Louise Boyle

Boyle studied photography for a time in New York City and thereafter opened a commercial and portrait photography business in Ithaca. One of her earlier bodies of documentary work is a set of photographs of Pennsylvania coal miners she took for ''[[Survey Graphic]]''.

Boyle studied photography for a time in New York City and thereafter opened a commercial and portrait photography business in Ithaca. One of her earlier bodies of documentary work is a set of photographs of Pennsylvania coal miners she took for ''[[Survey Graphic]]''.

[[File:Three black children playing with dolls and alphabet blocks at Delta Cooperative.jpg|left|thumb|"Three black children playing with dolls and alphabet blocks at Delta Cooperative" by Boyle]]

[[File:Three black children playing with dolls and alphabet blocks at Delta Cooperative.jpg|left|thumb|"Three black children playing with dolls and alphabet blocks at Delta Cooperative" by Boyle]]

Boyle was a member of a group of young socialists who volunteered to help the [[Southern Tenant Farmers Union]] (SFTU).{{cite book|author=Mitchell, H. L.| author-link= H. L. Mitchell |title=Mean Things Happening in this Land: The Life and Times of H.L. Mitchell, Co-Founder of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3sCBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA208|date=22 October 2014|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-8607-8|pages=208–}} In 1937 she was invited to photograph the life and work of Arkansas members of the SFTU, which had been organized three years earlier by struggling [[tenant farmers]]. Her photographs, shot with a [[Leica camera]], document farmers and their families in the fields, at home, and at union meetings. Like the work of her contemporaries [[Walker Evans]] and [[Dorothea Lange]], her photographs unsparingly show the enormous difficulties faced by Southern farmers in this period, especially African Americans. At the same time, they record the strong communal spirit among Southern labor organizers and farmers. More than forty years later, Boyle returned to rephotograph some of the same people and places in 1982.

Boyle was a member of a group of young socialists who volunteered to help the [[Southern Tenant Farmers Union]] (SFTU).{{cite book|author=Mitchell, H. L.| author-link= H. L. Mitchell |title=Mean Things Happening in this Land: The Life and Times of H.L. Mitchell, Co-Founder of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3sCBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA208|date=22 October 2014|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-8607-8|pages=208–}} In 1937 she was invited to photograph the life and work of Arkansas members of the SFTU, which had been organized three years earlier by struggling [[tenant farmers]]. Her photographs, shot with a [[Leica camera]], document farmers and their families in the fields, at home, and at union meetings. Like the work of her contemporaries [[Walker Evans]] and [[Dorothea Lange]], her photographs unsparingly show the enormous difficulties faced by Southern farmers in this period, especially African Americans. At the same time, they record the strong communal spirit among Southern labor organizers and farmers. She also deeply studied and supported women's role in labor organizations. More than forty years later, Boyle returned to rephotograph some of the same people and places in 1982.

Boyle served for a time as an editor for the [[Cornell University Press]]. A collection of her photographs is held at the [[Martin P. Catherwood Library#Kheel Center|Kheel Center]], Cornell University, as part of its SFTU-related holdings.

Boyle served for a time as an editor for the [[Cornell University Press]]. A collection of her photographs is held at the [[Martin P. Catherwood Library#Kheel Center|Kheel Center]], Cornell University, as part of its SFTU-related holdings.