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Linda Troeller Papers

An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Troeller, Linda
Title: Linda Troeller Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1949-2016
Quantity: 10.25 linear ft.
Abstract: American photographer. Collection includes published material, memorabilia, original photographs and photographic prints.
Language: English, a few items in Spanish
Repository: Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

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.

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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.

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Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is alphabetical by type, title or topic.

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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.

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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 the Classic Catalog to located cataloged items.

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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.

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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.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRC
Date: 17 Mar 2016
Revision history: 27 Jan 2017 - additions, "Photographs from the Ashes" (MRC)

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Inventory

Biographical material
Box 1 Biographical sketch, c.v.
Memorabilia
Titles and descriptions of all Ringbinder Notebooks are verbatim, as given by the donor. More detailed descriptions of each ringbinder, also provided by donor, are in each box.
Oversize 6 Erotic Lives of Women exhibit posters 1998, 2010 (2 items)
Box 1 Journal book presented to Linda after teaching at the Salzburg Summar Art Academy - thank-you letters, photographs, notes, etc.
Oversize 1 Ringbinder Notebook #1: "Women in Photography" Class taught at Syracuse University
Oversize 1 Ringbinder Notebook #2: Linda MFA study at SU on to the Teaching Years
Oversize 1 Ringbinder Notebook #3: Linda - Baby to University
Oversize 2 Ringbinder Notebook #4: Correspondence with David Broda, a MS Newhouse SU graduate with me on SU program in Munich with Professor Richards
Oversize 2 Ringbinder Notebook #5: The TB-AIDS DIARY
See also Published material: TB-SIDA Diary above.
Oversize 2 Ringbinder Notebook #6: Coverage of books, Healing Waters, Aperture, and The Erotic Lives of Women, Scalo 1998 and Chelsea Hotel, Blurb and my Curating show for 125th Anniversary and Pop UP Eviction Event
Oversize 3 Ringbinder Notebook #7: Photo-Related Letters - correspondents include Ansel Adams, Richard Rogers, John W. Hill, Gordon Lish, Linda Connor, Peter Galassi, Lucien Clergue, Shelby Lee Adams, Eikoh Hosoe
Oversize 3 Ringbinder Notebook #8: Emeritus Professor Lawrence Jasud Letters on Photography Letters to me about photography and life
Oversize 3 Ringbinder Notebook #9: TREASURED DOCUMENTS JFK signed letter etc. - correspondents include John F. Kennedy, Jr., Troeller's mother and husband, and former boyfriends
Prints
Oversize 6 Chelsea Hotel 1995, 1999-2000, 2002, 2006-2007 (8 items)
Oversize 6 Healing Waters and Spa 1992, 1994, 1996, undated (13 items)
Oversize 5 Foto Chicas of Medellin 2010 (7 items)
Oversize 6 Orgasm 2014 (8 items)
Oversize 7 Photographs from the Ashes 2016 - includes a lengthy artist's statement about the fire that gutted her house, the aftermath of which is documented in the photographs, and an itemized list (115 items)
Oversize 7 Photographs from the Ashes, digital files 2016 - 4GB sim card containing digital images; not reviewed (1 item) (ID#: troeller_003)
Oversize 6 Portraits / Lothar Troeller 2000-2005 - excerpts from Email Love artist book (5 items)
Oversize 6 Self-Portraits / Portraits / Preface by Tony Kamps, Curator 1973-1976, 2003 (8 items)
Oversize 5 Self-Portraits on Color Polaroid 1981, 1989 (5 items)
Oversize 5 TB-AIDS Diary Color Cibachrome Prints 1988-1989 (17 items)
Published material
Oversize 4 Die 100 Jahreszeiten der Toskana des Ostens (Mitteldeutscher Verlag) 2003 - photographs by Linda Troeller, text by Micky Remann; in German; signed by Troeller
Box 1 Aperture spring catalog 1998 - cover: Waterbalancing
Oversize 4 Apolda fashion catalogs 1999, 2002, 2005 - for Apolda, Germany museum; includes published catalogs as well as sheets of contact prints (3 volumes)
Box 1 CAST award catalog 1975 - next-to-last page: Women in Greenhouses
Box 1 Combinations, vol. 1 no. 1 1977 - p. 21: Homage to Tina Modotti
Box 1 Diário TB-SIDA, Hospital of Coimbra, Portugal 1970-1980 - includes typed notes from talk entitled "TB-AIDS diary: Stigma Bearing Roses" and small published book entitled Infected With, along with two spiral-bound volumes of newspaper and magazine articles and clippings about the project (3 folders)
See also Ringbinder Notebook #5: The TB-AIDS DIARY.
Box 1 Erotic Lives of Women clippings 1998 - articles, reviews, excerpts, etc.
See also Works by Troeller: The Erotic Lives of Women for the book itself.
Box 1 Heresies #12: Sex Issue 1975 - p.87: Leg over Cactus, Bridal Rite
Box 2 Inside the Frame 2015 - documentary film by Jeff McKay about Troeller and her work; color, 43 min.; includes clipping of article, flier from New Jersey International Film Festival, etc. (2 DVDs) (ID#: troeller_001, troeller_002)
Box 2 LIFE magazine Sep 1995 - p. 45: Jacuzzi, Calistoga Hot Springs, CA
Box 2 L'Oeil en Seyne 1994 - pp. 52-53: L'eau; catalog from invitational exhibit in Paris
Box 2 Mucalinda: Self-Portraits and Self-Reflections (Elizabeth Avedon) 2011 - photographs and text by Troeller, with additional text by by Toby Kamp and Kalie Brooks; part of a 50 book artist series
Box 2 Self-Portrayal, Friends of Photography 1977 - Snowbird (self-portrait)
Box 2 Where Do We Go From Here? (F-Stop Fotofestival) 2009 - pp. 174-174: four photographs from Chelsea Hotel
Box 2 Women by Women: Erotische Fotografie (Prestel) 2003 - plate 105: Yoko, from Erotic Lives of Women; includes small postcard from the opening in Berlin
Works by Troeller
Box 2 A Decade in Photography 1970-1980 - diary notes, photos, journal entries; bound typescript pages with annotations and corrections; softcover
Box 3 Email Love 2007 - self-published collection of Troeller's photographs, with emails between her and her husband Lothar; hardcover with jacket
Box 3 Erotic Lives of Women (Scalo) 1998 - book of Troeller's photographs with interviews by Marion Schneider
See also Published material: Erotic Lives of Women clippings.
Box 3 Healing Waters (Aperture) 1998 - book of Troeller's photographs, preface by Dr. Wolfgang Becker, introduction by Dr. Yves Treguer, signed by Troeller
Box 3 Hotel Chelsea Atmosphere: An Artist's Memoir 2006 - self-published collection of Troeller's photographs, accompanied by "Dear Chelsea Hotel" letters from long-time residents; hardcover with jacket
Box 3 Living in the Chelsea Hotel (Schiffer) 2015 - photographic collage of 76 images and vignettes; cover mockup only
Box 3 Orgasm (Daylight) 2014 - book of Troeller's photographs with interviews by Marion Schneider (2 folders)
Oversize 4 Peter 1970 - handmade artist book; noted as "for Professor Jerry Ash's Photo 101 course"
Box 3 A Photographer's Tale 2005 - draft dummy for self-published autobiography; softcover
Box 3 Sex and Transcendence 2005 - self-published autobiography, never published; hardcover with jacket
Box 3 Spa Journeys (powerHouse books) 2004 - photographs by Linda Troeller, text by Annette Foglino

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