This project began in the early 1970s in Columbus, Mississippi.

There, Dr. Berkley Hudson and his childhood friends discovered the life’s work of local “pictureman” Otis Noel (O.N.) Pruitt. They purchased the collection of 142,000 negatives in 1987 and spent the next 30 years archiving, researching, and preserving the work. Over those years, Hudson has discovered the stories behind Pruitt’s photographs, revealing complex and difficult truths. The collection was transferred in 2005 to the University of North Carolina.

Today, in partnership with Curatorial and with support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Missouri, and many private donors Pruitt’s work is now being featured in a nationally-traveling exhibition and a book published by UNC Press with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

The exhibition and its companion website, www.thepruittproject.com, feature images, film, period Mississippi music, spoken word, and a teaching and learning toolkit for teachers and their students. Exhibitions, symposia, book signings, and other events can be found on the website calendar.

Each aspect of the Pruitt Project encourages conversations within our own communities as we continue to search for a deeper understanding of culture and history in 21st-century America.

All Photographs by O.N. Pruitt. Courtesy of Pruitt-Shanks Collection, the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.