Kristen Mendenhall Photography Collection
Collection Kirsten Mendenhall collection
Extent
1 Linear feet
Scope and Contents
The Kristen Mendenhall collection, circa 1971, contains black and white photographic images of rural activists, artisans, and residents at home in rural Kentucky and North Carolina. Mendenhall was a student of Guy Carawan (who passed away in May of 2015), a musician and civil rights activist who worked at the famed Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee and is perhaps best known for introducing the song “We Shall Overcome” to the Civil Rights movement. Mendenhall was among a group of students that Carawan took on a field study trip to the region in the early 1970s. During that visit Mendenhall took photos of various subjects including: Carawan and fellow field study students; eastern KY activist Eula Hall and her family; Blackey, KY social activists Joe & Gaynell Begley and their legendary C.B. Caudill General Store, which served as an information center for journalists, politicians and grassroots activists from around the nation; and Bybee Pottery, one of the oldest potteries in the country, including images of the workspace, oudoor kiln, and potters at work. Also included are images of a rural toymaker, old time musicians, and images of rural life in eastern KY and Beech Mountain, NC.