About

1 inch; photographic.
45 gelatin silver prints

Collection Description

James C. Thibodeaux, a photographer, artist, and teacher, was born in 1911 in St. Martinville, Louisiana. He was raised in Dallas, Texas and attended St. Peter’s Catholic School. At the age of sixteen, he attended schools in New York. He studied photography at several institutions and graduated from the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen. In 1936, Thibodeaux’s paintings were exhibited during the Texas Centennial at the Hall of Negro Life in Dallas, Texas.

Thibodeaux worked as a studio attendant at radio station WOR in New York from 1931 to 1978, excluding wartime service. During his career, he witnessed the golden age of radio and the early days of television broadcasting while working with many actors and radio personalities. As live radio declined, Thibodeaux moved into an administrative position. Though he was active in the arts, photography remained an avocation. Throughout his career, Thibodeaux additionally taught art at community centers in New York and at the New York Police Athletic League. When Thibodeaux retired from radio station WOR, he continued his educational efforts and outside interests. He moved to Dallas, Texas in the late 1970s.

Oral histories with James Thibodeaux were conducted by the Texas African American Photography Archive in 1994 and 1997.

The collection consists of 45 prints documenting Thibodeaux’s photographic work in Dallas and New York, and includes examples of commercial and non-commercial portraiture and hand-tinting. Among the more significant images are ones of boxer Joe Louis and singer Ruth Brown taken in Dallas, Texas in July, 1953.

The bulk of the James Thibodeaux Papers resides at the Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin.

Arrangement: prints arranged by subject series.

Copyright and permissions: use in educational and scholarly purposes only. Permission to reproduce required from photographer.

Source: James C. Thibodeaux

See also: Oral History Collection