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Stanford Chen photographs, circa 1970s-1990s

Overview of the Collection

Photographer
Chen, Stanford
Title
Stanford Chen photographs
Dates
circa 1970s-1990s (inclusive)
Quantity
2,113 photographic negatives
2,273 color slides
253 black and white prints (4 boxes)
Collection Number
PH1174
Summary
Collection contains photographic prints, color slides, and negatives documenting gillnet fishing practices along the Columbia River, the educational program Helping One Student to Succeed (HOSTS), and personal trips to the Box R Ranch in Wyoming and various locations in China.
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides
Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Stanford Chen was born in Oakland, California on May 15, 1947. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in journalism in 1969 and began his newspaper career as a reporter for the Bellingham Herald in Bellingham, Washington, while also writing an environmental column for the paper. He also worked as the sports editor and later as a staff photographer. He met his wife, Beth Erickson, at the Herald and they were married in 1975. Beth then worked at The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington as a copy editor, then assistant city editor. They traveled to China in 1982 and 1986, where they took hundreds of photos and produced two slide shows of the trips.

Stanford also worked at the Portland Daily Journal of Commerce , then The Oregonian copy desk in 1978. It was there that he met and collaborated with Thomas Cekay to produce a book titled Rage Against the Dying Light about gillnet fishing on the lower Columbia River, which was privately published. This project, which took about a year to complete, was undertaken during a time of decreasing salmon runs and increasing environmental oversight and regulations. The two spent their days off with the gillnetters in Wahkiakum County, gaining their trust and documenting their stories, with Stanford taking the photos and Thomas writing the text.

After the book was completed, Stanford spent some of his spare time with working on photography projects with Edward R. Vidinghoff, a freelance photographer based in Vancouver, Washington. One of their clients was the Vancouver School District, where they photographed teachers and administrators at school events, as well as documenting the district's HOSTS (Helping One Student to Succeed) program. Stanford then became deputy opinion page editor of The Oregonian Forum section, while Beth also worked there as a line editor and Clark County Bureau chief.

Stanford then spent his spare time focusing on the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) helping to establish the Portland chapter of the AAJA; he would eventually serve in the national office as secretary, then as vice president of print. Stanford wrote Counting on Each Other , a history of the AAJA from 1981 to 1996. He also mentored many younger journalists through the AAJA during summer teaching programs that he participated in through the Institute for Journalism Education based at the University of California, Berkeley. The AAJA established the Stanford Chen Internship Fund Grant in 1998, the same year he was awarded with the AAJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chicago national convention. Stanford Chen died on February 4, 1999, at age 51.

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Content Description

The collection contains photographic prints, color slides, and negatives documenting gillnet fishing practices along the Columbia River, the educational program Helping One Student to Succeed (HOSTS), and personal trips to the Box R Ranch in Wyoming and various locations in China. These locations include Beijing, Suzhou, Shanghai and Guangzhou among others.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Donor: Beth Erickson, February 2013.

Processing Note

Processed by Don Romero and Stefanie Terasaki; processing completed in 2013.

Related Materials

Cekay, Thomas, and Stanford Chen. 2011. Rage Against the Dying Light. Minneapolis, Minnesota: PhotoBook Press.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Chen, Stanford--Photographs


2014 (Last modified: 11/27/2017)

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