© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2009 University of Chicago Library
Box 23, Folder 24 and 25 contain materials until eighty years after the dates of creation.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Joan Rosenfels Eggan. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Joan Rosenfels Eggan was born in 1906 to Russian Jewish immigrants. She received a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1934, and continued her education at the Smith School for Social Work, where she studied with the psychologist Bruno Bettelheim. She also studied at the Tavistock and Anna Freud clinics in London, and worked with several renowned Chicago psychoanalysts, including George Mohr, Lionel Blitzen, Lucia Tower and Paul Craig. Eggan practiced psychotherapy for over twenty-five years, as a therapist with the students of the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago, and as a psychological consultant to the school’s administrators and pediatricians.
Eggan studied photography in the 1960's believing that it would allow her to learn more about her patients. She became well-known in anthropological circles for her remarkable photographs of anthropologists, some of which are in the Royal Anthropological Institute in London.
In 1969, Joan Rosenfels married the noted anthropologist and University of Chicago professor Fred Eggan (1906-1991). The marriage was her second. Joan accompanied her husband on several of his research trips to the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and England.
In Santa Fe, where the couple moved upon Fred Eggan's retirement, Joan served as a psychological consultant to two private schools. Her private practice was mainly limited to adults in the arts. Joan Eggan died in Santa Fe on February 19, 1999.
The Joan Eggan Collection is comprised primarily of photographs, negatives, contact sheets, and slides. The subject matter varies widely from portraiture to nudes, still-life photography, and landscapes. Many photographs are of mothers and children and appear to comprise a “series.” Some of the photographs and other materials are related to her and Fred Eggan’s contacts in the world of anthropology, and includes photos of leading figures in the discipline, including Margaret Mead, Theadora Kroeber, Victor Turner, Edmund Leach, Sidney Mintz, Sol Tax, and Clifford Geertz. Eggan also turned her camera on artists such as the Native American jewelry maker, Charles Loloma and his model Eveli in Santa Fe, and the photographer Jim Newberry in Chicago. The vast majorities of the materials are without provenance and many of the individual subjects remain unidentified.
The photographs are in black and white unless it is noted that they are in color. When ever possible the photographic prints are housed with the matching proofs, contact sheets and negatives.
Series I consists of Joan Eggan's correspondence. Eggan's correspondence contains letters about publications, thank you notes and Christmas cards from Margaret Mead.
In Series II, the photographs of academics include anthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Victor Turner, Terry Turner, Sidney Mintz, Clifford Geertz, and the historian John Hope Franklin.
Series III contains photographs of Native American people. Following her Fred Eggan's retirement in 1979, the Eggan's moved to Santa Fe where they had made many friends over the years. In this section, the majority of the Native Americans photographed by Eggan lived in Santa Fe. Included here are portraits of the jewelry artist, Charles Loloma at work in his studio, along with portraits of a woman named, Eveli, who models Loloma's creations. Additionally, this section includes portraits of Don Talayesva, the subject of the biography, Sun Chief.
Series IV contains the photographs from Eggan's foreign travels. Included in this section are portraits of people, landscapes and architecture in the following countries: Philippines, Japan, India, Bali, Thailand, Mexico, and France.
Series V contains photographs of other artists. Eggan turned her camera on many artists, including other photographers such as Laura Gilpin and Jim Newberry. She was also particularly interested in musicians, such as the harp players Robin Chudy and Alyssa Hess. This section also contains Eggan's documentary photographs of the reception for the sculpturist Claes Oldenburg at the Art Institute in 1973.
Series VI contains photographs of families. Eggan photographed several members of large families in their daily lives. This section contains photographs of entire families as well as portraits of women with children, men with children, children together, portraits of girls, portraits of boys, and adult couples.
Series VII contains Eggan's portraits of women. Eggan photographed many women at work and in their daily routines. This section also includes Eggan's nude portraits of women, many of which were taken when she was studying photography.
Series VIII contains Eggan's portraits of men photographed at work and in their daily routines.
Series IX contains Eggan's photographs of landscape and architecture which are of landscapes and buildings in the American west. Included here is Eggan's photograph of one of the iconic churches outside of Santa Fe.
Series X contains Eggan's family photographs. This section of pictures of Eggan's family includes self-portraits, portraits of her son, Daniel Rosenfels, and her husband, Fred Eggan. Snapshots of Fred Eggan can be found in nearly every section of the collection as they are mixed in with other subjects on contact sheets and negatives.
Series XI contains various shots of a Notre Dame football game, the Stroke Activity Center, a zoo, and Tshimshan totem poles.
Series XII contains the Eggan's contact sheets and negatives. The contact sheets have been housed with the matching negatives whenever possible. The section contains contact sheets without negatives as well as matched contact sheets and negatives. Additionally, here are the negatives that are not matched to photographs, proofs or contact sheets.
Series XIII contains slides of children, art fairs, landscapes, and portraits.
Series XIV contains photographs by other photographers and various materials not generated by Joan Eggan. Included here is Eggan's obituary and various unidentified photographs.
Series XV contains two folders of Eggan's correspondence are restricted until 2035 and 2050.
Series XVI contains notes, oversize items and artifacts. In this category are Eggan's, notes and index cards, and one uncut contact sheet roll. Eggan's exhibition prints are sprinkled throughout the collection, included in this section are the oversize exhibition prints that she signed. The photographs include portraits of academics, artists, families, children, women, nudes, landscapes, Eggan's family, the series, "The Swimming Lesson," and photographs by other photographers such as E. Masferré who specialized in ethnographic portraits of people in the Philippines. Also in the oversize section is a rebozo-shawl, a Native American rattle, and a bundle with feathers and sticks, perhaps used for smudging.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections: