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Linda Troeller Papers

An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 17 Mar 2016

Biographical History

Linda Troeller (1949- ) is an award-winning American art photographer known for her investigations into women and sexuality, self-portraiture, AIDS/HIV, and water and healing.

Born to Marion and Raymond Troeller in New Jersey, she was popular in high school (a cheerleader, queen of three proms, and Miss Ocean County Fair), and excelled at creative writing. She discovered photography while a work-study student at Ghost Ranch visiting Georgia O'Keeffe, who encouraged her.

Troeller graduated from Reed College of Media in West Virginia with a BS in journalism in 1971, and received her MS in photojournalism and public relations from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communication a year later. She spent a year as an assistant at the Ansel Adams Workshops in Yosemite (1974), and received her MFA from Syracuse University in 1975. Her teaching career includes positions as professor of photography at Indiana University and Stockton University, visiting lecturer at Yale University, and adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design, among others. She has published several books of her photographs, alone and in collaboration, including Healing Waters, The Erotic Lives of Women, and Living in the Chelsea Hotel, about her twelve years of residence in New York City's iconic home of artists, writers, actors, and musicians.

She has been recognized many times for her work, including several Lucie Awards, a Women of Achievement Award from Douglass College, and an award from the New York Foundation of the Arts. Her work is in the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, University of Texas at Austin, and galleries in Medellin, Colombia.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Linda Troeller Papers consists of memorabilia, photographs, published material, and works by Troeller, and spans her entire career as photographer and artist.

Biographical material contains a c.v. and short and long autobiographical sketches.

Memorabilia consists of a "journal book" presented to Troeller after teaching at the Salzburg Summer Art Institute, and a number of three-ring binders compiled by Troeller and reflecting various stages in her life. The binders contain a wide range of matrial, including letters, photographs, cards, high school and college items, clippings, articles, family-related material, and more.

Prints contains original photographic prints by Troeller in various sizes. Most are of photographs that appeared in published works included in the collection ( Healing Waters, Spa), but some are standalone projects (Foto Chicas of Medellin). There are also photographs documenting the aftermath of a house fire that destroyed her home.

Published material contains books, magazines, documentaries and other published material containing Troeller's work, or about Troeller and her work. There is also a 43-minute documentary on Troeller by Jeff McKay, with accompanying publicity.

Works by Troeller contains published and unpublished items created or authored by Troeller, or as collaborative efforts between Troeller and others (for example, the book Spa Journeys with photographs by Linda Troeller and text by Annette Foglino). Of particular interest here are "A Decade in Photography 1970-1980," a bound volume of Troeller's diary notes, photos and journal entries with extensive handwritten annotations and corrections; and "Peter," a handmade artist's book created by Troeller for a college photography course.

Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is alphabetical by type, title or topic.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has the papers of a number of noted photographers, both manuscript collections and cataloged in our Rare Books collection. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index to located additional manuscript collections, and to Libraries Search to located cataloged items.

Subject Headings

Persons

McKay, Jeff.
Troeller, Linda.

Corporate Bodies

Chelsea Hotel -- Pictorial works.

Associated Titles

Email love.
Healing waters.
Orgasm: photographs and interviews.
The erotic lives of women.

Subjects

AIDS (Disease) -- Pictorial works.
Fire in art.
Hot springs -- Pictorial works.
Hydrotherapy -- Pictorial works.
Photography, Artistic.
Photojournalism.
Women -- Colombia -- Pictorial works.
Women -- Sexual behavior -- Interviews.
Women -- Sexual behavior -- Pictorial works.
Women photographers.

Places

New York (N.Y.) -- Pictorial works.

Genres and Forms

Books.
Born digital.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
DVDs.
Diaries.
Photographic prints.
Photographs.
Scrapbooks.
Self-portraits.

Occupations

Photographers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Linda Troeller Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Linda Troeller, 2015.

Table of Contents

Biographical material

Memorabilia

Prints

Published material

Works by Troeller

Inventory