Abstract

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by a rapid expansion of undergraduate and graduate photography studio programs in higher-education institutions (primarily universities, but also liberal arts colleges, art schools, and polytechnics) across Canada and the United States. The programs and related social and professional activities were crucial to the development of the creative photography field.
This study complexifies established narratives of pivotal photography educators by situating them within their respective professional and social networks and by describing the conditions influencing pedagogical choices and priorities. My research is rooted in the impact of networks on the development of fields. Social relationships were crucial to accessing information, obtaining financial and emotional support for creative work, advancing one’s career, and ultimately affecting one’s longevity in the field. Emphasis is placed particularly on networks while exploring brief examples of programs, available teaching resources, and exhibitions. This study provides a broad overview of this rich history by describing the progression of the medium’s education through three major phases unfolding between 1960 and 1989. Each phase is accompanied by one or two related case studies. The first phase addresses photography education prior to 1965 when few programs dedicated to creative photography existed. Its case study traces photographer meetings cumulating in the formation of the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) in 1962. The second phase marks the rapid expansion of photography programs in higher-education institutions throughout the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. This historical section has two case studies describing the evolution of two different programs, those at Ryerson Polytechnic in Toronto and the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester. The third phase, between 1975 and 1989, coincides with the stabilisation of available programs and documents the growing questioning of the medium’s biases present in education. The formation of the Women’s Caucus in SPE throughout the 1980s furnishes the final case study. The study provides insight into the way the boundaries of the discipline were shaped and the consequences of these decisions.