1973.
• ANTA (Organization)
• ANTA Matinee Series (New York, N.Y.)
• Association of producing artists.
• Emmons Jewelry (Firm)
• High School of Performing Arts (New York, N.Y.)

Description

34 linear ft (76 boxes)

Summary

The Avery Willard photographs consist primarily of prints, proofs, contact sheets, negatives, oversized prints, and slides, spanning Willard's professional photography career.

Subjects

• Photographers
• Willard, Avery, 1921-1999
• Scrapbooks
• Publicity photographs
• Powers, Marie, 1910-1973
• Contact sheets
• Correspondence
• Photographers > United States
• Emmons Jewelry (Firm)
• Association of producing artists
• Montages
• Programs
• Proofs
• Photographs
• Film negatives
• High School of Performing Arts (New York, N.Y.)
• Clippings
• Stage photography > New York (State) > New York
• ANTA Matinee Series (New York, N.Y.)
• Slides
• Photographic prints
• ANTA (Organization)
• Commercial photography > New York (State) > New York
• Gay activists

Genre/Form

• Clippings.
• Contact sheets.
• Correspondence.
• Photographs.
• Programs.
• Scrapbooks.
• Film negatives.
• Montages.
• Photographic prints.
• Proofs.
• Publicity photographs.
• Slides.

Source (note)

• Cox, John M.

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division

Biography (note)

• Photographer, filmmaker, publisher, performer, and gay activist, Avery Willard was born Avery Willard Parsons, Jr.in Marion, Virginia on May 16, 1921.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

*T-Vim 1999-026

OCLC

NYPT05-A7

Author

Willard, Avery, 1921-1999.

Title

Avery Willard photographs, 1919-1993, (bulk 1940-1970)

Biography

Photographer, filmmaker, publisher, performer, and gay activist, Avery Willard was born Avery Willard Parsons, Jr.in Marion, Virginia on May 16, 1921. WIllard, who, as a child, collected autographs and photographs of film stars, came to New York after World War II, where he began working as a performer in summer stock. After appearing in a few productions, Willard decided that he did not wish to continue working as a touring actor. Around this time, he began taking photographs with a box camera that his mother had given to him. Willard enjoyed taking photographs of his fellow actors and he used his apartment just off Fifth Avenue as a studio. Willard was most active as a photographer from the late 1940s through the 1960s. His work included portraits of many aspiring and famous actors, actresses, musicians, and dancers, as well as photographs of theatrical productions. Many of Willard's photographs of Off-Broadway productions appeared in the theater annual, Theater World.

Willard also did commercial photography assignments for a number of businesses and organizations. Most notable among his corporate clients was Emmons Jewelry, a costume jewelry company, whose products were sold at home parties. In the 1960s, Willard photographed numerous celebrities for Emmons. As staff photographer for the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA), Willard photographed over fifty of the acclaimed ANTA Matinee Series productions at the Theatre de Lys from 1957 to 1963, as well as parties, places, and events for the organization. He also photographed a number of productions for the Association of Producing Artists (APA) and accompanied the group when they performed in Bermuda in 1960. From 1957 to1971, he also took photos of student productions for the School of Performing Arts. Willard developed an interest in the art of montage, which he utilized extensively in his work, and wrote an article on this subject that was published in Photography Handbook #175 (Fawcett, 1953).

Sometime following the Stonewall uprising in Greenwich Village in 1968, under the name Bruce King, Willard began producing a newspaper, Gay Scene, which he published until 1992. With the increase of other gay-oriented newspapers and publications, Gay Scene's circulation decreased over the years and the newspaper became increasingly difficult for him to sustain. (Gay Scene is not represented in the collection.) Willard also appears to have started a company called Ava-Graph that produced gay pornographic films. In 1992, Willard broke his hip and while recuperating at the Fieldston Lodge Nursing Home in Riverdale, New York, he wrote profiles of the staff for the home's newsletter and gave talks about his career as a photographer of the stars. He died in the Bronx on September 7, 1999.

Indexes

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Location of Other Archival Materials

New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division Avery Willard films. Included are gay erotic films on leather and Nazi themes, films of male-to-female drag, and some home movies. Also included are sound tracks for some of the films, and miscellaneous items.

Connect to:

Request Access to Theatre Division Special Collections material

NYPL Digital Collections

Finding Aid

Occupation

Gay activists.

Photographers.

Added Author

Powers, Marie, 1910-1973.

ANTA (Organization)

ANTA Matinee Series (New York, N.Y.)

Association of producing artists.

Emmons Jewelry (Firm)

High School of Performing Arts (New York, N.Y.)

Research Call Number

*T-Vim 1999-026