Jack Mitchell Archives at the Smithsonian NMAAHC
Saturday September 17, 2016 Jack Mitchell Archives Executive Director Craig B. Highberger and Associate Director, Dr. Andrew R. La Barbera attended the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Collection Donor Preview and Reception in Washington D.C.
In June 2016 the museum acquired twenty-five Jack Mitchell photographs of important African American artists and performers, a number of which were donations. But there is a previous acquisition that is also an important part of the museum. In August 2012 the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc. purchased the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Jack Mitchell Collection.
Jack Mitchell was Alvin Ailey’s close friend and photographer of his dance company from the time of its founding until Mitchell’s retirement in 1995. Craig B. Highberger put together the collection acquisition in 2012 with (then) Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Executive Director Sharon Gersten Luckman.
The entire Jack Mitchell Alvin Ailey collection is housed at the Smithsonian NMAAHC, where a wall of vintage Jack Mitchell Alvin Ailey Company photographs are part of the museum’s permanent exhibition. The museum opens to the public Saturday September 24.